this has been discussed all the time, but the main thing i've always wanted to point out was the media has a love affair with lebron, and more so many people have a hate affair with kobe, hate him off the court and his demeanor on the court, meaning when he drops 81 hes a ballhog, when he doesn't shoot, he is trying to prove something, when he changes his number, He is trying to one-up MJ...basically it leads to a hate bias on whatever the dude does my point is, above our opinions, especially above the media...i think the people who goto battle everyday are the most credible to judge, yes they have their biases but if you take answers from the whole league youll get a good idea, an SI poll gave a large margin of the player an nba player was most afraid to guard...kobe by a large margin then we have the current players, gms, coaches, and legends voting on greatest player today : kobe doubles lebron's first place votes http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi..._edges_lebron_as_no_1_on_current_top_50_list/ then it came to my mind again when i was reading brandon jennings twitter he says this: @Chris_Broussard a lot of people don't know this but Melo skill wise, is way better then Lebrons. Far as skill its Kobe, and Melo. and yea itsn to say lebron sucks, but its to say when hollinger and every writer has claimed hes the greatest thing and by far the best player in the nba, judged by numbers, people forget to factor in the system you play in and possessions per game(both of which lebron has the ball in his hands more than anyone else in the league by a whole lot, and has a system run solely through him instead of a equal opportunity triangle) and just give it to bron, hes considered the king since day one, the other day espn wrote an article how to improve on perfection on lebron james... its just annoying to see, but just wanted to share some more info, sorry for writing quality, im half way into the game and eating
Lebron should get his due. But though he has the complete game, he just isn't a great shooter and there's no reason to believe that this is going to change. Dwayne Wade has this limitation too, but he adapts his play around it whereas Lebron is too much of a shameless gunner. Look at the Cavs pitiful playoff performance last year. Kobe, who I suspect (but can't prove) is edging towards the end of his prime, is still the better player in every respect.
Unless it's hands down easy to discern LeBron has surpassed KB, I will only put the King above the Mamba if he does it in a Magic-MJ type fashion, (Beats him in the finals)
thats actually fair, if he takes him in the finals, Ill give him his dues as the best today...its just sad to see the hand outs he gets, he didn't play a nba game and he was called king james, and still gets that and is considered the greatest in the game by media and he hasn't won the main title yet? and they pile up excuses for him, its just sad the way they hold up his sack for him. i remember rick barry was talking abotu lebron's potential being amazing yet hes never seen an nba vet 6 years in with the holes that he has.... its bc the nba accomodated to him rather tahn like mj and everyone let him struggle and learn to develop his mid range game so on and bring the best out of his potential. I think mj in espn march 08 or 07 article said he talked about how nbas problem is they are handing out partnership to the league hints at lebron and tries to use his marketing technique(LJ23, so on) yet don't make them earn it and develop and hinders the quality of ball out there
True to some degree, but he is doing all this and he is ONLY 1 year and 10 days older than me! Melo on the other hand is 1 year, 7 months, and 8 days onlder than me!
I think that most people would agree that he has by far exceeded the astronomical expectations that were placed on him in high school. And, yes, I agree with others when they assert that James has never had a team that was good enough around him. I totally dislike Kobe, but admit that the man can seriously play, however I couldn't agree that he's better than James in every respect. I think that at this point James is faster and a much stronger rebounder. I know that this opinion won't be popular with you, but I think that Nowitzki is seriously underrated in terms of skill. Oh yeah, and I forgot to add that James averages more than twice as many assists and shoots over 50% as well. Even if his usage is higher, I don't think that it would be fair to not give him his credit, even if the league and the media do, "hold his sack."
Daryl Morey's take: http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Q_And_A_With_Daryl_Morey_Rock-302475-34.html [rquoter] JCF: Last question. Cleveland is up next – Is LeBron the best player in the NBA? DM: (laughs) Andre Ware asks me that every week. Yes, he’s the best player in the league – by a good margin, I think. If you had first pick in the all-free agent NBA draft, you’d take LeBron James. I get that question a lot, too, so I figured I’d answer that as well. [/rquoter]
yea I would say lebron is more athletic and a better rebounder....I'd say kobe is more skilled and capable everywhere else..he has those intangibles, he really seems like a true basketball junkie where if he wasn't in the league then he'd be on clutch fans critiquing and screaming at the games on what they are doing wrong, just one of those guys who can't get enough of hoops... its funny everyone talks about kobe being too fake, my thing with lebron is that he seems too calculated to be liked, he had 90 million and nike's marketing powerhouse invested in him before he stepped foot in the nba, those guys are public relations genius's so almost calculate everything he says and he has small mishaps which i catch and annoy me about him, he talks about bball not being his first love and foot ball was, he also mentions he doesn't watch hoops much when he's not playing bc then he'd rather be out there, so he didn't watch the nba much growing up, and when he first came out he didn't talk about being the greatest player ever, he talked about being the first billionaire and most global icon athlete.... it just annoys me, i get the vibe from kobe that he'd be playing at the gym and just obsessing abotu the game no matter the situation( I am biased bc in the houston all star game, I got to meet him behind the scenes, no cameras, and of all the all stars he was just flat out teh nicest and chillest....and you'd be surprised how lebron would ignore and walk by people in the background and as soon as the lights were on and people were all there to see what he'd do hed all of a sudden get friendly.... and also I had the pleasure of talking to coach k about team usa in ny, and he mentioned that the first practice kobe was able to participate in after missing some time for team usa he came in and all the young fellas wanted to see waht the best scorer in the nba would do, and he spent the whole day not shooting one ball jsut doing defending drills full on and everyone jsut followed and he set the tone that day. Also he had a meeting with K, and asked one thing, just let me guard the best player every game thats it. that kind of passion, along with poitns for learning rom the dream, is just someting i respect regardless of how all these players act on the court, people talk as if kobe is the only one, lebron is just as bad" he self promotes on shirts despite losses telling to check his stats, and tehn he often speaks of himself in 3rd person, and also i've heard interviews where he throws his teammates credibility under the bus saying you just put me with any 4 guys and ill make them competitive, taking away any credibility to his teammates accomplishments. -------------------------------
LeBron is a better passer (more accurate, and more willing), a better runner in transition, a better finisher at the basket, he covers ground more quickly in help rotations, and perhaps most importantly he's a better teammate. But, yeah, Kobe is really intense and he's a more dangerous scorer outside the paint. And, I'll go ahead and say it ... he may be the most dangerous scorer ever outside the paint.
