Is Kobe Still The Best?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">People keep bringing up defense when comparing Wade and Kobe, yet they fail to realize Kobe didn't even make the all-defensive team, while Wade in only his second year made it to the second team. Clutch? Nobody better in the business than Kobe, but Wade is also another guy you want taking the last shot besides him. Ever since Shaq left it's been excuses. 'His teammates arn't good enough' or 'They need time to develop chemistry (Kobe with Odom and Butler last year)'. I hope Kobe fans can finally come to their senses and stop denying.</div>
I agree for the most part, except for your defense arguement. Kobe has had a few lazy sets, but for the most part he has been top notch in perimeter defending this year, especially one-on-one. Look at the players' numbers whom he had guarded those games(Ray Allen, Vince Carter)

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rafy:</div><div class="quote_post">Bad shot selection is the mark of the worser* player.

Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, etc, etc. How could you possibly disrespect the game anymore by being such a biased Kobe fan?

He averaged the least assists, when he had the best team. His teammates are good, you just can't see it. He also fails, apparently, to make them better.

If he is both talent and skill wise better, why can't he beat kids that are in their third year in the NBA? You're forgetting that the most important part of basketball IQ is knowing when to shoot and when to pass. He is also averaging 3 TO's/game.</div>

Jordan had bad shot selction? miller had bad shot selction? Jordan shot 50% fg for his career, for a guard thats insane, and miller shot 40% from the 3 for his career what bad shot selection are you refering to?

 

Kobe has great scorer skills,yet has become more of a "gunner",and is not a "team chemistry" guy...which LeBron,T-Mac,Wade,are. The Laker personnell are not that bad,but with Kobe 1/2 the offense,some seem to have no real role beyond being spectators. A team with Kobe,Odum,Phil coaching ought to be better than Utah,and this group is not. Utah looks like a team.
As a Warrior fan,I would not trade J Rich for Kobe,even up. T-Mac? LeBron? Sure and I'd toss in a few draft picks too. I remember when Sprewell was with GS,and was the volume shooter,the more he scored the bigger his ego got,the bigger his ego got the more he'd shoot. The more he shot the more the team game broke down in all areas.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">Jordan had bad shot selction? miller had bad shot selction? Jordan shot 50% fg for his career, for a guard thats insane, and miller shot 40% from the 3 for his career what bad shot selection are you refering to?</div>

I was talking about clutch players.

'Bron, AI and Wade have more TO's because they pass the ball a lot more, and average more assists.

I misread his post, I thought he was referring to all-time, I apologize. However, I have encountered many gullible Laker fans, proclaiming Kobe to be the clutchest player ever.

 

Well lets be honest here... shot selection aside... pound for pound is there a better offensive player in the league than Kobe? If you are honest you would be hard pressed to find out... AI is the only guy that you could make an argument for. Lebron is a great offensive player... but his jump shot is not money yet. In fact Lebron and Wade just play smart and take the higher percentage shots... in that regard I give them their just props and I am very dissappointed in Kobe for not being able to adjust and take the right shots.

But like someone said... shot selection is very important and if Kobe is not smart enough at this point in his career to recognize a stupid shot from a smart one from a shot he just HAS to take because the shot clock is winding down then that discredits his ability as a player. Its not fair to say Kobe is better than Bron if his shot selection were better... the fact is his shot selection has been atrocious thus far this season. There is no excuse for that...

That being said I don't think Kobe is a stupid player. I am more prone to believe that he played a number of games where Phil said "Kobe bail us out of this one.. you have the green light" and he went off and pulled off a few wins or came close. As a result he hasn't just been able to turn it off. I think he knows he is taking too many shots and has said as much. But when your team is down by 9 in the fourth and the only reason its that close is because you have taken 25 shots its not hard to force 10 more shots to try and win the game... shoot he might not even realize at that point how many more shots he has taken.. he was just probably trying to win. What it comes down to is Kobe has to trust the other guys in the team even if it means losing the game. They aren't growing as players if he isn't willing to let them take the pressure shots and airball them just like he did when he first started for the Lakers. I think this is where players like Kobe or MJ (with the Wizards) let their competitiveness work against them. They want to win so badly that they don't realize that they are stunting the teams growth and that sometimes a loss can work out better than a win (re: the Minnesota game).

