the lebron vs kobe thread

What do I want him to do? Not quit. How hard is that to do? Why did he quit?

Kobe hasn't had much success as an underdog. He is probably the best in the league but lets not act like he has ever won anything with a team that wasnt stacked. He does no better in LeBron's situation. If anything, he would have cried to be traded seasons ago....

 

lebron is like nba street or nba live, and kobe is like nba 2k. lebron is the highlight 3 and dunks on offense and the highlight block on defense, while kobe just plays the fundamental.

both are effective though

 

kobe makes players around him better in the sense that he can work with both low post presence (he'll play more perimeter/midrange) and shooters (he'll play more in the post).

lebron makes players around him better also, however lebron can only make perimeter players better (like gibson).. pair him up with guys who crowd the paint (like shaq and ben wallace) and his effect is diminished.

put lebron on the lakers, and andrew bynum would suck, but gasol would still be effective (more to the testament of gasol's skill level, since he can play high post or low post). but they should still be good enough to win the championship (considering derek fisher and ron artest are capable 3 point shooters, which is what you want to surround lebron with after he barrels in to the paint, he needs people to kick it out to).

i don't see it as lebron being a bad player, he's extremely effective with shooters he can kick it out to, and he's unstoppable once he picked up speed and is driving to the rim. you can't deny the effectiveness of that.. taking away the age factor, its easier to build a team around kobe...

 

How do I know? Go watch the game and read his body language. It's clear as day.

I didn't say Kobe wasn't better. But saying he has had more success as an underdog, well that's just bs.

 

By forcing bigmen out of paint to surround your star, you eliminate traditional centers playing back to the hoop, Shaq, YM, Bynum. You make other combo bigman (who can play both styles) not as effective. Gasol and TD, for example, do not shoot as well as Amare or West from high post. And on the other hand, most good defensive bigmen are not faced up style (KG may be the only exception). It'd be very hard to find an ideal bigman for LBJ. And for those that fit, they are Hakeem, KG kind flexible and they can be easily built upon for a contender, very unlikely Cavs can get them.

Also, when your bigmen and guards are often out of positions on offense. You are less likely to get offensive rebounds or stop fast break. This is not against guard penetration or bigmen at high post. But doing that for most possessions are unlikely to make it efficient on offense overall.

LBJ is certainly efficient at what he does, but at the time, many sacrifices has to be made. Now, maybe that's still enough to win a champion. But how many times in the past decade a champion emerged without post threat? Pistons in 2004 and Celtics in 2008. Both count on top defense and balanced perimeter shooter and at the same time the opposition were losing key bigmen.

I'd say LBJ's style may win a champion, but unlikely to build a dynasty as expected.

 

Anytime you play without HCA in playoff, you are underdog. That's just simple statistics. Lebron's Cavs only won ONE 50+ team in playoff in his career, let's not overhype his success. Cavs had been good at beating bad team and overachieved one time, that's about it.

 

I forgot to mention that Pistons won 53 games when Cavs beat them. In comparison, Rox won 52 the same year. So basically, Cavs were as good as Jazz that year. Beat a team of Rox caliber and lost to Spurs in landslide fashion. Williams and Boozer just achieved as much as LBJ did if you ask me.

 

Lebron scores a lot as we all know, he is big and athletic enough to rebound the ball. He average high in assist doesn't mean that he is a good team player. Kobe pass the ball for the triangle offense or the ball movement. Lebron pass the ball whenever he see a chance to make an assist. Plus Lebron handles the ball most of the time.

But Kobe is a better player and much more of a professional than Lebron. Even though Kobe complains (all stars complain), he is still much more of a professional. The way he prepares himself before games and how focus he is before games. He is in a serious mode when he step foot onto the court. Kobe is and will always be a greater player than Lebron.

Lebron on the other hand is a good player. But one day, he will blow out his knees ( look at the way he plays, the way he jump) and he would be vulnerable. Look at Tmac. Lebron is unprofessional just because he dances in the middle of the games whenever his team is winning big. That is very disrespectful to the opposing teams. He is getting more and more cocky. The media just blew up his head. I really think he crossed the line against the bulls. How they were winning big, and the Cavs starting lineup is still on the floor playing while the bulls bench is on the court. The Cavs is blowing out the bulls and they are constantly dancing and playing around. I mean, if they're winning big, just close out the game with dignity. I never see a great player like Jordan, Kobe, Bird or Magic dances around like that when they're winning.

Sure Kobe or Jordan talks trash during games but that is not being cocky. That is because both players are highly competitive and they do that to hype themselves up even more. Talking trash about the game to each other is part of basketball. But dancing around when the other team basically gave up is terrible