View Full Version : NBA: If Kobe isn't a top 10 player then why is Lebron?
A lot of you guys put Lebron in your top 5 no questions asked, but the nigga is 2/5 in the finals and needed a miracle for the second one. Meanwhile Kobe is 5/7 but ST considers him(and rightfully so) a 10-15 player of all time.
Why does LeRoids get so much favoritism on here? I thought we were more objective than the mainstream media :lol
If Lebron wins with the Cavs (unlikely) he'll be back on top but right now Kobe is clearly ahead of him imo.
If not for an Allen 3, Bron would have been 0-3 vs the spurs..
Kobe has no shame...more than any player I have ever seen...but that trait can be good sometimes and he's clearly benefited from it early on and had it hurt his reputation later (like this season).
Lebron is an appeaser, he gives too much of a shit probably because he's actually a good guy (Cleveland move..). That will always hold him back competitively tbh
100%duncan
01-26-2015, 02:51 AM
Lebron aint on anyone's top 5
Chris
01-26-2015, 02:53 AM
If not for Duncan and Dirk, Lebron would probably have at least 2 more rings. Lebron also carried his teams to the Finals, unlike Kobe who was a role player on his.
If not for Duncan and Dirk, Lebron would probably have at least 2 more rings. Lebron also carried his teams to the Finals, unlike Kobe who was a role player on his.
If not for Shaq, Duncan probably has a couple more too, but they were there. Also at least Kobe played in the West. Bron could play in "chill" mode every year and still get a top seed .
Infinite_limit
01-26-2015, 03:37 AM
Few thoughts
- Agreed, no one has James in the Top 5. Since the 2000's...sure
- The best team James defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals was the Boozer Bulls. So "carrying his team to the Finals unlike Kobe" isn't saying much in the EC
- Cavs better reach atleast the EC Finals this season (probably not) or the guys reputation is sinking fast
Kidd K
01-26-2015, 03:51 AM
LeBron is not top 5 and likely never will be at this rate. Top 5 includes people with 5+ rings. Jordan, Kareem, Russell, Magic, Duncan (whatever order you like). After that you have Shaq with 4, Bird with 3, Wilt's gotta be up there somewhere. Then you go to 2 ringers. . Hakeem was arguably a better player. How about Big O? Dr J? Even Kobe since he has 5 rings.
Top 10, it's possible but I don't have him there over Hakeem tbh. He was better. Anyone old enough to remember his prime likely agrees.
As for him compared to Kobe. . .quite frankly he's better than Kobe overall imo. Kobe is a better scorer of all time. LeBron's a better player. Kobe's 5 rings gives him edge in the accomplishments debate though. We can't deny that. Even if 3 were as 2nd fiddle. That's still 3 more than LBJ.
If LeBron ever rings again as a top guy, we can revisit this.
Raven
01-26-2015, 03:54 AM
because he is flat out better, no need to look at achievements when something is so painfully obvious.
romain.star
01-26-2015, 05:57 AM
LeBron is not top 5 and likely never will be at this rate. Top 5 includes people with 5+ rings. Jordan, Kareem, Russell, Magic, Duncan (whatever order you like). After that you have Shaq with 4, Bird with 3, Wilt's gotta be up there somewhere. Then you go to 2 ringers. . Hakeem was arguably a better player. How about Big O? Dr J? Even Kobe since he has 5 rings.
Top 10, it's possible but I don't have him there over Hakeem tbh. He was better. Anyone old enough to remember his prime likely agrees.
As for him compared to Kobe. . .quite frankly he's better than Kobe overall imo. Kobe is a better scorer of all time. LeBron's a better player. Kobe's 5 rings gives him edge in the accomplishments debate though. We can't deny that. Even if 3 were as 2nd fiddle. That's still 3 more than LBJ.
If LeBron ever rings again as a top guy, we can revisit this.
Kobe is a better scorer?
Let's see about that:
Lebron career average: 27,5 pts per game at .497
Bryant career average: 25.4 pts per game at .451
And Lebron does that while rebounding more (7,2 vs 5,3), assisting more (6,9 vs 4,8) and overall defending more
Brazil
01-26-2015, 07:34 AM
Lebron aint on anyone's top 5
:lol
some were popping threads arguing he was better than Dad Killer like a certain poster likes to call him
100%duncan
01-26-2015, 07:38 AM
:lol
some were popping threads arguing he was better than Dad Killer like a certain poster likes to call him
He had the chance but it's impossible now.