I have faith that Kobe will get it... he is an intelligent player. Phil needs to coach him a little more and also show him clips of some of his shots...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">People keep bringing up defense when comparing Wade and Kobe, yet they fail to realize Kobe didn't even make the all-defensive team, while Wade in only his second year made it to the second team. Clutch? Nobody better in the business than Kobe, but Wade is also another guy you want taking the last shot besides him. Ever since Shaq left it's been excuses. 'His teammates arn't good enough' or 'They need time to develop chemistry (Kobe with Odom and Butler last year)'. I hope Kobe fans can finally come to their senses and stop denying.</div>

But Kobe has been a regular on the all-defensive team for many years. We have yet to see Wade do this. Again, lets be honest here and give credit where credit is due... How many NBA players would rather have Wade defending them one on one vs Kobe? How many NBA coaches would rather have Wade or Lebron on their best player than Kobe? Very few I would be willing to bet. If you read the Last Season as much as Phil bashed Kobe at times he never bashed how well this guy could play at both ends of the floor. He referred to Kobe as the most complete player he has ever coached and lauded his ability to shut down an opposing player when he needed him to.

As for the biasness of Laker/Kobe fans. I have to agree with you here. Some Kobe fans are biased and not willing to point out his faults because they think that by doing so they are downgrading him from being the best player in the league. Hey.. I will be the first to admit that right now, thus far, the best perimeter players in the league are AI (people tend to forget this guy sometimes), Lebron, Wade, then Kobe. Can Kobe play better than all of these guys. Yes.. when he plays in the flow of the offense and goes on offensive spurts when he needs to all while playing suffocation defense on the opposing teams best player there is no better player in the game today. Of that I am convinced. He just needs to play smarter and stop trying too hard to prove people wrong.

 

Fiyah your from cleveland and you think Kobe is better than lebron? isn't that considered like sacreligious where your from?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">Fiyah your from cleveland and you think Kobe is better than lebron? isn't that considered like sacreligious where your from?</div>

Well I actually need to update that... I lived in Cleveland for a year but moved to the Colorado area. I am from Jamaica though... so I kind of started backing the Lakers back when Magic used to play and have kind of stuck with them ever since.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant is the best guard in the game because he's a two-way player. Defense seperates him from all the other guards in the league. Last year was an exception, but it doesn't take away from how great Kobe can be on defense. The only problem right now is Kobe doesn't always play lock down defense on lower quality guards. The knock on him has been, Kobe benefitted on defense because of Shaq. Playing with Shaq obviously makes it easier, but Kobe is getting it done this year without Shaq, and without an intimidating presence on the inside.

Dwayne Wade is not a good defender. He doesn't have Eddie Jones to protect him on defense anymore and it's showing. He relies a lot on his athleticism and not proper defensive positioning. He has a lot of the same bad habits he had in college, but Wade can easily fix a lot of those bad habits and become a top defender in the league. However, he's not even close to Kobe on the defensive side of the ball.

Interesting comparison to Sprewell, REREM. I agree with the volume shooting aspect of Kobe this year. Early on PJax gave Kobe the green light to be one, but with the players doing a better job with the Triangle, PJax has taken some shots at Kobe for shooting too, much and taken too, many difficult shots.

Just to show his importance on the court, the team is a -11 when Kobe goes to the bench. The offense goes into a dormant state and those wide open looks players get when Kobe is on the floor disappear.</div>

Kobe is not the best guard in the game. Normally, when players are on 'supposed' bad teams, their stats balloon. But the only thing that is happening is Kobe is shooting more. His stats have decreased in every single catagory, except PPG. Wade has the stastic advantage on Kobe, for everything besides PPG. But that is only because he takes so many less shots. Wade shoots .450 and Kobe shoots .400. Clearly, Wade is better stastically. Let us not mention James.

It is completely impossible to come up with a good argument as to why Kobe is better then Wade, besides just saying he is. You say that Kobe's D is better then Wade, granted. However Wade is no knock off, he can play defense. When you parry that with his advantage on Kobe in pretty much every statistic, then the only conclusion is that Wade is better. Unless you are going to biased, and just say that Kobe is better without any logical explanation.

Also, like we have determined. Kobe does not bring it every night, he can when he has to. But doesn't feel inclined to doing it every time.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Statistics do not tell the entire story. Kobe is on a higher level than Dwayne Wade on the court on both ends of the floor. Kobe moves better without the ball on offense, I have yet to see that from Wade. Most of Wade's points come from beating his man off the dribble and taking it to the rim. Wade is a great finisher in traffic and I admire his fearless drives to the rim. I wish Kobe would start taking it to the rim more and hopefully last night was a trend toward him doing it.

LeBron James is a small forward, so I'm not going to include him.

