This season, it is not all that far off as some people might think. Roy PER: 24.3 Kobe PER: 25.2 Roy Win Shares: 9.5 (1st on his team) Kobe Win Shares: 10.4 (2nd on his team. Yes, that's right - 2nd!) http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2009.html http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2009.html All-Star teamates to help carry the load: Roy = 0 Kobe = 1 Roy is right there with similar "Clutch" stats this season as Kobe: http://www.82games.com/0809/CSORT11.HTM Last year was a big gap in production. This season, not so much. So, who would trade a 24 year old, on a rookie contract, who is the team's best player, leader and heart and soul and face of the franchise, for a 30 year old, prima donna, with heavy mileage, on a $20mil+ per year contract, for a slight upgrade in stats? Who the hell would do that?
Kobe's empirical prowess has significantly gone up after Andrew went down. The same would occur if Pau was gone.
Prove it. I am not aware that this is true. Hypothetical. Watch, I can do that too. If LaMarcus went down with injury, Brandon's empirical prowess would go up significantly.
basketball-reference.com "Splits". Kobe's been there done that already, don't know why you're surprised. Great teams have players subjugating themselves, like the Celtics for example.
