LeBron VS Kobe

Over the past few weeks, and actually over the past few years, there has been so much debate about who the best player in the game is: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant. And to add fuel to this fire, it was rumored that Michael Jordan picked Kobe as the only person in the league that come close to being compared to him. 

Who's better: The Black Mamba or King James?

Now with this, you'd think the debate would be over. However, this is not entirely fair.As hard and as much as people compare LBJ and KB24 to MJ, the most similar in both position and game style, is Kobe.Kobe is a 6'6"220 plus pound shooting guard with a deadly jumper and back to the basket game. And similarly, Michael is a 6'6" shooting guard with about a few more pounds over Kobe.So when it comes to MJ comparisons, it isn't really a fair comparison because by definition and by style, Kobe = MJ. 


So let's stop with the MJ talk and focus on Kobe VS LeBron.


Here are the credentials for Kobe Bryant:
5 time NBA champion, 2 time Finals MVP, 1 time season MVP, 12 time All Star, 2 time NBA scoring Champ and 3 time All Star MVP (tied for most with MJ). He holds the record of being the highest reserve scorer in Laker history. He has appeared in the All Nba team for 12 consecutive seasons and has been in the All Defensive team 10 times. Kobe is also one of the all time greatest scorers with 28,417 total points as of today and has the second highest point total in a single game in NBA history (81). Right now, KB24 is the league's leading scorer, narrowly edging out LeBron. Kobe has a career average of 25.3 pts, 1.5stls, 0.5blks, 4.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds

LBJ VS KB24

Here are LeBron James' Credentials:
2 time MVP (one of the only 2 in history who went back-to-back but never won an NBA championship), 7 time All Star (and has started every All-Star game he's played in). He is also one of only 2 people to ever record a triple double in an All Star Game (the other is MJ). He is a 2 time All Star MVP, a Rookie of the Year, one of four players to average 20points, 5rebounds, 5 assists as a rookie, a 1 time NBA scoring champ, has recorded 32 triple doubles and was a former #1 draft pick. LeBron has been in the All Nba Team 7 times and All defensive Team 3 times. LeBron has a career average of 27.7pts, 0.8blk, 1.7stls, 7.0 assists and 7.1 rebounds.


Based on wins and championships, obviously the nod would go to Kobe, winning 5. However, 3 of those 5 were won because of Shaquille O'neal and 2 were because they had Pau Gasol instead of Kwame Brown. But, if you go look at the other side of the fence, you'll see that LeBron James, for all of his glory, his "greatness", has never won an NBA championship. They were swept by the Spurs in the '07 Finals and then defeated by the Mavs 4-2 in last season's Finals (and the latter was with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh).


This, you may say, should end the debate but championships, despite being a huge percentage on determining the greatness of a player, is not the only criterion (because this would mean Mark Madsen with 3 titles, is better than Charles Barkley who has 0). The other part that needs to be looked at, is a player's averages. 


If Kobe gets the nod in the Championships department, LBJ wins career averages. True, Kobe is a top 10 scorer and does have pretty good individual accolades, he has played 8 more years than LeBron. And right now, LeBron is well on his way to overtaking Kobe in the scoring list and has already surpassed him in the number of MVPs department. simply put, LeBron is a more complete player because he destroys teams in more than one way. 


LeBron also has a knack, over the past few years, of choking and disappearing in the clutch whilst Kobe has amassed numerous game winners and big-time 4th quarter moments.


In the end of it all, to be honest, you really cannot make a decision between the two. Why? Because these two players are so different. Their games are so different which was also the reason why it was unfair to compare MJ to Magic or to Bird or to Kareem. 


You can make a case for both players being the best in the NBA but ultimately you will come to two conclusions: LeBron James is the better all around player, the better fantasy player and the better team player. While Kobe, on the other hand, is the more accomplished player, so far (he  has about 8 more seasons more than LeBron) and is the better scorer and one-on-one offensive player.

photo from Tumblr

So that we make a decision (at the very least), if we had to pick a player we would have taking the last shot, it'd be Kobe. But for the first three quarters, it'd be LeBron.


*photos are not owned by the group but were found on Google