<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James:</div><div class="quote_post">AGAIN... What is this "hype"? You guys are acting like you really believe that the media just selected LeBron to be their guy to make money off of. It does not work that way. There has to be a buzz, a "want" to see this kid by the masses. If the people did not want to see LeBron James, his high school games would not have been on TV, he would not have a contract by Nike, and he would not have been drafted number one. You get where you are by your game, period, end of story. Sure Kobe, KG, and T-mac had the numbers, but they did not have the manly body of LeBron James to go with it, they did not have the court vision either, which many say is LeBron's best talent. Keep the hatin coming, I am enjoying this.</div> court vision? thats the gayest thing ive heard ever...youve been watching too many "pass, pass, pass, pass" lebron commercials first of all, Kobe averaged 6 assists last season, he could average more if he wanted too...hes a GREAT PASSER, look at his assists ratio since the all star break, he was averaging 8 assists for like 7 straight games. Court vision if he were playing pg right? lebron has been bumped up to SG/SF because pg wont work for him, hes not magic johnson....hes too big and slow to guard quick and small off the dribble pg's.
I never said the media "selected" LeBron, I just think he was looked at much more than anyone in the past simply because of the success of all the other successful high school players in the last few years. Referring to the "manly body," Garnett really doesn't have an any different body from when he came into the league. He's just as skinny and doesn't really look any stronger to me, and I don't see that as any reason for why he got so much attention. Kobe has gotten a little bigger since his rookie season, same goes for T-Mac but they most likely could have been putting up huge numbers in their rookie seasons if they had the chance like James is recieving. I also know that the people wanted to see LeBron, ofcourse that is why his games were televised. But I don't think they would have even known his name until the draft if it weren't for the past high school players. Many people wanted to see him simply because they've heard so much about him that they wanted to see what he could do on the court. Media DOES do that for you, and if it wasn't for the media talking about him his games would not have been televised because people would not have known about him.. Referring to the Nike Basketball site: I know LeBron didn't want to do that picture on his own, but I do think it should not be a banner for their site. It really isn't disrespect from LeBron to me to be honest, I think what Nike had done in promoting him so much more than their guys like Vince was disrespectful.
Being a point guard and having court vision are not synonymous with one another. Larry Bird had remarkable court vision, but he never played the point guard position. LeBron was moved to the SF/SG position because he's most effective at slashing and being the playmaker without the responsibility of controlling tempo. They also wanted him to help out on rebounding, and as a pointguard he wouldn't have the same opportunities at crashing the boards than he would at the swing position. I'm not sure why you mentioned Kobe, we can all agree Kobe is a phenomenal playmaker as well.
Kobe has led his team in assists for the past 5 seasons, including the 3 championships and the playoff series', including finals... NEXT
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">first of all, Kobe averaged 6 assists last season</div> Go ahead and compare a top 5 established NBA player to a 18/19 year old rookie, that holds a lot of ground. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> lebron has been bumped up to SG/SF because pg wont work for him</div> No, he was bumped because he was out teams leading scorer and it was best for him right now in this stage of his career to be a scorer. Playing pg in the future again has not been ruled out, though his best position I personally feel is point forward. Compare him to Magic, no one is Magic Johnson, no one will ever be Magic Johnson. So that holds a lot of ground too.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">LeBron has had more exposure in the media than KG and Kobe, but both KG and Kobe had plenty of hype coming out of high school. The high school hype has been there since the Moses Malone, Dominique Wilkins, and Dr. J eras. There are just more marketing distribution channels to glorify these athletes.</div> I know there was an era of high school to the pro basketball before, but it had become very unusual and it hadn't been done in years when the two did it. I don't think there was as much expectation out of high school back then as to now. Guys are coming into the league being handed a chance to shine immediately now.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">Guys are coming into the league being handed a chance to shine immediately now.</div> So let's sum this up... More Hype = Better Performance LMFAO
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James:</div><div class="quote_post">Go ahead and compare a top 5 established NBA player to a 18/19 year old rookie, that holds a lot of ground. No, he was bumped because he was out teams leading scorer and it was best for him right now in this stage of his career to be a scorer. Playing pg in the future again has not been ruled out, though his best position I personally feel is point forward. Compare him to Magic, no one is Magic Johnson, no one will ever be Magic Johnson. So that holds a lot of ground too.</div> To even be compared to Magic is an honor for him I'm sure, but I don't think he will ever be a PG in this league. I think he will be a much more successful player as a swing man.