Brazil
01-26-2015, 07:40 AM
4 simple facts
Kobe is not a top 10
Lebron has still a shot to be
Lebron is already above Kobe
None of them are close to MJ
I'm not even a Kobe hater tbh... he was the best player of 2 rings (I do like the mvpau schtick and all but this team was Kobe's team like it was Shaq's team before) but he was nothing close to be as dominant as Lebron. Besides Lebron never missed the POs, has better stat on every possible lines and is twice the defender Kobe never was. Not sure it's even arguable fwiw
scanry
01-26-2015, 08:37 AM
3 simple facts
Kobe is not a top 10
Lebron has still a shot to be
Lebron is already above Kobe
None of them are close to MJ
I'm not even a Kobe hater tbh... he was the best player of 2 rings (I do like the mvpau schtick and all but this team was Kobe's team like it was Shaq's team before) but he was nothing close to be as dominant as Lebron. Besides Lebron never missed the POs, has better stat on every possible lines and is twice the defender Kobe never was. Not sure it's even arguable fwiw
I think Lebron's Cavs missed the playoffs twice.
Franklin
01-26-2015, 08:37 AM
name another top 10 player who has done it twice leaving friends behind for the greener lawn?
RsxPiimp
01-26-2015, 08:58 AM
Lebron aint on anyone's top 5
@Clipper_nation
Jenks
01-26-2015, 09:05 AM
- The best team James defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals was the Boozer Bulls.
No, it was the 2007 Pistons.
Brazil
01-26-2015, 09:08 AM
I think Lebron's Cavs missed the playoffs twice.
You are right
I stand corrected but it is still 2 times less than Kobe
Brazil
01-26-2015, 09:10 AM
name another top 10 player who has done it twice leaving friends behind for the greener lawn?
how is it a criteria for being top 10 ?
:lmao
name another top 10 player whose mother has been fucked by a teammate...
RD2191
01-26-2015, 09:51 AM
Lebron aint on anyone's top 5
unleashbaynes
01-26-2015, 10:01 AM
lebron is fringe top 10 for me like Kobe.....nigga has the MVPs and a couple of rangs, Kobe just benefitted from playing with a top 10(maybe top 5?) player of all time in his absolute prime.....
RsxPiimp
01-26-2015, 10:50 AM
They're both in, you can't ignore two transcendent players of this caliber out. No pundits would leave them out of their list right now. Lebron is likely to stay in that list as advance metrics continues to grow and is implemented on many applications today and this favors him highly.
Kobe represents the traditional way of player evaluation. He's highly regarded for his work ethic, intangibles and raw numbers + ring count. This is why you see Kobe high on many of his peers and former greats lists.
ambchang
01-26-2015, 12:02 PM
First Lebron is not top 5, he's borderline top 10.
Second, Lebron > Kobe, and it's not even close. Rings as the 2nd best player on 4, or even all 5 of his titles isn't as impressive as the clear cut best player on 2 titles. 1 MVP is less than 4 MVPs.
Lebron is the better offensive player and defensive player, to wit:
ORtg of 116, high of 125 and low of 99 (as a rookie), and this is without Shaq and MVP to pass to.
DRtg of 97, high of 92 and low of 102. Again, without players like Shaq, MVPau and Bynum protecting the paint. He didn't even have perimeter defenders of Ariza or MWP to offset his weakness.
WS/48 of .248, high of .322. FOUR seasons of .298 or higher. Led the league in WS/48 and WS 5 times, OWS 4 times, and had DWS of > 5 4 times.
Led the league in OBPM AND BPM8 times, with 5 seasons of > 10.
Led the league in VORP 8 times, with 5 seasons of > 8.
Kobe?
Ortg of 111, high of 115 and low of 96 (this year, not including the injured year last year).
Drt of 105, high of 98 and low of 111
Never led the league in ANY advanced stats other than usage rate.
Kobe's WS/48 high of .224 isn't even close to Lebron AVERAGE, in fact Lebron topped that 8 out of 12 seasons. His average of .178 is lower than Lebrons worst season (this year) outside of his rookie year.
