<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A number of observers consider Wade to be the best player in the league on the heels of his Most Valuable Player performance in the NBA Finals last season, but Bulls forward Luol Deng isn't among them. "There are so many good players in the league, and Dwyane is definitely up there," Deng said. "But in my opinion, Kobe Bryant is the best player in the league. Kobe has played at a high level for a number of years and he has three (league) championships." Deng also gave Bryant a slight edge at the defensive end. "Dwyane deserves to be on the All-Defensive Team, but Kobe has been there more times," Deng said</div> Source Take that Wade-Jockers!
Yeh, theres a couple of people around who think that because Wade played better in one game, it means he's now the number one player in the league. Going by this theory, Smush Parker had the second best game yesterday so it means he's the second best player on our team.
I'm not going to say Kobe's a bad defensive player. He's not. But I think people overvalue his defensive contributions. A wing player like him who has to focus so much on scoring at the other end simply is not going to have a huge impact on a team's defense. He's fundementally sound, he communicates, and he's pretty good in a one on one situations. Despite all that, he could do nothing to stop Arenas or Wade. Statistically, there appears to be negligible difference in the Laker's defense when he's off the court (they actually give up less points per possession when he's not on the court, but that probably has to do with facing weaker offensive units). When comparing Kobe to Wade, LeBron, etc. it makes little sense in my opinion to weight defense and offense equally. What those players do on the offensive end far, far outweighs anything they do on the defensive end. I think Kobe is a much more complete player than those others. But completeness doesn't necessarily fully translate to impact on the game. When judging who's "the best", the latter is what we should really focus on.
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not going to say Kobe's a bad defensive player. He's not. But I think people overvalue his defensive contributions. A wing player like him who has to focus so much on scoring at the other end simply is not going to have a huge impact on a team's defense. He's fundementally sound, he communicates, and he's pretty good in a one on one situations. Despite all that, he could do nothing to stop Arenas or Wade. Statistically, there appears to be negligible difference in the Laker's defense when he's off the court (they actually give up less points per possession when he's not on the court, but that probably has to do with facing weaker offensive units). When comparing Kobe to Wade, LeBron, etc. it makes little sense in my opinion to weight defense and offense equally. What those players do on the offensive end far, far outweighs anything they do on the defensive end. I think Kobe is a much more complete player than those others. But completeness doesn't necessarily fully translate to impact on the game. When judging who's "the best", the latter is what we should really focus on.</div> Still, Kobe does play in the West. This is a disadvantage, it would seem, to his stats (since its so much deeper and full of higher quality opponents). Do you have any way of accounting for this statistically? I would assume that would be difficult to put into tangible results.
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Still, Kobe does play in the West. This is a disadvantage, it would seem, to his stats (since its so much deeper and full of higher quality opponents). Do you have any way of accounting for this statistically? I would assume that would be difficult to put into tangible results.</div> One way might be to look at every team he has faced, and then using the "Opponent Production by Position" stats at 82games.com come up with a composite expected PER. Then take the ratio of the player's PER with that expected PER. So, based on Kobe's position distribution and the team's he faced, maybe those teams would usually yield a 14.6 PER. But if Kobe's PER is 27, then we can give him a rating of 27/14.6. Something like that.
Durvasa did a breakdown last year with LeBron and Kobe by comparing their numbers against each division. It wasn't an overwhelming difference, but it did close the gap between LeBron and Kobe's PER and efficiency. It seems players always put Kobe a notch above anyone else in the league. There's just so many things Kobe does on the court these other players aren't capable of. The footwork, the creativity, the killer instinct, Kobe has a lot these players on their heals. I do agree with Durvasa, defensively Kobe has been sub-par this season. Arenas had a big game, but Kobe wasn't guarding him exclusively, and when a player like Arenas gets hot and in the zone, no one is going to stop him. For the most part, Kobe was guarding Butler in the Wizards game. The game against Wade was a disaster. However, Kobe giving up points to premiere scorers doesn't bother me as much as watching him dog it against lower tier players. I really can't stand watching him not respect guys like Head, Hassell, or Matt Carroll, then seeing them drop 20+ on him. He has a bad habit of playing down to the level of his competition.
I think the funniest thing I've read in a while is seeing some "expert" from SI or Fox (don't remember which) claiming that "the christmas day game proved that Wade has officially surpassed Kobe"...yes...
of course kobe's the best player in the NBA right now.. i mean wade cannot be the 2nd best.. i would say LeBron's better then Wade.. People are crtizizing kobe jus because he is not averaging +30 again.. but by the end of the season he probably will. Also, one game does not prove anything, it does not mean Wade is better then Kobe.
