Guys, you obviously weren't paying attention. Kelly said that Bryant passed the torch two years ago! You fools are so ignorant. Wade has better stats therefore he is better than Kobe!
I hope this is sarcasm......"Kevin Durant averaged more points than Kobe" he must be better than Kobe too. "Chris Paul averaged more assist than Kobe" so I guess he's better than Kobe too
WOW! They have Aaron Brooks ranked at #21 and Lowry at #30. WTF? http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=ArCB7yCME_sqP1lgiKGsYs.8vLYF?urn=nba-263026
ok, this is just hilariouse. on reggie williams picture of to the right there is a pic of lebron crying.
What a joke! Tyreke Evans ranked at 5 for what? His potential? What about his statistical efficiency? Then he ranks Wade over Kobe because Wade is statistically better? Shifting standards to suit one's biases, I would say. I agree with other posters, KM should be ranked higher than JRichardson and Tyreke Evans. #8 would be just about right.
Why is it so crazy to rate Wade ahead of Kobe? He's younger, more athletic, arguably a better defender, possesses more PG skills, gets to the line more often and he's won a title. He doesn't have Kobe's jumpshot, but he's hit plenty of game winners already in his career. Is it because he doesn't have Kobe's "aura"?
Because the only thing Wade really does better than Kobe is penetrate and that's because Kobe took that part of his game away years ago to prevent injuries. The extra two inches that Kobe has on Wade makes him a much better matchup defensively against the leagues best perimeter players. Wade only averaged one more assist than Kobe did last yr and that is with Wade being asked to be much more of a facilitator than Kobe is. To say that Kobe isn't the best sg in the league after he just won his 5th ring and his 2nd in a row as the true leader is a slap in the face. Minus a bad game 7 performance and a slow start in round 1 Kobe probably had his best playoff run ever.
Yeah, I wonder about that too. Why do people still claim that Kobe is "obviously" better than Wade when all the objective numbers show Wade to be superior. Don't tell me it's because Kobe has just won two more rings. Let Kobe play with the Heat in the past two seasons and see how well he'd be doing winning-wise. I think Kobe's #1 claim is based more on reputation than reality.
Being a better penetrator is kind of a big deal. You draw more double teams, freeing up teammates. You get to the line more, padding your scoring and getting opponents in foul trouble. You have higher shooting percentages by taking so many shots close to the basket. You can say he took it out of his game to prevent injuries, but I think it has more to do with the fact that he's not as explosive as he was a few years ago and can longer get to the rim at will. Except those players are guarded by Artest anyway. And Wade's probably still a better defender despite the size disadvantage, since he has longer arms and better lateral movement. He averaged 6.5 assists last year to Kobe's 5.0, and 7.5 the year before to Kobe's 4.9. His best teammates last year were Jermaine O'Neal and Michael Beasley. Except it's not a slap in the face, because winning him his 5th ring and where he stands among his peers at SG aren't really directly related. Just because a guy had great team success, that's not a reason to automatically crown him the best at his position. That's for lazy sportswriters who don't really understand the game. Now I personally think that Kobe's the best 2-guard in the league, but one can certainly argue that Wade is better. EDITED TO ADD: For me, it's sort of a brain vs. heart thing. Looking at the numbers, and the fact that the Heat won 47 games last year despite a dreadful supporting cast, my brain tells me that Wade is better. But if you asked me who I'd want right now, with all things being equal, to win ONE game, my heart says Kobe. So for me, I guess it is his aura (it's orange, btw). That said, over the course of an 82-game regular season, give me Wade.
It is a big deal but Kobe can and still does attach the basic when it is needed. Plus I don't think Wade being a better penetrater makes up for how much better of a shooter Kobe is. Whether you need a 2 or a 3 at the end of the game Kobe can deliver. Artest guarding the better player has nothing to do with Kobe's defensive abilities in relation to Wade's. And I just don't see Wade's lateral movement or arm length making up for those extra 4-5 inches the Durants and Melo's have over him but maybe I'm wrong. Kobe averages 4.7 for his career and Wade averages 6.6. Two extra assists for a guy that over his career has been asked to handle more pg duties isn't all that impressive to me. If Kobe had been asked to facilitate the way Wade has over his career his numbers would be higher but he has always had a consistent pg like Fisher and now he even has Odom that can come in and handle a lot of the ball handling. Wade has better "pg skills" because he plays pg more often. If that's what a team asked Kobe to do I have little doubt that he could get an extra 2 assists a game. I couldn't disagree more. A player's greatness can't be defined on only how many rings he won but it is a huge factor and is directly related to his greatness as a player. Kobe still was ahead of Dwade in scoring this year and his percentages and averages were about the same as they have been for his career and he did all of this fighting injuries for most of the season and finished up the year with one of his best playoff performances ever. Watching only the regular season last yr I might be able to agree that Wade is equal or better but based on the way Kobe took his game to another level in the playoffs I don't see how people can say he still isn't the best 2 in the game.
I don't see what the big deal is all about? First of all, there's no point in comparing the single players, especially if the difference between their levels are minute. I guess as to why people dwell on these rankings is about having a reason to say "Oh, he's the best. And I'm marginally better than you (somehow) because I think that, and you're just ignorant." Or this might be about a player's deserving of respect...in which case Kobe clearly deserves more at this point. Frankly, I respect (some aspects) of Kobe's person even more than his skill. His achievements, whether you like it or not, are 100% deserved. OOOOoo sure you can say so and so competes hard and works his butt off, but when your peers practically all hold you in awe (you can search up all the inspiring quotes players and coaches say regarding Kobe's work ethic, etc. As much a beast as Wade is, he does not have the same level of basketball skill as Kobe (though noone save old Steve) have. While he's a totally dominant player, his (and LeBron's, quite frankly) game is more dependant on his athleticism than anything else. So I don't think he'll be able to extend his career as the leader of a team and a dominant player in this league the same way Kobe has his. Not taking credit away from Wade, but these kind of comparisions are pretty useless, becasue what Kobe has done is mad commendable, and his legend is already cemented. While on the topic of comparing players, it surprizes me that there are no comparisions between Wade and LeBron, which I think would be more logical since they are arguably the top two in the league and are both in their primes and can be seen playing right next to eachother in a game.
