The number of hours he has put in alone at the gym. The countless number of shots he takes before he leaves the gym. He is the first one to arrive, last one to leave. He may not be as flashy as LeBron James is, but he is the better player. His name is Kobe Bryant. The 6'6, 205 pound guard might not have the unique frame that James possess, but he knows how to use his hard work and talent in an unbelievable manner, which is what makes The Black Mamba the best player in the National Basketball Association today. James' stats may outshine Bryant's, but if stats make players seem as good as the numbers say, players like Jamal Crawford and Josh Smith could be some of the elite players in the league. Critics say that James is a better leader than Bryant is. They are wrong. Bryant may have dissed teammate Andrew Bynum before, but look at what that has done to the kid. Bynum has become a much better player since Bryant called him out. What LeBron has said to the press before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals has yet to be seen as in insult to his teammates, which it actually is. “There’s only one of me,” James said. “… If I could clone myself, we’d be all right.” That did not help the confidence of his teammates as the Cleveland Cavaliers did not win a game for the rest of the series. What about talking to the press or shaking hands with opponents after losing games in the playoffs? When or if Bryant does it, it gets blown out of proportion. When James did it, no one seemed to care until David Stern actually fined the so called face of the league. The King finished second in defense player of the year voting and people are now saying that he is a better defender than Bryant. Those claims are laughable. Bryant is a better defender either at being a roamer or a lock down defender. You know he is a better lock down defender, remember the Olympics last season? Yeah, I'm sure you do now. Bryant was an amazing defender when Coach K told him to be a shut down defender as opposed to Phil Jackson telling Kobe to be a roamer. Scoring wise it's not even close. Kobe is a better scorer than LeBron and is possibly the greatest scorer of all-time. I'll give LeBron the edge in passing. He has great court vision and really makes his teammates look good at times. He could also be considered an overrated passer due to most of his teammates being catch and shoot players. It makes it easy for LeBron to just penetrate, and since he gets so much attention, it leaves a shooter wide open. Despite James' size being much larger than Bryant's, Kobe is a warrior. He is a tough player who has been playing on a torn ligament in his finger for a year and a half now while James sat out a few games because of a sprained finger. This article was not written to bash LeBron, he is a phenomenal player, don't get me wrong. He may go down as the greatest ever, but today, Kobe is clearly the better player. Don't get brainwashed in all the LeBron hype by the media when they proclaim him as the best player, because in reality, the real king of the NBA is Kobe a.k.a. the best player in the league.
LeBron proved that he is still second fiddle to Kobe, overall. He may be the better offensive player, but that is it. He might not even be better in that department, either.
I think LeBron and Cleveland were victims of having it "too easy." The Cavs dominated the regular season at home and the first two rounds of the playoffs. They didn't really face any adversity until the Orlando series when they got stunned at home and found themselves in panic mode. If LeBron doesn't hit that last second 3 pointer Orlando might have swept this series. Without experiencing adversity this season LeBron and his teammates didn't know how to respond and comeback from it. They resorted to "LeBron Ball" and as we've seen throughout the history of the NBA, one on one basketball isn't going to win you a title.
Again, I disagree Shape. Lol, we're not seeing eye to eye lately on topics. The Cavs struggled all year against the "elite" teams. In fact, I think their only notable road win came against Denver. They were 2-2 against Boston (losing the 2 in Boston), 1-2 against Orlando (0-2 in Orlando), and 0-2 against the Lakers. They benefited from being in a piss poor division in a piss poor conference. They weren't that good of a team and they got exposed.
Yeah they did struggle on the road against quality teams in the regular season. It was one of the reasons I felt they wouldn't have success in the post season, but I don't think they paid much attention to that alarming trend. Once they secured home court advantage throughout the playoffs they felt they could defeat anyone in a 7 game series. Once they lost that home court advantage they didn't know how to rebound from it. Similar to what happened with the Lakers last season. We rolled all the way to the Finals and then got a reality check in Game 1 against Boston. We didn't recover from that. This year the Lakers have been tested against the Rockets and Nuggets. Having overcome those series and playing with a sense of revenge from last year's embarrassing Finals loss, the Lakers had the experience to know what it takes to grind out a series win. Cleveland doesn't have that yet. I'm not sure LeBron will ever get it either because Orlando looks capable of being in their way for a long time in the East. The nucleus in Orlando is very young and Howard is only going to get better offensively for Orlando. The Magic have four legit All Stars (assuming they can keep Hedo Turkoglu) and Cleveland only has one All-Star in LeBron. I consider Mo Williams a token All-Star. I know LeBron was amazing in the playoffs and in the Orlando series without much help. However, he also struggled late in games with a lot of costly turnovers, missed free throws, and a complete breakdown on the defensive end.