Wade is an average defender at best. He cannot lockdown the premiere scorers in the league like Ray Allen and Vince Carter.</div>

Kobe is better then Wade off ball, granted. This does, by no means, make him the better overall player.

I think FG%, assists, and shot selection do tell the whole story. You have only mentioned two things that Kobe does better, defense and playing without the ball. I'll do you one better by adding his 3 ball shot and clutch ability. But the overwhelming advantage that Wade has shown in the statistical catagory, and his team mindset, surpasses this. So please, give me another example of Kobe's higher level.

LBJ was playing both guard positions, and forward. It is perfectly acceptable to include him. Not only is it acceptable, it is mandatory any logical standard.

You do not get on the All-NBA defensive second team for being an average defender at best. No one, I mean no one can lock down any 'premiere' scorer, all you can do is hold down their percentage. A scorer like Kobe, Tracy, Allen Vince, Pierce, etc, will get his 20+ ppg, no matter what you do.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree for the most part, except for your defense arguement. Kobe has had a few lazy sets, but for the most part he has been top notch in perimeter defending this year, especially one-on-one. Look at the players' numbers whom he had guarded those games(Ray Allen, Vince Carter)</div>

He is good, don't get me wrong, but his defense is overrated. I don't care what anybody says, he was not the best defender at SG for all those years he made all-defensive first team. He played good in those games, but then he let players like Joe Johnson and Cuttino Mobley 20+ points. He is good, but not the best at his position defensively.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe held both Ray Allen and Vince Carter to 10 points this season. So yes, he did in fact lock down both of those premiere scorers.</div>

Then how about Joe Johnson and Cuttino Mobley?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe is better than Wade at everything when it comes to basketball skill. There's not one thing Dwayne Wade does better than Kobe on the court. </div>

Uh...how about passing the ball? Wade is a better passer than Kobe.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What can Wade do better than Kobe? Wade has a limited perimeter game and has no post game. He relies on driving to the basket to get the majority of his points. Kobe Bryant is just as good at driving to the basket and scoring in traffic. He doesn't do it as often because of the offense the Lakers run and the lack of opportunities his teammates create by opening up a lane for him to drive.</div>

What can Wade do better than Kobe? Pass, can be a better defender at times, is much better at driving and finishing in the paint. Wade doesn't have a limited perimeter game. His mid-range jumper has improved a lot since his rookie year. His 3 PT isn't good yet, but it will get better with time. Kobe can drive and finish, but he settles too much for a jumpshot, a habit Wade hasn't fallen into yet.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe held both Ray Allen and Vince Carter to 10 points this season. So yes, he did in fact lock down both of those premiere scorers.

I think LeBron James game has digressed from last year. He's scoring more, but defensively he hasn't been as good, and he's not having the same impact on the boards and assists like he was last year.

Kobe is better than Wade at everything when it comes to basketball skill. There's not one thing Dwayne Wade does better than Kobe on the court. Dwayne's team mindset surpasses Kobe? How so? Kobe Bryant leaves it out on the court every single game and is a two-way player. He's not only the best defensive player on the Lakers, he's their best offensive player. He never bad mouths his teammates, coach, or the organization. He's taken several players under his wing and has transformed his game according to how the coach wanted to use him during the season. When PJax wanted Kobe to play more in the post, Kobe bulked up his frame, when PJax wanted Kobe to be a better 3 point shooter, he spent all summer working on his range, this past summer PJax wanted Kobe to play Jordan's role in the offense as the attacker. So Kobe dropped weight and worked on his conditioning and quickness. He's the ultimate team player on and off the court for the franchise.

Does he take bad shots and force things? Sure he does, he's not perfect and he does make questionable decisions. Every player in the NBA does, but unfortunately Kobe is the 1st and 2nd option on this team.

If the Lakers organization finally gets a two-way player to consistently show up every night with Kobe, you'll see a more efficient version of Kobe on the basketball court. Lamar Odom is not the answer, and Kupchak was a fool to believe Odom would ever snap out of being a lazy, mal-content basketball player.

What can Wade do better than Kobe? Wade has a limited perimeter game and has no post game. He relies on driving to the basket to get the majority of his points. Kobe Bryant is just as good at driving to the basket and scoring in traffic. He doesn't do it as often because of the offense the Lakers run and the lack of opportunities his teammates create by opening up a lane for him to drive.</div>

I'm not sure, but I think Toronto held Ray to something around 12 or 14 points. We have absoloutely no defensive stopper. Vince was averaging 15 points for us in Toronto the last season he was here. Congratulations to Kobe for being such an amazing defensive stopper....