ok well time to sleep... king james, phreeze, shapecity, anyone else i had this fun debate with, have a goodnight, god bless see...talk to yall tommorow!! PS - as long as you love the game...thats all that really matters
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">LeBron did have much more hype than anyone has ever had entering the league. Yes he did have a great High School career, but so did so many other players from this league. Kobe posted up big time numbers, K.G. posted up big time numbers, T-Mac posted up big time numbers, but they didn't recieve all the attention LeBron has gotten. He isn't that much better than these guys, I think his recognition had a lot to do with people looking at high schoolers differently because of guys like K.G. and Kobe. If a guy like Kobe came in the league now, he'd also be getting 40MPG and 20ppg in LeBron's spot, most likely atleast. It's silly to compare stuff like this really, because LeBron is coming into the league where high schoolers are looked at much more than when K.G. and Kobe came in. Hell when these guys came in it wasn't even normal for players to come straight out. I am also one to not like him having the "throne" of stuff like nikebasketball.com, because I do also see a little disrespect to people like Carter and Kobe by that. Carter has been representing Nike for years, and Kobe came in just around when LeBron did with much more experience and had been proven. I really do hate the fact that he got crowned for Nike Basketball before he even played a single game in the league..</div> I disagree, I think LeBron coming in with all the hype has little to do with KG, Kobe, TMac paving their way for him. The media and scouts then thought this high school kid was more special than KG, Kobe, TMac simply because he's got a forward NBA-ready body with passing ability and court vision like little guards. They drooled and drooled, wrote articles, national coverage by SLAM magazine (much love) exposed him to the world and so the world knew and the LeBron hype was born. None of them (KG, Kobe, TMac) had LeBron's body in high school, they're as skinny as Reggie Miller and noone really knew if they could hang around with the big boys in the NBA, so taking them were still a risk despite their school big numbers. Maybe KG, Kobe, and Tmac's NBA success was also a factor for him to jump straight, but this kid believed in himself enough to know he didn't depend on such fact to make a successful jump.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James:</div><div class="quote_post">So let's sum this up... More Hype = Better Performance LMFAO</div> No not really, hype = more attention. I don't doubt that he would have been picked #1 or had been given the oppertunity immediately like he was now, I never said that. I think his popularity, does though have much to do with all the hype he had recieved before actually playing a game in this league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Krazygreen:</div><div class="quote_post">ok well time to sleep... king james, phreeze, shapecity, anyone else i had this fun debate with, have a goodnight, god bless see...talk to yall tommorow!! PS - as long as you love the game...thats all that really matters</div> Amen to that, great debate! But I'm also off to bed.
I'm also about to hit the sack, and I also had fun in this debate. This was one hell of a topic, 6 pages of posts in a little over 2 hours.. We'll continue this tomorrow!
KOBE BRYANT IS THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE!!! Come on everyone! ~10 more of the above and krazygreen can stfu!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">No not really, hype = more attention. I don't doubt that he would have been picked #1 or had been given the oppertunity immediately like he was now, I never said that. I think his popularity, does though have much to do with all the hype he had recieved before actually playing a game in this league.</div> But it's clearly not LeBron's fault... the hype was beyond his control, sure if the media didn't write anything less would be known about LeBron (but SLAM was still gonna do its thing... much love). And what's your problem anyway with him being popular? However way he got his popularity, he earned it, so he's popular thanks to all the hype? All the hype was created because he's once-a-decade player with NBA body and nice game. I may be wrong, but I'm gonna guess that you are concerned that everyone else is talking more about LeBron than Kobe thesedays. Everyone, don't leave me alone,... I'm in Australia so it's still 8:18 PM now!!!!!
First off... The Atlanta Hawks beating The Magic by 3 points is acceptable, a team with 4 future hall of famers is not. I do believe this is the second time this season the Orlando Magic have nearly knocked off LA regardless. Secondly, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. Neither are the best players in the league and it's simply absurd to think otherwise. Perhaps you could make a case for best shooting guards in the league, but certainly not overall players. Your thread is intitled, "Kobe-best-player" which is just as ridiculous as calling T-Mac the best player when you have guys like Garnett, Duncan, and O'Neal still ballin'. Lastly... T-Mac had 37 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds and if that's considered being shut down than I guess T-Mac's made a career on it. It's all irrelavant though, this is just one single game between T-Mac who plays for the worst team in the league and Kobe who plays for perhaps the best. T-Mac plays for The Magic where he has to be concerned with leading his team on his OWN and getting his teammates involved, Kobe plays for The Lakers where he has guys like Shaquille O'Neal dropping 27 points and 23 rebounds. It's a big difference maker.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">Lastly... T-Mac had 37 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds and if that's considered being shut down than I guess T-Mac's made a career on it. It's all irrelavant though, this is just one single game between T-Mac who plays for the worst team in the league and Kobe who plays for perhaps the best. T-Mac plays for The Magic where he has to be concerned with leading his team on his OWN and getting his teammates involved, Kobe plays for The Lakers where he has guys like Shaquille O'Neal dropping 27 points and 23 rebounds. It's a big difference maker.</div> You didn't follow the game did you? Tmac scored only 5 of his 37 in the fourth quarter and OT, or when the Lakers rallied to win or when it mattered the most. Bryant took defense duties of guarding him in those periods. Any superstar can score 32 points the first three quarters, but to only notch 5 points for the next 17 minutes is still considered as "shut down"... and that's hardly a compliment. No knock on Tracy because I love his game but he gotta step up baby and he definitely sounded like it after he said he's looking forward to playing against Kobe again. Well, see you next season Tracy!
When T-Mac was guarded by Kobe Bryant, T-Mac only scored 5 pts. I will consider that to be a shut down on behalf of Kobe's tenacious D. Magics were clicking on all cylinders this game while the Lakers were not. Kobe took enough of the poor play that was going on so he decided to take it upon himself to torture T-Mac and the Magic.
I will just say this.... I know Kobe WILL be the greatest of all time. I watched him grow up with the Lakers. When I've watched him play and have seen that fierceness and competitive nature in his eye, I just knew that only a couple of players(MJ, LBIRD) had that in them. I know that Kobe is also underrated because he should not be compared to T-Mac, VC, AI, or LBJ. He has reached up to another level where only the greats have been and therefore should not even be mentioned with those names but should be mentioned in the same breath as MJ, Joe Bird or Magic. In about 15 years, I guarantee that Kobe will be known to have been the GREATEST PlAYER TO EVER LIVE. I'm not saying that he has made the impact that MJ has made because the NBA was virtually dying during his time but revived it with his God given amazing talent. Even with his legal issues and surgeries, he still managed to jack up 22 5 and 5. 2002-2003 was just a preview of what is to come when everything in his life gets settled. Mark my words....KB will be the best. 40 in 9 games...youngest to 10000...8 three's in a half....9 straight threes...42 in a half...56 in 34min(but this was 01-02.....top 2 plays of the 2002-2003.