65 wins and 2 playoff sweeps is pretty impressive, I agree with Shape more. They panic after the first loss, and resorted to LeBron Iso's all over again. I think the big blow to Cleveland was when Pavlovic got hurt again. Guy was a flamethrower for awhile behind the arc, and he had finally found his shot. But then he sprained his ankle and was out 4-6 weeks. Then when he got back, he was out of the rotation, and he's a player that needs confidence to perform well. So they didn't have that big shooter they could pair with LeBron and not lose defense, which hurt against the Magic. Pavlovic is someone that could of come in and covered Hedo, and made a real difference IMO. The other flaw they have is the lack on post up threats to get consistent points from. When your best post up player is Delonte West, you are indeed flawed.
Generally a good article but there's a factual error here. If LeBron did say that before Game 3, then they did win one more game in the series (Game 5). I didn't hear the quote, but if it was before Game 3 then there's that slight factual error. Now to comment on the point rather than nit-picking: For most of this season I truly believed that LeBron was the better player than Kobe, but having watched Kobe in Game 1 of the Finals I don't think that any more. I'll admit straight off that I've only seen Kobe play once before this season (then again I've only seen LeBron about 5 times) so my judgement is based on a very small sample size. I know LeBron's game better than Kobe's and I'm starting to see him as a very one-dimensional offensive player. He's one of the greatest ever at that one dimension, but it's still only one dimension. He drives to the bucket, looks to create contact as he goes to the rim and tries to put it in. It's a strategy that often works very well, and I guess either a second dimension or a sub-dimension is the kick out pass to a shooter in the corner. Any time a player has one major move in his arsenal, they are immediately in trouble, particularly when it is one based on athleticism and physical ability. As LeBron ages, his athleticism will fall and he will struggle. Now is the time that he must develop his arsenal to include a consistent and reliable jumpshot as well as a solid post-up game. I can understand completely why he hasn't yet got those moves - as a kid in high school he was never up against anyone who could really stop him going to the rim so there was no need to practice shooting as much as others would. He has the tools to become unstoppable in the paint, too, he's just as athletic as Dwight Howard, immensely strong and quicker than any post player in the League. If he can develop these moves, he would be truly unstoppable. There is no reason why he shouldn't have done (or at least tried) this already, other than the fact that he has never before needed these moves. Then again, never before has he been competing for an NBA Championship. Another thing that worries me is what will happen when another, or a few more, physical phenomena enter the League. LeBron will lose his edge against the competition. He won't be the only player in the League with everything going for him physically. This will make it harder for him all over the floor, perhaps making us see him for his basketball ability rather than his natural athleticism. Kobe, on the other hand, is not blessed with the frame that LeBron has. Instead he has got where he is as a result of hard work in the gym. For this reason, he is a multitalented player who can score on a team no matter what they throw at him. He can hit the midrange shot like no-one else in the League, he can post up smaller guys, he can go to the rim and he can make the big shot in the clutch. No matter what a defense throws at him, Kobe can score. No matter who (even a supreme physical beast) is defending him, Kobe can score. And I'm not so sure I can say the same thing about LeBron. Defense. LeBron plays good defense, perhaps stretching to elite sometimes in the last few minutes of the fourth when he really needs to try. Kobe is an elite defender who will be elite whenever he needs to be. Yet LeBron finished 2nd in DPOY voting. The reason? LeBron is the more explosive, highlight-friendly defender, just as he is on offense. Calling LeBron the second-best defender in the NBA is a joke, nothing short of it. Perhaps the fact the media has a vested interest in LeBron getting every accolade going and can vote on the awards is the real problem. Don't get me wrong, I love LeBron, I think he's the player that will ultimately break "The Curse" for Cleveland, but looking at his game further, he strikes me as an "only if I have to" player. Think about it. He only plays good defense at the end of games. I know you can put this down to needing to remain at least slightly fresh for the whole game, but I don't buy that completely. IMO he'd be better with fewer minutes but playing harder. He doesn't have good backups to his driving game. Why? Because until now he's never needed to. This is my request for LeBron: please, don't wait until you need a second and third dimension on offense before you try to develop one. There's no time like the present.
I think Big Z is their best post up player, but he struggled with the DPOY checking him. He also couldn't stay on the court because of foul trouble. Good point about Pavlovic, not only does he give the Cavs another scorer he was also a better option on defense against the pick and roll. Mike Brown made some terrible choices trying to stop the pick and roll. He tried a 3 guard lineup instead, he over used Wally, he tried a Varejao-Wallace combination and none of it worked. He should have used Pavlovic or even Joe Smith more to defend that play.
