BSPN Roundtable: TD vs Kobe

[Thomas82]

Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan have combined for nine titles, three MVP awards and 27 All-Star appearances. Not too shabby. Which future Hall of Famer has been more impressive this season? Where do they rank among the best players in history?


1. Kobe or Duncan: Who has been more impressive this season?

Israel Gutierrez, ESPN.com: Kobe. Have to give the edge to Bryant, mostly because he's having a strong statistical season while trying to settle a house of chaos. Duncan is having a renaissance season but it's still within familiar surroundings. Plus, Kobe's playing nine more minutes a game.

Andrew McNeill, 48 Minutes of Hell: Duncan. Kobe's numbers have been great this season, but we've seen this level of production from him recently. With Duncan, the performances he's had this season were supposed to be a thing of the past. The Big Fundamental is putting up box scores harking back to his prime.

Daniel Nowell, Portland Roundball: Duncan. For all the well-deserved plaudits that Kobe is receiving this season for maximizing his efficiency, Duncan is playing better ball on a better team at an older age. Advanced metrics suggest that both Duncan and Kobe are turning back the clock in extraordinary ways, so this is the smallest of leads for Timmy.

Darius Soriano, Forum Blue and Gold: Kobe. What both are doing at this advanced stage of their careers is phenomenal, but Kobe has been slightly more efficient in terms of PER and has shot better when you account for free throws and 3-pointers. Add in that Kobe is playing nearly 10 more minutes a night than Duncan, and I lean toward No. 24.

Timothy Varner, 48 Minutes of Hell: Duncan. His return to form is more impressive because of how unnatural it seems. Could anyone have expected that Duncan, who will be 37 by the end of the season, would be a leading candidate for defensive player of the year while posting per minute averages that rival his career best?






http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-130109/nba-kobe-bryant-vs-tim-duncan-debate

[Bill_Brasky]

Kobe is ballin pretty damn hard this year but I say Duncan just because its harder to do for a bigger player.

[DPG21920]

All you have to say is defense and the debate is over.

[DPG21920]

Also "because Kobe is settling in house of chaos" :lmao

One that he created. Dude has one of the most talented teams of all times and might miss the playoffs. Plus his defense has fallen off a cliff.

[bthewigwam]

Gutierrez has always been a Spurs hater from everything I remember hearing from him and reading by him.

[Thomas82]

Gutierrez has always been a Spurs hater from everything I remember hearing from him and reading by him.

+1

[spurraider21]

Kobe is getting it done as good as he ever has... on offense. His defense has fallen off BIG time. He used to actually deserve his all-defensive team nominations. last year or 2 have been complete jokes, and this year he has been god awful on D.

Timmy has played better on both ends

[Thomas82]

Kobe is getting it done as good as he ever has... on offense. His defense has fallen off BIG time. He used to actually deserve his all-defensive team nominations. last year or 2 have been complete jokes, and this year he has been god awful on D.

Timmy has played better on both ends

Also, TD has done more with less.

[GoodOdor]

Kobe's team is shit, that should give you the answer - he's basically putting empty stats.

[spurraider21]

Also, TD has done more with less.
i was talking about this season in particular, where the spurs team is better than the lakers team. but yes over the course of their careers thats pretty much a given.

[Sean Cagney]

Gutierrez has always been a Spurs hater from everything I remember hearing from him and reading by him.

That ugly rat looking bastard, hate the sight of his face. He just looks like a jerk media clown.

[KaiRMD1]

Why ask Guitierrez? The guy hates the Spurs, of course he'll choose against them. His main argument for why the Spurs will fail is because they are old and have no superstars. The f*ck? This is why I question the people ESPN hire. Guys on here have reasons that make better sense as to why the Spurs won't make it which makes me second guess them lots of times.

[crc21209]

Yeah this question is a no brainer. It's Duncan, by ALOT. Timmy is playing at an all-star MVP type of level on BOTH ends of the floor. Kobe might be able to score with the best of them, but his defense has been horrendous this season....

[Fireball]

I will always side with Timmy, but watching him the last games scares me a bit. The pain in his knee might have returned which would lead to a different outcome of this debate at the end of the season.

[ambchang]

Subtle digs?


Nowell: His magician status. Kobe has consistently combined volume shooting with historic charisma to create the appearance of a legend no matter what deeper analysis might suggest. This quality has made him one of the most absorbing, entertaining players of my lifetime.

...

Nowell: I'm aware that, for most, this question is settled, and Kobe is a top-tier all-timer who slides right behind Jordan in the shooting guard hierarchy. And I will accept that ranking in terms of "greatness" as in "meaningfulness to the game" while acknowledging that he has only one season among the top 100 all-time Win Shares, and it ranks 93rd.

[Horse]

Fuck izzy in his stupid ass!

[Cry Havoc]

Subtle digs?

Not that subtle, just eloquently stated. :lol

[Obstructed_View]

Kobe may be the worst defender I've seen this season. He's constantly out of position, he takes stupid chances trying to get steals, he stands around looking the wrong way and he snipes at his teammates whenever there's a lack of communication, but only AFTER the other team scores an easy basket. He's one of the most clever scorers I've ever seen, given that he has years of practice taking ill-advised shots, and it seems that he's gotten over the nagging injuries that slowed him the last few years. Who'd have thought on a team with Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni, he'd be the example of all offense no defense?

[timvp]

Yeah, Kobe has been amazing on the offensive end. Last night, he hit some extremely difficult shots with players hanging all over him.

But, man, defensively he is bad this season. Pop rarely ever attacks a specific defender and will almost always have the Spurs just run their normal sets. But there are a handful of players he specifically attacks (Novak, Fredette, Gooden, Bustnani, etc.) ... and none of those does he got at more than Kobe Bryant. Yesterday literally every play out of a timeout was designed to take advantage of Kobe's lax defense. Neal is literally a better defender than Kobe this season. Even the corpse of Nash was FAR better last night. If Kobe is gifted another All-Defense team, they should just do away with it.

[xellos88330]

If you ask me, it is harder to do what Duncan has done when you aren't getting as many free throw attempts and taking shots that are worth 3 points instead of two.

[KaiRMD1]

Kobe's defense could be bad due to the fact that he's either old or just never really THAT good on defense.