One of the greatest offensive players in league history? He never even led the league in OWS, OBPM, or ORtg, and this is playing his entire prime in the most perimeter friendly era in NBA history. OBPM high of 7? Lebron bested that in 7 seasons, and the only reason it wasn't 8 seasons was because of the lockout year.
One of the greatest perimeter defenders? Kobe had a DBPM of less than zero in 13 out of his 19 seasons.
His best OPM was 5.9 (note that is less than his OBPM of 7, meaning that he put up a NEGATIVE in DBPM that year, which means that he can't defend when he has to score a lot)? Lebron bested that in EVERY SINGLE YEAR except his rookie season.
VORP high of 6.8? Lebron bested that in every single year except his rookie year, and this year, which isn't even finished and Lebron has a chance of surpassing it if he starts trying.
Lebron also smokes Kobe in pretty much every single basic stat category, including scoring.
Kobe vs. Lebron is dead. Kobe is actually a LOT more comparable to Paul Pierce. Kobe is better offensively, Pierce better defensively.. Both remained productive until old age, but the main difference being Pierce spending most of his prime next to Antoine Walker, while Kobe get to spend his with Shaq.
LkrFan
01-26-2015, 12:06 PM
If Lebron wins with the Cavs (unlikely) he'll be back on top but right now Kobe is clearly ahead of him imo.
If not for an Allen 3, Bron would have been 0-3 vs the spurs..
Kobe has no shame...more than any player I have ever seen...but that trait can be good sometimes and he's clearly benefited from it early on and had it hurt his reputation later (like this season).
Lebron is an appeaser, he gives too much of a shit probably because he's actually a good guy (Cleveland move..). That will always hold him back competitively tbhNo he's not. He's a cowardly asshole.
Cry Havoc
01-26-2015, 12:25 PM
First Lebron is not top 5, he's borderline top 10.
Second, Lebron > Kobe, and it's not even close. Rings as the 2nd best player on 4, or even all 5 of his titles isn't as impressive as the clear cut best player on 2 titles. 1 MVP is less than 4 MVPs.
Lebron is the better offensive player and defensive player, to wit:
ORtg of 116, high of 125 and low of 99 (as a rookie), and this is without Shaq and MVP to pass to.
DRtg of 97, high of 92 and low of 102. Again, without players like Shaq, MVPau and Bynum protecting the paint. He didn't even have perimeter defenders of Ariza or MWP to offset his weakness.
WS/48 of .248, high of .322. FOUR seasons of .298 or higher. Led the league in WS/48 and WS 5 times, OWS 4 times, and had DWS of > 5 4 times.
Led the league in OBPM AND BPM8 times, with 5 seasons of > 10.
Led the league in VORP 8 times, with 5 seasons of > 8.
Kobe?
Ortg of 111, high of 115 and low of 96 (this year, not including the injured year last year).
Drt of 105, high of 98 and low of 111
Never led the league in ANY advanced stats other than usage rate.
Kobe's WS/48 high of .224 isn't even close to Lebron AVERAGE, in fact Lebron topped that 8 out of 12 seasons. His average of .178 is lower than Lebrons worst season (this year) outside of his rookie year.
One of the greatest offensive players in league history? He never even led the league in OWS, OBPM, or ORtg, and this is playing his entire prime in the most perimeter friendly era in NBA history. OBPM high of 7? Lebron bested that in 7 seasons, and the only reason it wasn't 8 seasons was because of the lockout year.
One of the greatest perimeter defenders? Kobe had a DBPM of less than zero in 13 out of his 19 seasons.
His best OPM was 5.9 (note that is less than his OBPM of 7, meaning that he put up a NEGATIVE in DBPM that year, which means that he can't defend when he has to score a lot)? Lebron bested that in EVERY SINGLE YEAR except his rookie season.
VORP high of 6.8? Lebron bested that in every single year except his rookie year, and this year, which isn't even finished and Lebron has a chance of surpassing it if he starts trying.
Lebron also smokes Kobe in pretty much every single basic stat category, including scoring.
Kobe vs. Lebron is dead. Kobe is actually a LOT more comparable to Paul Pierce. Kobe is better offensively, Pierce better defensively.. Both remained productive until old age, but the main difference being Pierce spending most of his prime next to Antoine Walker, while Kobe get to spend his with Shaq.
Destruction.
hitmantb
01-26-2015, 12:31 PM
If you use a simple rule of rings + MVP + FMVP, with hard requirement you must have at least one of each to qualify on all time great list to rule out the Robert Horry's of the world, both are clearly top 10, Duncan is #5.