Brons statistical decline is to be expected, since he has a much better team now. You can't bash him on on that, since he has a lot of good players on his team now to take the load off of him. And yes, since he he has better teammates he lets them create instead for themselves or thier teammates, rather then Bron doing it everytime the court, like he did two years ago. His lack of defensive intensity could easily be explained because now he has a much better defensive team, so he doesn't have to waste as much energy as he did before. And focuse more offensively.

Wrong. Wade is a better driver. Better handles. Better passer. Better rebounder. Better shot blocker. Makes better decisions with the rock. He's also averaging more steals. Let us not forget he is younger then Kobe, and has plenty of time to develope a perimiter game. Wade is really strong, and can easily take his opponent in the paint, I have no clue what your getting at by spreading fallacies...

Watch him play, he lets his teammates create, he doesn't take the rock every single time down the floor, and chuck it up. He lets his team drive and dish out to him if they don't have an oppurtunity. Honestly, I really doubt you have watched him play. Of course he is their best defensive player and offensive player. He wasn't when Shaq was their, he was second in both aspects. If he leaves it out there every game, how come you said yourself he pretty much takes days off defensively? He never badmouths his teammates? Honestly, this is much too funny, I won't even wast my time in talking about this. It's your job to do what your coach tells you to do...why does this make Kobe such a nice guy, and a team guy? If he is the ultimate team player for a franchise, as you say, why would he drive the most dominant player in the league out? And get his coach to write a whole book bashing him personally? Granted, Shaq is an asshat. But Shaq is older, better, and deserves respect from Kobe. Even if Shaq is being stupid. It's Kobe's job to support him.

Kobe made just as many stupid decisions now, as when he won all those rings. You're right, a lot of players make stupid decisions. But thats what seperates the echelons of greatness.

Kobe had the chance to play with great players, and become this more efficient Kobe Bryant that you are talking about. He blew it. Game over, it's his fault.

I'll repeat myself "Wade is a better driver. Better handles. Better passer. Better rebounder. Better shot blocker. Makes better decisions with the rock. He's also averaging more steals. Let us not forget he is younger then Kobe, and has plenty of time to develope a perimiter game. Wade is really strong, and can easily take his opponent in the paint, I have no clue what your getting at by spreading fallacies..."

Wrong again. Kobe is not a better driver then wade. Why doesn't he do it now instead of chucking up shots? Because of the system? Rubbish. I don't think pjax wants Kobe chucking up stupid turnaround fadeaways. He'd much rather Kobe take it to the whole everytime. Kobe has had Shaq for the majority of his career, he has had a better team then Wade. The oppurtunities for him were there, more so then Wade, yet he failed to capatalize on them. Wade was doing what he was doing before Shaq came, he had no one to open lanes for him, he did it because he was an amazing slasher. Kobe is great at it too, but not even close to the level that Wade is at. Let us not forget that Kobe has around 10 years of NBA experience, compared to Wades 3. However age is completely besides the point, because we are talking about present day.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe Bryant is the best guard in the game because he's a two-way player. Defense seperates him from all the other guards in the league.</div>

Agreed. But when you take into account the intangibles which includes leadership and things of that nature, he's basically at the same level as Iverson mainly because he(Kobe) lacks in that deparment while AI excels in that department, well at least more than Kobe. I honestly couldn't pick between those two because Kobe is more of a skilled player, he seemingly looks better but if you look at the big picture these two are neck at neck.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe is better than Wade at everything when it comes to basketball skill. There's not one thing Dwayne Wade does better than Kobe on the court. Dwayne's team mindset surpasses Kobe? How so? Kobe Bryant leaves it out on the court every single game and is a two-way player. He's not only the best defensive player on the Lakers, he's their best offensive player. He never bad mouths his teammates, coach, or the organization. He's taken several players under his wing and has transformed his game according to how the coach wanted to use him during the season. When PJax wanted Kobe to play more in the post, Kobe bulked up his frame, when PJax wanted Kobe to be a better 3 point shooter, he spent all summer working on his range, this past summer PJax wanted Kobe to play Jordan's role in the offense as the attacker. So Kobe dropped weight and worked on his conditioning and quickness. He's the ultimate team player on and off the court for the franchise.</div>

Agree. I don't understand how anyone can compare Wade & Kobe. Like I said in a previous post I will be interesting to see how or if he can hold his own when that rookie contracts expires and gets that MEGA contract which will ultimately force management to surround him with mediocrity. However, I'm not going take that into consideration, I don't where to start really, I?m just baffled that some people think that he?s ?dethrone? Kobe as the best guard in the league.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting rafy:</div><div class="quote_post">Wrong. Wade is a better driver. Better handles. Better passer. Better rebounder. Better shot blocker.</div>
Thats why NBA analysis never put him the categorie as a kobe or lebron..plz dont talk if you dont know anything keep watching ur Raptors.
Wade is a great player but not better then kobe or lebron.

