SIMON said:
What you are all failing to see in these passages is what CRITERIA are you using to say the best player ?
Bottom line is. If you had a draft of the top 15 players in the current NBA..the question would be...who's the first pick...thus that person would be THE BEST!
..WHO would you select number 1 to build a winning franchaise around ?
Isn't winning the criteria for being THE BEST ?
1) Duncan
2) Lebron
3) Nash
All 3 of these men took teams that were average or below average and made them winners.
Yes, Kobe has a lot of talent and is extremely athletic. But he's putting up the same numbers Scottie Pippen did when Jordan left.
39 points 9 rebounds 7 assists....but they LOSE.
He's playing on a .500 team
Things are different now with no Shaq..aren't they Kobe ?
do you just make up stats as you go. kobe is putting up the same numbers as pippen. maybe i passed out for a year, but find me a year where he ever averaged more than 22 points a game. but i guess thats close enough to 35.4 pts a game.
jordan in his prime with the other 4 lakers starters and bench would lose. nash with the other 4 lakers starters would lose worse. lebron with the other 4 lakers starters would lose even worse.
basketball is always been a 2 star league. lakers had magic and kareem, bulls had michael and scottie, spurs had duncan and robinson, now duncan and ginobli and parker. pistons are an anomoly as they have 5 really really good players.
if you were a gm starting a team today, the first player you take would be lebron and its not even close. his upside is too big and he's younger than the rest. but kobes the best there is. eventually lebron will pass him. and no gm in there right mind is building a team around duncan. no question, first ballot hall of famer but he's aging quickly.
why is there so many kobe haters? i guess the duke lacrosse players are also guilty of rape because the media says so. oh wait they are white. is that why all you hate kobe? what the fck did he ever do to you? jordan never cheated on his wife? or any nba player for that matter.