#6 LeBron James

[ZB1224]

Obviously LeBron is the best player in todays game, but Kobe completely owned him in that All-Star game. You can call it an exhibition game all you want but everyone went into full try-hard mode in the 4th qtr and especially the last 5-6 min. LeBron couldn't do anything against Kobe 1 on 1.

Nothing to really brag about though since it's all about winning championships and it looks like the Lakers likely won't be winning it this season (although I have my hopes still).

[h0llywood]

Big time Laker fan and Kobe supporter but i'm not blind. If I were to start a Franchise and pick any player in the History of the NBA, #1 and #2 would be Jordan and Lebron.

[Kevin Greene]

Obviously LeBron is the best player in todays game, but Kobe completely owned him in that All-Star game. You can call it an exhibition game all you want but everyone went into full try-hard mode in the 4th qtr and especially the last 5-6 min. LeBron couldn't do anything against Kobe 1 on 1.

Nothing to really brag about though since it's all about winning championships and it looks like the Lakers likely won't be winning it this season (although I have my hopes still).

Essentially the entire Regular Season in the NBA is an exhibition as every team over .500 usually makes the Playoffs.

Hence Reg Season MVPs being meaningless.

Big time Laker fan and Kobe supporter but i'm not blind. If I were to start a Franchise and pick any player in the History of the NBA, #1 and #2 would be Jordan and Lebron.

I'm not blind to the fact Lebron has one Championship in now his 10th year.

Me, the top 2 starts with winners.

[King Taharqa]

Essentially the entire Regular Season in the NBA is an exhibition as every team over .500 usually makes the Playoffs.

Hence Reg Season MVPs being meaningless.

Regular season MVPs are NOT meaningless simply because Kobe Bryant was only good enough to win 1 in his career. And he barely got that 1, had to fall back on a "lifetime achievement" campaign to swing voters his way over cp3. Look at all the all time greats, they have MULTIPLE MVP awards on their resume. Moses Malone has 3, he is also a champion. Magic Johnson has 3, he is also a champion. Larry Bird has 3 he is also a champion. Russell has 5 he is also a champion. Wilt has 4 he is also a champion. Jordan has 5, he is also a champion. Kareem has 6 he is also a champion. Kobe Bryant was only considered the best player in the league 1 year out of his 17 years. If he took the regular season SERIOUSLY instead of half assing it and playing lazy most years, he might've had more. Fortunately, he played for a franchise that keeps stacked teams HIS ENTIRE CAREER. So he could afford rape trials, media controversies, subpar performances during regular seasons in ways others could not. The fact the guy never was able to win MVP and a Finals MVP in the same season (like a MJ, or a Duncan, or LeBron) shows you never dominated a season from November to June. Some guys go hard EVERY GAME, some guys wait and only do it in the playoffs.

I'm not blind to the fact Lebron has one Championship in now his 10th year.

Me, the top 2 starts with winners.

By June LeBron could potentially have his 2nd championship and 2nd Finals MVP. Kobe has 2 Finals MVPs in 17 years of basketball, LeBron would have 2 in 10. Kobe was the 2nd best player on most of his championship teams. Anybody can play second fiddle to one of the greatest centers of all time (Shaq averaged 30 & 15 those first 3 NBA Finals Kobe appeared in). History will not remember Bryant being on LeBron's level. Throw in his sub .500 record head to head vs. LeBron (6-13) and it wont be pretty. Most times, the OLDER player has a winning record head to head vs. the younger player (think Russ vs. Wilt, Wilt vs. Kareem) but not in this case.

[teeray]

Is Kobe vs. Lebron still a thing?? Think that debate is pretty much over. Kobe is not, and never had been at any point in his career as good as Lebron right now. Lebron is inching close to MJ territory if he can start running off championships at a high rate.

BTW Kobe probably shouldn't have even been finals MVP in 2010 with his 40% field goal percentage in the finals including his less than impressive 6-24 (25%) showing in game 7.

Pau Gasol who averaged 19 ppg (while getting nearly half the attempts Kobe did) 12 rpg 4 apg and 3 bpg was the best player on the Lakers that series..

[Kevin Greene]

Yeah Kobe vs Lebron took opver for Kobe vs Jordan.

Jordan is better to whoever thinks that, who cares?

It's all about the rings baby, Kobe and MJ have them.

[ZB1224]

The amount of Kobe hate on this board is disgusting. I respect LeBron and I do understand that LeBron at his peak is putting up better all around stats than Kobe at his peak, but the guy has to win a few titles to be in Kobe's league. It's all about championships and LeBron has been subpar in that department thus far.

[RelaxImaPro]

Have Lakers fans really fallen so hard this season they're referencing a fugin All-Star game as Kobe being better than Lebron? Lol, I've seen so many people on facebook posting that picture of Kobe blocking Lebron... it's pretty funny really.