 

I am a huge fan of Kobe and Lakers. I now live in Germany and has not too much chance watching their games. But from the statistics it seems that Kobe is not doing a good job this year. Numbers of Rebs and AST are all going down.On the other hand Wade and James seem to have more beautiful stats. Kobe is without doubt a good 1-on-1 defender, the problem is that he is not going to defend a whole team. The other players have to take more responsibilities.

It seems to me that Kobe is willing to share the ball at the beginning, but when teammates fail again and again making the shots, he tends to lose his calm. Since i only got the chance to see few games this season, i don't know if it is the case. Kobe is still the best in the league and Lakers will be back, but not this season...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Holding Vince Carter to 10 points under his average, and Ray Allen to 13 points under his average is damn impressive. It's even more impressive considering Kobe dropped 34 and 46 on offense in the same game.</div>

But your Toronto Raptors have done pretty much the same thing....Carter hase been known to take days off. And we did the same thing to Ray Allen. Because we stopped Allen means we have an All Defense in Mo Pete?

Of course there will be days where they don't do anything. But over a 7 game play off series, these premiere scorers are going to be averaging atleast 20 PPG.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Im not bashing Bron because of the core of players he has. I just pointed out he's digressed from last season. He's settling for a lot more jumpers this season and not driving to the basket and creating for teammates like he was last year. Lack of defensive intesity has nothing to do with your teammates, your intesity is up to you. He hasn't really improved defensively from last season.
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Agreed. He is playing alot more like Kobe.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">How is Wade a better driver and have better handles? He's also not a better passer than Kobe. He's not better in any of the things you mentioned. All things being equal, Kobe is a far superior player than Dwayne Wade.
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But he is. It's fairly easy to statistically prove this. But in all honesty, you really have to watch him play, you can see that he gets into the point at will. He did this at Marquette, he did this his first season in the NBA, he did it with Shaq, and he is doing it with Shaq injured. He is getting almost twice as many assists as Kobe is getting.

Wade is a much better passer, I think any non Laker fan would agree with me. Just look at the assist numbers. In the 03/04 season. When he had a team better then the Heat. Kobe was averaging 5 assists. Currently wade is averaging 7. But really, it sounds like you never even say Wade play, he is much better in this regard.

All in all, how can you explain that statistically, Wade is better then Kobe?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Taking your opponent into the paint is one thing, having actual post moves is another. Wade does not have the drop step, the baby hook, or the fadeaway spin jump shot Kobe has.</div>

Okay, I agree with you now. He doesn't have the hook. However he does have a decent fade away, not as good as Kobe's, but still well above average. His consistent midrange game is what helps him get to the rack, because people cant just leave him open 17 feet away from the basket.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">And Kobe doesn't? Kobe no longer brings the ball up and initiates the Laker offense. He doesn't just dribble down the floor and chuck up shots. Where you got this notion from I'm not sure about? He takes 3 or 4 bad shots a game, that's about it. I'm sure Wade is in the same range of bad shots. He does plenty of forcing offense himself especially with Shaq injured. I've watched plenty of Wade play. I love his game, he's a great player, but as great as he is, he's not on Kobe's level skill wise, it's not even close.</div>

Of course he doesn't do it like that, but once he gets the ball he seems to force it. This season I've only watched around 6 Laker games, but most of the time it seems to me he plays a lot like Jalen Rose. He forces things a lot more then Wade. Of course Wade takes a lot of bad shots, but a lot less than Kobe. If Kobe is so great, how come he failed to lead his team into the playoffs? Wade did it his first season. When they traded Odom and Caron, why couldn't Kobe make the playoffs? I mean, since he so much more dominant then Wade? He had a similar team, so I'm sure a player of his caliber could do it.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"></div>Yeah he rests on a few plays. He's entitled to as far as I'm concerned, but overall Kobe gives 110% effort every game. He works harder than anyone out there because he plays at a high level on both ends of the court.<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"></div>