LeBron has a chance to push out Duncan (a shame really, Duncan would have won more if he built super teams LeBron style) if he wins more rings in Cleveland. I have him tied with Kobe for now.
Yes LeBron can only win with stacked teams, but the same applies to Magic/Bird, they just didn't have to leave their big markets and everything fell into place for them. Of any one on top 10, Duncan definitely had the smallest market and weakest supporting cast.
Kidd K
01-26-2015, 12:33 PM
First Lebron is not top 5, he's borderline top 10.
Second, Lebron > Kobe, and it's not even close. Rings as the 2nd best player on 4, or even all 5 of his titles isn't as impressive as the clear cut best player on 2 titles. 1 MVP is less than 4 MVPs.
Lebron is the better offensive player and defensive player, to wit:
ORtg of 116, high of 125 and low of 99 (as a rookie), and this is without Shaq and MVP to pass to.
DRtg of 97, high of 92 and low of 102. Again, without players like Shaq, MVPau and Bynum protecting the paint. He didn't even have perimeter defenders of Ariza or MWP to offset his weakness.
WS/48 of .248, high of .322. FOUR seasons of .298 or higher. Led the league in WS/48 and WS 5 times, OWS 4 times, and had DWS of > 5 4 times.
Led the league in OBPM AND BPM8 times, with 5 seasons of > 10.
Led the league in VORP 8 times, with 5 seasons of > 8.
Kobe?
Ortg of 111, high of 115 and low of 96 (this year, not including the injured year last year).
Drt of 105, high of 98 and low of 111
Never led the league in ANY advanced stats other than usage rate.
Kobe's WS/48 high of .224 isn't even close to Lebron AVERAGE, in fact Lebron topped that 8 out of 12 seasons. His average of .178 is lower than Lebrons worst season (this year) outside of his rookie year.
One of the greatest offensive players in league history? He never even led the league in OWS, OBPM, or ORtg, and this is playing his entire prime in the most perimeter friendly era in NBA history. OBPM high of 7? Lebron bested that in 7 seasons, and the only reason it wasn't 8 seasons was because of the lockout year.
One of the greatest perimeter defenders? Kobe had a DBPM of less than zero in 13 out of his 19 seasons.
His best OPM was 5.9 (note that is less than his OBPM of 7, meaning that he put up a NEGATIVE in DBPM that year, which means that he can't defend when he has to score a lot)? Lebron bested that in EVERY SINGLE YEAR except his rookie season.
VORP high of 6.8? Lebron bested that in every single year except his rookie year, and this year, which isn't even finished and Lebron has a chance of surpassing it if he starts trying.
Lebron also smokes Kobe in pretty much every single basic stat category, including scoring.
Kobe vs. Lebron is dead. Kobe is actually a LOT more comparable to Paul Pierce. Kobe is better offensively, Pierce better defensively.. Both remained productive until old age, but the main difference being Pierce spending most of his prime next to Antoine Walker, while Kobe get to spend his with Shaq.
Great post. . .it's interesting that Kobe's Offensive Rating and Defenive Rating career highs are worse than LeBron's average.
Hard to make much argument for Kobe besides ring count.
DPG21920
01-26-2015, 01:57 PM
Lebron is easily top 10 & better than Kobe.
Malik Hairston
01-26-2015, 04:48 PM
They're probably both top 10, tbh..
Statistically, Lebron has one of the 2-3 greatest peaks in the history of the league, only 1991 to 1993 Dad Killer is comparable, and Wilt Chamberlain if you believe his oldies game would translate well..so if you value peak, it's impossible to leave him out, his performance from 2009 to 2014 was unparallelled, tbh..
Using Finals record is one of the stupidest arguments that people use:lol..ring count is also irrelevant, too, unless you concede that Bill Russell is the greatest player of all-time..if you want to rank players based on that belief, then that's fine, you'll have to rank your lists accordingly..
Brunodf
01-26-2015, 05:33 PM
First Lebron is not top 5, he's borderline top 10.
Second, Lebron > Kobe, and it's not even close. Rings as the 2nd best player on 4, or even all 5 of his titles isn't as impressive as the clear cut best player on 2 titles. 1 MVP is less than 4 MVPs.
