After seeing the Cavs get pretty effectively wiped out by the Magic, I feel a lot better about voting for Kobe.
I appreciate Lebron's freakish athleticism for what it allows him to do. Kobe himself thinks some of that stuff is plain ridiculous. I will not deny that Lebron's avg stats have been better than Kobe's, and all those who say Lebron > Kobe will be the first to bring that fact up.
What kind of gets me though, is that the same people will then also say Lebron does all this with less talent on his team. To me, the two facts are completely related. BECAUSE he has less talent on his team, his stats HAVE to be higher for the team to be at a competitive level. From what I understand, their entire offense runs through the man. No surprise then to me that he has higher PPG and APG than Kobe. As for RPG, I just want to say "shooting guard vs. forward". Is it easier to dominate your team's stat sheet when you're a great player on a so-so team or a great player on a good team? i.e. would Lebron have the same numbers if he had an in-his-prime Shaq on his team? I don't think so.
That's why I say you can't go just by the numbers here.
What about defense? Sure, Lebron's picked up his D by leaps and bounds since last year, but that's only after he saw the Black Mamba put on his boa constrictor act in the Olympics. Kobe's been All-Defensive first or second team 9 years out of his 13. That's only 3 years as a starter that he hasn't been All-Defensive selection. Meanwhile, Lebron has had 5 out of 6 years.
Just comparing the two right now is made harder by so many factors: differences in age, body type, position, team composition, etc. But until Lebron's achievements and not just his stats surpass Kobe's, Lebron might even gain the title of "Best in the NBA", but Kobe will have "Greatest in the NBA" for a looong time. (MJ notwithstanding)
Topic: Kobe or Lebron? (Read 14427 times)