A few plays? More like a few days. It's impossible to keep up the defensive prowess that Kobe has over an 82-game season, and still have the same offensive intensity that he has.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He never does, he never cries to the media about his teammates. He never makes it a public spectacle like a lot of other players do. He'll take responsibility when the Lakers lose. Just read is post-game quotes, Kobe always shoulders the blame.</div>

I won't even comment.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It is your job, but most players don't listen to their coach and spend their offseason advancing their games. Unfortunately, there's only a handful of players who make that commitment and those players are generally the superstars in the league, or less talented players who rely on hardwork and hustle to remain in the league.</div>

Exactly. You won't see Jalen Rose beat Kobe in his work ethic.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe drove the most dominant player out? Haha that's a half truth. Shaq demanded to be traded, a lot of blame needs to be shared for the big man's departure. It's not entirely Kobe's fault. Kobe did support Shaq, he sacrificed a lot for Shaq and deferred to him without any problems. His attitude changed when Shaq started slacking off because of his contract extension. Kobe no longer felt Shaq was the dominant player he once was and wasn't concerned about winning, just his extension. Shaq stopped working out in the offseason, and milked his injuries. "I got hurt on company time, so I'm going to rest on company time." Remember that infamous quote?
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Half truth or not, Kobe deserves a lot of blame for what happened. Shaq completely transformed the Miami team into contenders, he is the most valuable player every season. Of course it's not entirely his fault, like I said -- Shaq is an asshat. How did he support him by throwing up another fade-away? The only reason he gave the ball to Shaq is because pjax was screaming at him to do it, at time he would ignore Shaq for a whole period or two. But look what happens when Shaq leaves? Kobe should have been mature enough to realise that he won't win without him. I don't care if he stopped working in the off season, anyone who gets 30 and 15 at will, has my support. Again, I realize Shaq is an asshat, that's beside the point. Kobe should be able to play with him, and should be able to win a couple more championships with him.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Did you read the book? There's a small mention about Kobe Bryant, it's not an entire book based on his relationship with Kobe. It's the only thing the media talks about in regards to the book, but it's a small piece of what PJax actually wrote about. Despite all the harsh words PJax wrote, Kobe still took the higher road and didn't oppose him returning. I think that speaks volumes about his character. He recognized PJax was the best option for the team and supported his return.
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Yes I read the book. And it is not a small mention of Kobe Bryant. And now, why would pjax have harsh words for Kobe? Honestly, ask yourself why?

I don't see why doing your job speaks volumes about your character. Players are not supposed to have anything to do with management, which is the least I could say for Kobe.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Just wait for a book coming out about the other side of the story. You'll get a new perspective on the size of PJax ego and how manipulative he is.
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Yes, and Kobe is a saint, we know this already. Phil = bad, Kobe = good. There is not a single person in the NBA without a big ego, not a single one.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe made just as many stupid decisions now, as when he won all those rings. You're right, a lot of players make stupid decisions. But thats what seperates the echelons of greatness.</div>

Is this sarcasm? Or should I reply? I won't make an asshat of myself, just yet.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The system has A LOT to do with Kobe lurking around the perimeter and settling for jumpers. It's hard to drive to the rim when the defense sags because they don't have any respect for Mihm or Kwame on the inside. They would rather let those two try and beat them, than Kobe taking over a game. When Wade drives, the defense is less likely to leave Zo or Shaq all alone or one of the shooters on the court. Also Kobe is the only player to command a double team on the Lakers.</div>

It has NOTHING to do with Kobe lurking around the perimeter and chucking. Wade did it just as well in his rookie season, as he is doing it now. The only thing that has changed is Wade is now more versatile and can hit the midrange jumper. Wade would go into 4 defenders in the paint, and come up with a 3 point play. That was all he could do his rookie season, where I believe they started out around 0 and 10. Why doesn't he just penetrate and kick it out? Create completely open shots for the scrubs that are surrounding, I'm sure they won't miss a layup...all the time.

Wade easily plays through doubles. Like I said before, he is a better passer then Kobe, and it shows in the stats. When he gets doubled, he has even more oppurtunities then he's covered by one guy. Whenever he is doubled, this means that someone like Haslem is open for the shot. He doesn't even have to pass, he could easily draw the foul on them, or just fly by and get the layup.

Again, when all is said and done. Explaine the statistical advantage that Wade has over Kobe? Kobe is supposed to getting massive numbers all around, besides PPG, he's not. He's lacking in every catagory besides 3pt and ppg. And since, I don't think you adressed my point of Bron being a guard for the majority of his short NBA career, I'm supposed to think...?