Lebron is the better offensive player and defensive player, to wit:
ORtg of 116, high of 125 and low of 99 (as a rookie), and this is without Shaq and MVP to pass to.
DRtg of 97, high of 92 and low of 102. Again, without players like Shaq, MVPau and Bynum protecting the paint. He didn't even have perimeter defenders of Ariza or MWP to offset his weakness.
WS/48 of .248, high of .322. FOUR seasons of .298 or higher. Led the league in WS/48 and WS 5 times, OWS 4 times, and had DWS of > 5 4 times.
Led the league in OBPM AND BPM8 times, with 5 seasons of > 10.
Led the league in VORP 8 times, with 5 seasons of > 8.
Kobe?
Ortg of 111, high of 115 and low of 96 (this year, not including the injured year last year).
Drt of 105, high of 98 and low of 111
Never led the league in ANY advanced stats other than usage rate.
Kobe's WS/48 high of .224 isn't even close to Lebron AVERAGE, in fact Lebron topped that 8 out of 12 seasons. His average of .178 is lower than Lebrons worst season (this year) outside of his rookie year.
One of the greatest offensive players in league history? He never even led the league in OWS, OBPM, or ORtg, and this is playing his entire prime in the most perimeter friendly era in NBA history. OBPM high of 7? Lebron bested that in 7 seasons, and the only reason it wasn't 8 seasons was because of the lockout year.
One of the greatest perimeter defenders? Kobe had a DBPM of less than zero in 13 out of his 19 seasons.
His best OPM was 5.9 (note that is less than his OBPM of 7, meaning that he put up a NEGATIVE in DBPM that year, which means that he can't defend when he has to score a lot)? Lebron bested that in EVERY SINGLE YEAR except his rookie season.
VORP high of 6.8? Lebron bested that in every single year except his rookie year, and this year, which isn't even finished and Lebron has a chance of surpassing it if he starts trying.
Lebron also smokes Kobe in pretty much every single basic stat category, including scoring.
Kobe vs. Lebron is dead. Kobe is actually a LOT more comparable to Paul Pierce. Kobe is better offensively, Pierce better defensively.. Both remained productive until old age, but the main difference being Pierce spending most of his prime next to Antoine Walker, while Kobe get to spend his with Shaq.
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~cas7/gifs/boom.gif
Arcadian
01-26-2015, 05:39 PM
Lebron is 6-10, Kobe is 11-15.
This is because Lebron is arguably the best SF of all time. The only competitors are Bird and Erving, and I'm taking Lebron over both.
Even comparing across positions, Lebron has advantages over a lot of the typical top 10 selections. Ask yourself, do you really believe that Magic Johnson was significantly better than Lebron James at their respective peaks? Was Magic ever as good as 2012 Lebron? Probably not.
Kobe, on the other hand, had a relatively undefined "peak." He won 3 titles when he was a young sidekick, and two more when he was slightly over the hill. He never had a definitive, best-player-on-earth run. He was never a 2012 Lebron or a 2003 Duncan or a 2000 Shaq or a 94 Hakeem or a 91/96 Jordan.
If Lebron wins with the Cavs (unlikely) he'll be back on top but right now Kobe is clearly ahead of him imo.
If not for an Allen 3, Bron would have been 0-3 vs the spurs..
Kobe has no shame...more than any player I have ever seen...but that trait can be good sometimes and he's clearly benefited from it early on and had it hurt his reputation later (like this season).
Lebron is an appeaser, he gives too much of a shit probably because he's actually a good guy (Cleveland move..). That will always hold him back competitively tbh
You cannot do the "if not for" approach. If not for a lot of things a lot of great people would be unknowns.
Kobe never was the greatest player in the game, ever. Lebron has been for quite some time.
Mr Bones
01-26-2015, 05:51 PM
First Lebron is not top 5, he's borderline top 10.
Second, Lebron > Kobe, and it's not even close. Rings as the 2nd best player on 4, or even all 5 of his titles isn't as impressive as the clear cut best player on 2 titles. 1 MVP is less than 4 MVPs.
Lebron is the better offensive player and defensive player, to wit:
ORtg of 116, high of 125 and low of 99 (as a rookie), and this is without Shaq and MVP to pass to.
DRtg of 97, high of 92 and low of 102. Again, without players like Shaq, MVPau and Bynum protecting the paint. He didn't even have perimeter defenders of Ariza or MWP to offset his weakness.
