This regular season alone, there have been multiple HOME games where Kobe and his excessive shooting cost the Lakers embarrassing losses at the hands of the lowly Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies. Kobe doesn't just do this in the playoffs either. In so doing, he shoots the Lakers right out games they would have dominated otherwise. Kobe, despite playing on by far the most talented team in the league, inexplicably decides to take it upon himself to take an inordinate amount of shots. This is why every single playoffs the Lakers lose a handful of games they have absolutely no business losing. This article hit the nail on the head perfectly. Kobe is currently in his 15th season, but he still hasn't fully grasped what it takes to get others involved and the importance of getting others involved. Had Bryant found a way to coexist with O'Neal, he'd have a hell of a lot more than five rings on his fingers. This was Kareem-Magic 2.0, but Kobe wasn't willing to sacrifice his game for the betterment of the Lakers. It cannot be overstated, both were absolutely at the apex of their respective careers. With Kobe and Shaq, the Lakers had the two best players in the entire league joining forces. Anyone who watches basketball with any regularity knows that if Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal had stayed together, their run of championships may have never ended. You also might recall the time he single handedly ran a certain Hall of Fame center out of town, despite both being in their primes, despite having already won three NBA championships together, despite yet another trip to the Finals just the year prior. There was the time last Sunday, during the Lakers-Thunder tilt, where after Lamar Odom rimmed out two free throws that would've given the Lakers a four or five point lead with ten seconds left Kobe Bryant threw a towel directly into Lamar Odom's face on the bench.Įarlier this season, Kobe delivered this backhanded compliment to Pau Gasol, “Even when he was in Memphis and he was the go-to guy, he was always very nice,” Bryant said of Gasol. There was the time he publicly demanded the Lakers should "ship his ass out" in regards to then 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum. Personally I don't think he's changed all that much and I have multiple relatively recent examples which defy that. Laker fans wants to paint Kobe as an individual who has become a better teammate and grown as a leader over the years. It's like contrasting the rebounding merits of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. But at the end of the day these two players are only two inches apart. LeBron's a small forward, he weighs more, all of that is completely understood. LeBron James' career average is 7.1 rebounds a game, Kobe Bryant's is 5.3 rebounds a game. But it's not like we're comparing Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. This category isn't as cut and dry as some others, simply because of the differences in position between the two. But LeBron does it easier and more efficiently. Kobe will go down as one of the greatest scorers in the history of the league. In NBA history, only Michael Jordan (at 22.9) took more shots per game than Kobe (19.3) during a career. LeBron's focus has always been on winning, while Kobe's focus has always been on scoring first and foremost. "Every single year, I could really do it. If I really wanted to, I if really wanted to win the scoring title I could win it every single year," James was quoted as saying in 2009. "Our team is trying to clinch (homecourt advantage) for the whole playoffs and that is more important. LeBron was ready to step in and play from day one. A frequent complaint Kobe supporters use in their argument is Kobe didn't become a full time starter until his third year, whereas LeBron was thrust into the starting lineup from day one. Kobe boasts a healthy career average of 25.2 ppg, but LeBron flaunts an extraordinary career average of 27.7 ppg. But more on that later.Ĭommon logic is that Kobe is a better scorer than LeBron, but the statistical evidence refutes that claim. But I'm of the belief that if LeBron was in Kobe's shoes on those putrid Laker teams from 2005-2007 he would've put up similarly gaudy stats, and what's more, he wouldn't have allowed them to miss the playoffs as Kobe did. He once averaged 35.4 points a game for an entire season. Yes Kobe once scored 81 points in a single basketball game. Kobe has won the league's scoring title twice, LeBron has led the league in scoring just once (though it must be mentioned LeBron narrowly missed out on his second last year, when Kevin Durant edged him by just. LeBron's career field goal percentage of 47.6 tops that of Kobe's 45.5 percent, their career three point percentages are virtually identical, and Kobe's career free throw percentage (83.7) bests LeBron's (74.4), although LeBron gets to the line more per contest over the course of their respective paths.
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