Dear Readers, before I present my argument, I would like to point out, that I am somewhat biased towards Lebron James, due to the fact I am a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, but the facts with be presented in an objective manner. I would appreciate your response on whom you think is better, Kobe or Lebron: Thank you
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are the two best players in the league without a doubt. Now the question is, who is the best in the league? There have been many polls done on this question and the answer has always varied. It is now your turn to voice your opinion on this question.
Lets start in there rookie seasons. At the end of there rookie seasons, Kobe improved his teams record only by 3 wins, while LeBron had a much bigger impact, improving his team by 18 wins. At the end of the 2009 season, their career averages are as following: “27.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game, while shooting 47.1% from the field, 32.8% from the three-point line and 73.8% from the free-throw line.” And Kobes are “25.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.5 steals, while shooting 46.7% from the field, 84% from the free-throw line and 34.1% from the three-point line.” As you can see, LeBron has outgunned Kobe in nearly all of those stat lines except three point shooting and free throw shooting. The intangibles can NEVER be underestimated yet there is almost no way to put a number on those. For example, leadership, charisma, HEART, drive, will power, etc.
They do NOT have similar playing styles whatsoever. Kyle Liddell puts the comparisons on paper the best when he writes “Kobe is a better on-ball defender, LeBron is a better shot-blocker. Kobe is a better shooter, LeBron is a better penetrator. LeBron is more athletic, Kobe is more methodical. LeBron is faster and stronger, Kobe is quicker. Kobe is more clutch, LeBron is more versatile and unselfish.
The black mark on LeBron is that he has not won a championship yet while Kobe has four on his resume. Kobe has had TREMENDOUS help, with the presence of Shaquille O’Neal, a new addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron has been doing things almost single-handedly because he has not had another significant playmaker on his team, though Danny Ferry, the Cavaliers General Manager, has been adding and gradually making the team much better. Kobe has always had a dominant big whether it be Shaq or Pau Gasol, both of the leagues premier big guys.
The question is up to you, LeBron or Kobe?
–Jack Mahoney
“Last February, I wrote that he didn’t have a ceiling. This year? I figured out his ceiling. At least for right now. At age 24, he’s a cross between ABA Dr. J (unstoppable in the open court, breathtaking in traffic, has the rare ability to galvanize teammates and crowds with one “Wow” play, even handles himself as well off the court) and 1992 Scottie Pippen (the freaky athletic ability on both ends, especially when he’s cutting pass lines or flying in from the weak side for a block), with a little MJ (his overcompetitiveness and sense of The Moment), Magic (the unselfishness, which isn’t where I thought it would be back in 2003, but at least it’s in there a little) and Bo Jackson (how he can occasionally just overpower the other team in a way that doesn’t seem human) mixed in … only if all of that Molotov Superstar Cocktail was mixed together in Karl Malone’s body. This is crazy. This is insane. This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. And to think, LeBron doesn’t even have a reliable 20-footer or a post-up game yet. See, this is only going to get better. And it’s already historic.”
– Bill Simmons, ESPN Columnist
RE:
From the age of sixteen, LeBron James has been, “The Chosen One”. Yet, over the past three months, LeBron has seen an inordinate decline in his status, going from the poster boy for athletic phenomenon to someone perceived as a person possessing no moral character, respect, or class. Never, and I mean never, has such a great athlete experienced such a tumultuous and rapid fall from grace.
First off, let’s start with LeBron himself. No athlete, present or past, has ever possessed his skill set. As a sophomore in high school, he was an all-state selection in football, while becoming the first sophomore ever to be named to the USA Today All-USA First Team. In his junior year, he won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award, and, naturally, repeated as a USA Today first-teamer. And then senior year came, and LeBron became one of the most highly celebrated amateur athletes of all time, if not the most celebrated. He became the first person to repeat as Gatorade National Player of the Year, and became the first-ever three-time selection for the USA Today All-USA First Team. Then, in a fitting stroke of luck, the ping-pong balls bounced Cleveland’s way, giving the Cavaliers the first pick (for those not familiar with the lottery process that the NBA uses for its draft, click here for an explanation).