another thing on lebron's team that sucks so bad, to be honest lets face iet hes improved his jump-shot, but hes still streaky and has a shaky jump shot, due to this and his holes in the fundamentals, he needs the right offense and type of players around him... notice you put shaq on that team and his stats take a dip and stop improving this year....if he was on the lakers, and had an equal opportunity offense, his possessions would go down ,assists would go down(no player in phil's offense has ever ever averaged over 7.5 assist), his fg percentage would go down bc you rely more on your shooting in this offense, and he has pau and bynum clogging the paint...so the thing is, nba is a cohesive sport, its not so simple as player a is better than b so if you pair him with player a they will be better...he could be with the better players on the lakers and they probably won't compliment him as well therefore more poor outcome then people would think and on the other end, he needs guys who can space the floor to do what the does best, penetrate, and play defense, guys like mo williams, delonte, and even illgaskus to spread the court for him, are prefect... regardless if they aren't as individually as good, but the way lebron plays he needs that, people discredit how system produces statistics and just compares one players stats to another when the situation just doesn't allow that. I hope many people saw hoops in the 90s and 80s, they had hand checking ,mj was as athletic as they came early on, but they roughed him up(think ny and detroit) and he had to develop and perfect his midrange to expand his game and compete with the best, i think the nba hd so much invested in lebron you can see them change rules to accommodate this new generation of players so they 'meet' expectations and perform and this lowers the basketball output, we know have guys like jennings talking about how the nba game is much LESS physical than the euro game...the supposed soft euros? yea, more physical than the nba, they allow more there now, it frustrating to see, but lebron would be very limited with his skill set relying purely on athleticism in that day and age and sad reality is as spoiled as kobe can be, he played before most of these changes took place and hes skilled and adaptable to play in that era, its just those small things where you earn or lose respect in my opinion once again sorry for the rant, and perhaps grammar that i wont look over! ha
Do not agree with the latter. Also, getting to the finals is one thing, winning it is all that matters.
How do you not agree with the latter? Before Gasol came to the Lakers they were just another playoff team. When Bynum got injured again they looked like lottery guys. Kobe is more skilled than LBJ. I think that is to be expected-he's had PJ as his coach his entire career (except for that one year), he's already a vet and he works on his game a lot. But B-ball is not all about skill. LBJ is by far the most talented basketball player to ever lace sneakers. He's built like Karl Malone but runs the court like Chris Paul-you can't teach or learn stuff like that. LBJ can play all 5 positions, and when he's on he's pretty much unstoppable since he's too strong for guards and too quick for PFs and Cs. And that's just on offense-on defense he can be pretty nasty too. I seriously think we won't see another guy with LBJ's physique. He's like what a perfect bball player would look like.
Great post! You've just got to admire the passion for basketball that Kobe has. I don't think LeBron has that despite being more talented, Kobe is a basketball junkie, LeBron more in to the money. And from everything that I've heard Kobe seems like a great guy despite the image that's been created of him, probably due to his desire to win he comes off as a jerk on the court.
i assume your post is sarcastic? not as obvious as you would think bc those are the assertions that i was actually making, another good read is the chris broussard of sports illustrated book, the art of a beautiful game, or the art of basketball something like that, the first chapter is dedicated to kobe's unparallel intensity and competitive spirit that often leaves his misunderstood
Lebron being a better teammate? Hell, KB earned Smush a contract, earned Sasha a contract, they didn't belong to NBA if they're not besides KB. Smush would be cut by Heat in no time proves that. KB transcended Ariza, Shannon to where they are right now. LeBron is all about sucking all possessions and making any potent players a role player. Almost every player came to Cavs and start being a bad player. Shaq being the latest example. Individual assists number is so deceiving. If you hold the ball all the time, of course you are going to get the number. Hollinger lives on his PER, but his PER doesn't account the usage at all. Team assists is a much better number if you want to assess offense and the impact of a player in a system. LeBron barely played off ball, set a screen, settle on weak side to attract defense etc. He played for stats as he put on his shirt.
Check what team Kobe brought to playoff, Smush parker, Walton, Kwame and Odom. Only Odom is a starter caliber. And their bench has cook as the 6th man, not to mention they played in a very competitive west. Just 2 years ago, the 9th seed won more games than No.4 team in the east. Had Kobe in east, he'd been in 2nd round at least.
