It's talked about with feverish passion at one-point or another at any local barbershop. It's debated over and over for countless hours without ever ending with a winner. It has nothing to do with politics or overpaid prostitutes. Like Optimus Prime or Megatron, Randy Moss or TO, Nas or Jay-Z, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James are just the latest duo to captivate us.
While both are great players, there are several reasons i'd have to give Lebron the slight edge on the timeless "who's best wing player in the NBA" debate.
Besides the obvious that Lebron James is younger, if you look closer into their games James just doesn't have the level of selfishness that Bryant and a host of other comparable players in the NBA have.
Now if you have been following closely, and I stress closely, following the career of Kobe, you'd know that his ego sometimes gets in the way of his game. If Kobe is having a off-night, and the defense is really keying on him. Kobe will often take it personally and as a challenge. He then starts to shoot his team out of the game instead of playing the decoy and just getting his guys involved. Lebron James thinks the game of basketball at all times, not just most of the time. He's always making plays for his teammates. You never see Lebron getting caught up in a personal battle with the opposing star to the detriment of his team as Kobe sometimes does. Lebron wants to set the table for the basketball play regardless of who scores. Kobe wants the play to start and end with him. You say my opinion is biased somehow? Well lets look a little further.
Lets look into leadership which is a vital part of a superstar's role in any sport. In Kobe Bryant, we have a player who has, without a doubt, outsmarted himself. He had one of the most dominant centers in NBA history in his prime on his side and what did he do? After winnining 3 NBA titles with Shaq, Kobe decided that it wasn't good enough. He wanted to win a championship while he got the most touches while being the first option. So in a nutshell, he wanted to average 30ppg instead of 24ppg. He wanted to be Superman instead of Batman.
What Kobe failed to realize is that the fans didn't think of him as a sidekick. He, himself, was seen as a super-hero, not Shaq's Scottie Pippen. Bryant helped drive the car that got Shaq traded out of LA because he wanted the spotlight to himself. What went on afterwards is mindboggling. Bryant now had the Lakers to himself, but he quickly realized that winning alone was no easy task. Bryant's scoring indeed went up while Lakers wins went down. Kobe has since repeatedly butted heads with his coach, bailed out on team-mates in a crucial playoff game 7 against the Suns which was well publicized. Most recently, he demanded a trade, citing that he needs more help to win. Make sense to you? I know it didn't. Talk about irony!
On the "flipside" or as some like to say "the contrary," Lebron James, at 6-foot-8, 250lbs age 23, I like to call the NBA's "Government Experiment." He seems to understand that how to win. League experts and analysts tried to criticize the phenom for passing the ball to an open-teammate for a due-or-die last second shot in last year's playoffs. But it was the right play to make. Lebron didn't have a good shot and Donyell Marshal, who happens to be a 3-point shooter, was wide open. Donyell missed the shot so these "so-called" experts questioned whether he should have passed the ball because he's the star player, not Marshal. They said he should taken the last shot.
These are the same "so-called" experts who would call a player selfish if he didn't pass the ball. It can't go both ways. Great players make role-players better by passing the ball and by having confidence in team-mates for the good of the team. Michael Jordan regularly did this.
If you'd seen Lebron play in high school, even back then, you could have seen the high school senior showing great leadership on the court. I watched in amazement when i saw Lebron play against Strawberry Mansion High School at the famous Palestra in Philadelphia. I had never seen a kid that dominant physically, who could easily score 50, passing the ball to his teammates. The more I watched "King James," the more apparent it became to me that, at age 23, he has figured out the basketball puzzle.
Do you want to look into numbers? Fine. Like the great Jay-Z said "numbers don't lie". Well on the surface, they don't. But they rarely tell the whole story. Most people use the numbers as the single most visible barometer as to who's better when comparing NBA players. But we "Hoops Nuts" (big basketball fans) know you have to look deeper when presenting your arguement. King James has better numbers than Kobe in all the main statical individual catergories such as ppg's, rebounds and assists. Lebron in fact averages more assists even though Kobe has the more talented team.
Folks, to this day, people have yet to explain to me how Lebron was able to lead that 06 Cavs team past Detroit and to the Finals?! I sure can't explain it myself. Kobe has scored 81-points in a game. He has an arsenal of "ridiculous" shots that only he can make. But Kobe still isn't the complete player that James is when you consider stats, team-leadership, sacrifice, lack of ego, plus overall extraordinary talent.
In the end, Kobe and Lebron are so close talentwise that it comes down to sacrifice and who's going to do it to win. Obviously, Mr. Bryant didn't get the memo that the common denominator of NBA Championships lately has been either Shaq or Duncan. Is there anyone who thinks Kobe would still be parked on 3 NBA Titles if Shaq stayed? Not a chance.
Besides Michael Jordan, you'd be hard pressed to win a NBA title without a big man, no matter how much you score. Allen Iverson could have written Kobe a book about that. While James hasn't won a NBA title yet, I sincerely doubt he'd allow his ego to ever deny himself of the ultimate goal. For this, I'll take the kid from Akron, Ohio.
Are u high?
I liked it better when it was just Littal writing
Lebron has the leadership, but Bryant has a shot Lebron dreams about. Pure talent, it's Kobe. And now that Kobe has a decent team, we'll see what happens
I told you last week and am I going to have to get Littal on the phone? This is Kobe country around these parts
I slept with Kobe's wife
Kobe....is....the...greatest when he isn't snitching to the police
Kobe....is....the...greatest when he isn't snitching to the police
Let's get off that Kobe drove Shaq out of LA mess once and for all. Kobe said he didn't have anything to do with it, and he also revealed exactly what the owner, Jerry Buss, said at the time about Shaq. Shaq then said he believed what Kobe was saying about Buss' comments back then. And they were on friendly terms before the Suns-Lakers game right after Shaq was traded. Now to the topic: LeBron's not there quite yet, but he may get there in the future. I agree that he has better leadership skills already. If you look at their backgrounds you can see the difference. Kobe is the product of a former NBA player, so he probably grew up with an air of basketball superiority. LeBron is a first genearation NBA player, so he's grown up more humble, even amidst the early Sports Illustrated cover shots as a high school kid.
Your one funny guy Littal! I guess you like irony. This is the kind of typical BS article that the "bias white media" writes. Blame Kobe blah, blah...he's selfish...vote Lebron MVP because he's a "team player" who "makes teammates better". Sorry, even when Jordan was in Washington he couldn't make Kwame better than Kobe. Even Smush Parker sill sucked with "better teammates" Dwayne Wade and Shaq.
Your one funny guy Littal! I guess you like irony. This is the kind of typical BS article that the "bias white media" writes. Blame Kobe blah, blah...he's selfish...vote Lebron MVP because he's a "team player" who "makes teammates better". Sorry, even when Jordan was in Washington he couldn't make Kwame better than Kobe. Even Smush Parker sill sucked with "better teammates" Dwayne Wade and Shaq.
I appreciate your rant Arenbe too bad I didn't write this article...lmao...I suggest you read this article I did write..
http://www.blacksportsonline.com/rlkobe.html
You didn't know Littal is the biggest Kobe stan on the face of the earth
I was getting pretty edgy reading this. If I say I’m disagreeing with your post I would say nothing. Reading this is meaningless waste of time.
It is one of things I can never understand ... how people can think that way. It's so illogical that it can only be based upon moronity.