Better NBA Player

Better NBA Player


  • Total voters
    12
Down voted for having Kobe ahead of Lebron.

Lebron has more MVP's, higher PER, higher PPG, higher RPG, higher APG, better FG %, better 3 pt FG% too.

Kobe has him beat on rings but was robin for three of them.
I readily admit that Bron's a better player than Kobe, but IMO when evaluating the best of all time you're ranking careers not per game excellence. Longevity counts for a lot.

The case for Kobe:

Five more all star games
Four more all NBA teams
Seven more all NBA defensive teams
Four more rings
One more ring as the alpha dog

Kobe's three rings as best player came with worst supporting casts than LeBron's two rings as best player

If we're selecting the best guy at their peak I take LeBron. If we're selecting the guy with the best career I don't think it's that close right now, LeBron still needs at least two more excellent seasons to pass him IMO.

Love to see your top 10.

Already gave my top 10 in another thread.

Also do you not know how to count ? Kobe won two rings only as the alpha dog(same as Lebron) and has 5 rings. Lebron has led his team to the Finals as an alpha dog 5 times while Kobe has just 3.

BTW, if you want to talk longevity then why is Magic or Bird so high?

Lebron has played 11 seasons, 842 games, 153 playoff games and counting.

Magic played 12 full seasons, 906 games, 190 playoff games

Bird played 13 full seasons(one year he only played 6 games so really only 12 seasons), 897 games, 164 playoff games.

Bill Russell played 13 full seasons, 963 games, 165 playoff games

Michael Jordan played 15 seasons(really only 12 as 2 were with Wizards then that half year) played 1072 games, 179 playoff games.

Just find it weird you use Lebron's lack of time in the game against him when he's not that far off seasons wise or games played to your top four.
Chest already poonted out my lack of counting skills. No idea how I whiffed on Kobe's rings, no excuse there.

Magic won 5 rings. There's no way he's not ahead of Lebron. You even have him ahead of Lebron yourself.

Russell won 11 rings. He could have played just 11 seasons and he'd be forever ahead of Lebron based on that alone.

Bird I already analyzed the difference.

"Just find it weird you use Lebron's lack of time in the game against him when he's not that far off seasons wise or games played to your top four."

These are the greatest players of all time, in many ways it's going to be a matter of degree. A couple of seasons matters. Like I said, Bron's probably two excellent seasons away from passing some of these guys up. When it comes to the Kobe comparison specifically I think 15 All NBAs and the second most points scored of all time carries more value than Lebrons 9 and higher per game production. You disagree, which is fine. Ultimately I will almost assuredly have Lebron ahead of Kobe. I don't think his career has been better yet.
 
I'm not disagreeing with you having those four ahead of Lebron just found it weird you used Lebron's lack of a career against him when those four didn't have much of a career either is all.
 
I'm not disagreeing with you having those four ahead of Lebron just found it weird you used Lebron's lack of a career against him when those four didn't have much of a career either is all.
Maybe I approached it wrong. It's not so much Lebron's lack of a career as it is Kobe's longevity. Presumably Lebron will have similar longevity since he also came straight out of HS. But at this point Kobe has 6 more excellent seasons than LBJ does, which counts a lot for me.
 
Kobe's longevity is interesting in all this.

Bill Simmons has never said Kobe is better than MJ but when he asks if you are GM whose career would you rather have MJ or Kobe's? It's a good question.

Basically with MJ you only got 12 seasons. Now of those 12 seasons about 9 of them were GOAT status. With Kobe you do get more years.

MJ as crazy as this sounds should have done more. You gotta figure he was in the prime of his career and walked away to play baseball for two of those years(1995 comeback never happened).

Could you imagine if the Heat win a title Lebron just exits the game for a year and a half? Just the thought of that seems unthinkable.
 
Greg Ostertag or Bill Wennington? I'll go with Wennington because of his three rings. Their battles in the NBA Finals in 97 and 98 were legendary. These guys were really bringing it in the post. Ostertag was a stronger post defender and shot blocker, but Wennington could hit a 15 footer if you left him open. He really spaced the floor for Jordan and Pippen to do their thing.
 
It's either Russell or Magic. I never saw Russell play but 11 rings puts him at #2 all time for me. I love everything Magic could do though. I'd probably take Kareem over Wilt too, btw.

Mike
Russell
Magic
Bird
Kareem
Wilt
Oscar
Kobe
Duncan
LeBron

I really have no idea where to rank LeBron right now. I feel like he ends up a lot higher on this list but if his career ended today I'm not sure I could put him ahead of anyone else listed.

Duncan is not behind Kobe. I love Kobe more than any other athlete but it's Duncan and it's starting to get not even close.
 
It's either Russell or Magic. I never saw Russell play but 11 rings puts him at #2 all time for me. I love everything Magic could do though. I'd probably take Kareem over Wilt too, btw.

Mike
Russell
Magic
Bird
Kareem
Wilt
Oscar
Kobe
Duncan
LeBron

I really have no idea where to rank LeBron right now. I feel like he ends up a lot higher on this list but if his career ended today I'm not sure I could put him ahead of anyone else listed.

Duncan is not behind Kobe. I love Kobe more than any other athlete but it's Duncan and it's starting to get not even close.

Interesting. How high do you put Duncan? Not sure I agree but I think there's definitely a case for Duncan.
 
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