Stackhouse, "Kobe is far better than LeBron" <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Stack: 'Kobe's a better player'posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 NEW YORK -- The best night of the NBA regular season is upon us: Detroit vs. San Antonio in the early game; LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant in the second game, with Suns-Warriors as the fallback during commercials. In the LeBron-Kobe faceoff, it seems clear to me that James is having a better overall season despite Bryant's lead in the scoring race, in part because of Cleveland's better record (20-12 to 18-16) and in part because of James' offensive efficiency. He's shooting 50 percent to Bryant's 44 and averaging nearly 31 points to Kobe's 34 despite taking 5.5 fewer shots per game. I was not surprised to hear Dallas swingman Jerry Stackhouse agreeing with me when we spoke before the Mavericks-Knicks game, but he did stun me by taking the debate a step further. "Kobe's a better player; there's really no comparison," Stackhouse said. "As far as him being a little more efficient on the offensive end, I still put him nowhere close to Kobe as a far as being a complete player because Kobe will lock into guys defensively. "LeBron has got to guard. The same energy and IQ he brings on the offensive end, he doesn't do it at the defensive end." Stackhouse has watched Bryant drop 43 and 62 points against his team, the latter performance coming in just three quarters on Dec. 20 in what still ranks as the most jaw-dropping outburst by anyone all season. But as impressed as Stackhouse was, he chalked it up as much to ball-hogging as to pure talent. "He had a great game against us, 62, but those are few and far between. Even his own teammates and coaching staff have been on him about shooting the ball. He calmed down a little bit to pacify them, then he went right back at it," Stackhouse said. In terms of competitiveness, Bryant also gets the edge over James in Stackhouse's opinion. "When they've got the ball and come across half court, he [James] is as competitive as anybody. When he gets on defense, I don't think he's as competitive. Larry Hughes, who is not a great defender by any means, is a better defender for them. But hey, he's 21, so it can be fixed." </div> Wanted to share this from BSPN Insider. The ultimate judge of talent is your peers, and so far most players have hailed Kobe Bryant as the best in the game right now.
I've read a couple articles like that- reporters will interview various players because they REALLY know who's the toughest to play against, both offensively and defensively, and they say that Kobe is the best.
This is exactly what I was saying to my friend. LeBron's defense is so incredibily weak, it's not funny. He just sits there, staring at the the opposing team dribbling the ball, etc. All he has going for him right now is his shot blocking, but besides that, nothing on the defensive end. Like J Stack said, he is not a complete player yet, like Kobe is, you may have an unbelievable offensive game, but if you can't contain the other team defensively, who cares.
To me, its pretty obvious that Kobe is far superior to LeBron. Despite what Jerry Stackhouse said. Bron-Bron is 40% hype. He's a great player, no doubt, but he's nowhere near Kobe level.