Lebron in his first 2 seasons with the Heat: 2x Finals appearances, 1x NBA Champion, 1x Finals MVP. Give the dude a little bit more time before you start talking about his lack of rings, since it definitely looks like the Heat might repeat this season.

At no point in his career has Kobe ever been as good as Lebron has been these past two seasons (arguably more, but I'll just use his time in Miami).

Kobe refused to play for Charlotte and went to the Lakers and won his first three in Shaq's shadow.

Lebron leaves Cleveland and they go from a title contender to the worst team in the NBA.

I actually like Kobe, he's one of my favorite players of all time, but that rings argument is tired as hell and does a huge disservice to Lebron. The dude is something special and one of the greatest the game has ever seen. These past few years everyone has said, "Oh, well Lebron must be hitting his peak, there's no way he can get any better" then he comes back the following season and puts up even better numbers. We're witnessing a potential dynasty in Miami right now, so let's just wait until their respective careers are over before we compare rings. Lebron > Kobe.

People also said the same things about Jordan before he finally won his first championship... well we see how that one ended.

[h0llywood]

Kobe refused to play for Charlotte and went to the Lakers and won his first three in Shaq's shadow.

Please explain where you come up with that story?

Charlotte and LA agreed to trade draft picks the day before the draft and the Lakers didn't tell Charlotte who to draft until 5 minutes before their pick was up.

[RelaxImaPro]

Please explain where you come up with that story?

Charlotte and LA agreed to trade draft picks the day before the draft and the Lakers didn't tell Charlotte who to draft until 5 minutes before their pick was up.

Alright, after looking into it a little more I might have been a little off on that one... that's just the way I remembered it at the time based on the way the whole thing happened.

Even though they made a deal to trade Kobe for Divac this is an excerpt from an article about the Hornet's former owner, Bob Bass, looking back at his decision on trading Kobe:

Bryant canceled a workout with the Sacramento Kings, who had the No. 14 pick in the first round in 1996 and declined to work out for the Hornets. His agent, Arn Tellem, also told the Hornets, according to Bass, that Bryant did not want to play in a small market such as Charlotte.

Divac initially did not want to play for the Hornets, preferring to stay in L.A. where his wife was pursuing an acting career.

http://blog.nola.com...bass_liv.htmsid

Even though it happened the way it did, regardless, it seems like Kobe had very little interest in playing for Charlotte.

So even still, the Kobe trade aside, my point still stands about arguing who has the most rings makes them the superior player is ridiculous. Kobe and Lebron came into two completely different situations. Not to mention it's entirely (and very) possible for the Miami Heat to win a few NBA championships in the coming years.

[CarolinaPride5]

Kobe was actually a more impressive player in his prime but it was wasted while he was surrounded by Smush Parker and Kwame Brown.

KT nobody take you seriously. The MVP just goes to the best player on the best team, not the best player. I think everyone would agree Kobe should have 3-4 if it were best player. The years he averaged 35 PPG, 9 straight 40 point games, 4 straight 50 point games, 62 in 3 quarters. 81 point game... Y'all forget to quickly. Kobe is the rawest scorer we've probably ever seen.

LeBron joined 2 superstars for the Championship when he couldn't do it in Cleveland. There are 3 superstars in there prime on that team... Kobe's championship teams only had him and either Shaq or Gasol.

[King Taharqa]

The Miami Heat continue to shred the rest of the NBA, having now won 19 in a row (and just one win shy of becoming only the 5th team in League history to rip off 20 straight W’s). LeBron James knows that what they’re doing is pretty damn special. Per Fox Sports and ESPN: “He was asked if he will at least be able to appreciate the streak when he retires. Suddenly, James’ tone changed. Suddenly, he was willing to say his Heat are indeed experiencing one of the greatest runs in NBA history. "No, I’ll probably look back on it before then," James said.

"Let’s be honest, guys, we’re not sitting here and saying this is not something special. This is an unbelievable streak that we’re on. We’re playing great basketball. We win in different phases of the game. We’re playing different syles. We’ve won every game, on the road, at home. Double overtime games. End-of-regulation games. Whatever the case may be, we’ve been able to pull games out. So I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s not special what we’re doing.’"[...]

The streak has jarred the Heat into truly caring about every game — something that’s a challenge for any NBA team during this marathon season and especially the defending champs, who have the long haul at the front of their minds — and it has finally brought them to their potential. ‘You know you’re a part of history right now, but you just want to keep winning and keep it up,’ said Dwyane Wade. ‘This team is put together to win championships, that’s what we’re measured by and that’s what we measure ourselves by … but this is a special time.’”

http://www.slamonlin...k-unbelievable/

[Hawk]

helluva run for sure KT...I'm sure you are enjoying it to the max...congrats

[King Taharqa]

27 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals for the MVP tonight. 20 straight wins is an ELITE club. Only T-Mac's 2008 Rockets, Lew Alcindor's 71 Bucks, and Wilt Chamberlain's 72 Lakers are in it. The dominance continues.