I would adore seeing what LeBron would do with Kobe's team. The supporting cast difference is not close. The Lakers have one of the more underrated players in the league in Pau Gasol, and the Cavs have Mo as their second fiddle, a good player, but not a guy who you should have as your second option. I like Mo, but he would never make an ASG without LeBron (or possibly Kobe, given the right situation). LeBron is the better player. You can't use these playoffs as an indicator. LeBron did all he could out there, but his supporting cast did nothing to help him. Nobody, NOBODY would have pulled out of that with a team playing like that, not LeBron, not Kobe.
No one complained about LeBron's supporting cast until they lost. LeBron is supposed to be the guy to make "everyone better," but he didn't make them better when he needed to most. I'd argue Cleveland has better depth than the Lakers, but doesn't have the versatility the Lakers roster benefits from. Cleveland has role players who can play specific roles very well and compliment LeBron's game. The Lakers have players who don't excel in any given role, but can beat you by exploiting match ups. If you break it down by positions. Backcourt - Edge Cavs on offense & defense Frontcourt - Edge Lakers on offense, Edge Cavs on defense
You can't blame LeBron for his supporting cast not coming out to play. We all saw it; he came out to play the same way he always has, he got his teammates open, but they simply did not deliver. A great second option means more at times than the supporting cast as a whole. Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are much better than everyone on the Cavs' supporting cast, excluding only Mo when comparing him to Odom, as there is definite debate there. Those two alone make the conversation much more interesting. But, and I mean no disrespect by this, I am done with this argument. Because I very much doubt I have the slimmest chance in hell in convincing any Laker fan otherwise about this great debate.
shapecity!!! u are sounding real parochial. the cavs supporting cast stinks- the 66 win season was a function of playing in an inferior conference and being relatively healthy throughout the season. conversely, the playoffs are a better indicator of team prowess. as an example of my theory- the cavs swept the hawks and the pistons, both of whom wouldnt have even qualified for post season play in the west but lost to good magic team. in terms of their roster- big z is slow; ben wallace admits he's not worthy; delonte west is an undersized two and streaky at best and mo williams is much more talk than substantive action. and if u dont mind, lets indulge ourselves in an exercise- if kobe and lebron didnt play for their respective teams, lets imagine how their rosters would stack up against one another... Lakers Pg: fisher, farmar Sig: Sasha, shannon brown Sf: ariza, luke walton Pf: Gasol, Odom C: Bynum, Powell CAVS pg: Mo williams (makes more predictions than shots), boobie gibson Sg: Delonte West, Pavolic Sf: Wally PF: Varejo, Joe Smith C: Big Z, Ben Wallace advantage lakers
It's not just cast, Kobe was amazing in the WCF, in a similarly close series. He took his personal game to a new level in addition to whatever else may be the case. Still I don't think our roster has that much of an edge, it has to do with poor matchups for Cleveland too.
I think Mike Brown was the main cause of the Cavs failing to advance. He was out coached by SVG and tried to make adjustments his players weren't ready for. Brown should have trusted his rotations and stuck with what the team had done all season long. The entire season Cleveland's defense was the story, but the Magic averaged 105 points against it. I agree Gasol is better than anything Cleveland has and you can include Odom & Bynum when they show up. I'm not sure if that's a good way to compare a team though. I think comparing skill sets is better. Gasol gives the Lakers a big man who can inside, outside, and can force a double team when he has it going. I think Big Z does the same for Cleveland. The difference is Gasol is more consistent, younger, and better on the defensive end against the quicker more athletic big men. Cleveland's achilles hill is not having another effective post scorer with size when Big Z is out of the game.
Bynum is a good center, but he's had just one breakout month and was injured. It's not much of an advantage overall. Odom is good but he's a role player still. I think they have better depth and better PG play by far.
You don't win 66 games with a shitty team. The Cavs have effective role players and are committed to the defensive end. I'm not sure what happened to their defensive intensity in the ECF, but they had no answer for the Magic's high pick and roll. Every game was close until Orlando ran that play over and over again the 4th quarter. It wasn't the Cavs supporting cast that sucked all of a sudden, they just didn't have the personnel to matchup with two mobile bigs in Shard & Hedo.
i never said they had a "shitty team"- i simply deduced they had inferior talent in comparison with the lakers. simply in laymans terms- the lakers are bigger, stronger and vastly more skilled.