Since arriving in Cleveland, LeBron’s career has been legendary, as he is on pace to shatter every single record of the Cleveland franchise. LeBron’s career is best summed up by the Bill Simmon’s passage at the beginning of the article; quite simply, we have never seen another athlete in any sport with LeBron’s ceiling (ceiling is another word which pretty much means maximum potential). Look at the list of players in the paragraph: Julius Erving (Dr. J), perhaps the greatest dunker in the history of the NBA and certainly one of its most popular personalities, followed by a 1992 Scottie Pippen, arguably the best jack-of-all-trades player at his absolute peak, Michael Jordan (no explanation needed), Magic Johnson, better known as the most entertaining player to ever play professional basketball, and Bo Jackson, the most breathtaking athlete in the world. A pretty good list. And LeBron has the one characteristic that made each of these individuals great.
But LeBron’s tantalizing potential and singular ability to become the most dominant and memorable athlete in any sport at any time is not why I am writing this article (or else I would have stopped at the end of the last paragraph). On May 30, 2009, after losing a decisive Game 6 in the NBA Playoffs, a game which sent Cleveland home and eliminated their golden shot at a championship, LeBron walked off the court without shaking hands with the opponent, the Orlando Magic, and then refused to address the media after the game. While no one actually cares whether or not LeBron takes to the media, shaking hands with the opposing team, after a win or loss, is one of the most sacred rituals of basketball. But this wasn’t LeBron’s only mistake.
A few days later, he sent a public address attempting to explain his actions. Rather than offer an apology, LeBron stated, “It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them… I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. … I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
While this act of denial won LeBron no grace, he is, actually, correct. As fans, we don’t pay fifty bucks for bleacher seats and then spend two hours craning our necks only to get blocked by the guy with the loud girlfriend who gets up every two minutes to get a beer. We pay to see a win, or at the least, watch some of the best athletes in the world put on a show. While LeBron’s act was in no means classy, is anybody perfect? Considering the LeBron has been in the spotlight in for nearly a decade, I’ll take one mistake with no qualms. People are quick to point out the “exemplary” behavior of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, but it appears that people have short-term memories. No one seems to remember the Kobe almost bullied his way out of Los Angeles, stopping short of bombing the Laker’s practice facility to get a trade somewhere. Just nine months before he won the MVP award as a member of the Lakers, he was trying his hardest to get out of Los Angeles. His diva attitude is believed to have chased away Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal (although Shaq deserves considerable blame in both cases) And I won’t even discuss the Colorado fiasco. Michael Jordan was notoriously harsh on teammates, oftentimes exploding into temper tantrums during practices and games.
About a month after the tumult of the handshake festival (HandGate? LeBron Shames?), tragedy struck once again. At his own summer camp, LeBron was dunked on by Jordan Crawford, a junior at Xavier University. LeBron then allegedly ordered Nike organizers to confiscate game tapes that had captured footage of the dunk. In this, LeBron took criticism for “robbing a young man of the memory of a lifetime”. Yet, by confiscating the tapes, LeBron ended up instigating a media frenzy around the entire story that would end up glorifying Jordan Crawford, even though the dunk was, simply put, not that impressive. (Side-note: Jordan Crawford, despite being on the dealing end of the most famous end of the year and being a respectable and above-average hoopster, does not have a Wikipedia article. I find this outrageous considering some of the other extremely obscure people who have articles on Wikipedia).
When it comes to the fact that LeBron was trying to save face by confiscating the tapes, little justification for his actions can be offered. Yet, I will bet that nearly every one of us can name an instance where we potentially denied someone a possibly happy memory that they would cherish for a while. I can probably name a dozen, but primarily because I refuse to lose in any sport to children under the age of ten (I don’t care if you’re not tall enough to give me a high five: if you drive into the paint, you will get stuffed).
I am not trying to justify what LeBron did and say that it was perfectly fine, but, we must remember, mistakes are not the exception, they are the norm. There is virtually no justification for LeBron’s actions that would still show that LeBron’s actions were at least partially selfless. People make mistakes. Some people say that bigger people make bigger mistakes. Nope. Bigger people make regular mistakes. We make them bigger. Let LeBron take his mistakes.
– George Bashour