WS/48 of .248, high of .322. FOUR seasons of .298 or higher. Led the league in WS/48 and WS 5 times, OWS 4 times, and had DWS of > 5 4 times.
Led the league in OBPM AND BPM8 times, with 5 seasons of > 10.
Led the league in VORP 8 times, with 5 seasons of > 8.
Kobe?
Ortg of 111, high of 115 and low of 96 (this year, not including the injured year last year).
Drt of 105, high of 98 and low of 111
Never led the league in ANY advanced stats other than usage rate.
Kobe's WS/48 high of .224 isn't even close to Lebron AVERAGE, in fact Lebron topped that 8 out of 12 seasons. His average of .178 is lower than Lebrons worst season (this year) outside of his rookie year.
One of the greatest offensive players in league history? He never even led the league in OWS, OBPM, or ORtg, and this is playing his entire prime in the most perimeter friendly era in NBA history. OBPM high of 7? Lebron bested that in 7 seasons, and the only reason it wasn't 8 seasons was because of the lockout year.
One of the greatest perimeter defenders? Kobe had a DBPM of less than zero in 13 out of his 19 seasons.
His best OPM was 5.9 (note that is less than his OBPM of 7, meaning that he put up a NEGATIVE in DBPM that year, which means that he can't defend when he has to score a lot)? Lebron bested that in EVERY SINGLE YEAR except his rookie season.
VORP high of 6.8? Lebron bested that in every single year except his rookie year, and this year, which isn't even finished and Lebron has a chance of surpassing it if he starts trying.
Lebron also smokes Kobe in pretty much every single basic stat category, including scoring.
Kobe vs. Lebron is dead. Kobe is actually a LOT more comparable to Paul Pierce. Kobe is better offensively, Pierce better defensively.. Both remained productive until old age, but the main difference being Pierce spending most of his prime next to Antoine Walker, while Kobe get to spend his with Shaq.
:tu
I'd say if you replace Kobe with Pierce, Allen, T Mac, Vince Carter, or Latrell Spreewell in 2000, 2001, and 2002, the Lakers still win, thanks to Shaq. He was an unstoppable force for those years, with three straight Finals MVPs.
Mr Bones
01-26-2015, 05:59 PM
...ring count is also irrelevant, too
It's not an either/or stat. It matters, but doesn't matter more than the totality of a player's legacy. It's certainly not "irrelevant." There's a pretty strong correlation between players considered all time greats and rings. I don't know of a single ringless player who is in the conversation for greatest player ever... do you?
Malik Hairston
01-26-2015, 06:23 PM
It's not an either/or stat. It matters, but doesn't matter more than the totality of a player's legacy. It's certainly not "irrelevant." There's a pretty strong correlation between players considered all time greats and rings. I don't know of a single ringless player who is in the conversation for greatest player ever... do you?
I agree, I meant that it's irrelevant when you're discussing All-Time greats of this magnitude, since it's assumed they already have at least 1 ring, usually 2, to be in the discussion..
The difference between 2 rings and 6 rings is irrelevant IMO, as it's largely based on circumstance..maybe there are exceptions like Dad Killer, but a lot of these other players have rings where they weren't the clear-cut #1 guy(Kobe for 3 of his, Duncan in 2014, Shaq in 2006, Kareem, etc)..
Mr Bones
01-26-2015, 06:32 PM
I agree, I meant that it's irrelevant when you're discussing All-Time greats of this magnitude, since it's assumed they already have at least 1 ring, usually 2, to be in the discussion..
The difference between 2 rings and 6 rings is irrelevant IMO, as it's largely based on circumstance..maybe there are exceptions like Dad Killer, but a lot of these other players have rings where they weren't the clear-cut #1 guy(Kobe for 3 of his, Duncan in 2014, Shaq in 2006, Kareem, etc)..
:tu
Brazil
01-26-2015, 06:33 PM
^ Duncan in 2014 is arguable tbh.. On the finals Ya clear cut guy is Kawhi but overall Duncan led the Spurs in almost all stat lines... Spurs 2014 is all about team so I get the not being clear cut but Duncan was the best player of the 5 rings.
Cry Havoc
01-26-2015, 07:37 PM
I agree, I meant that it's irrelevant when you're discussing All-Time greats of this magnitude, since it's assumed they already have at least 1 ring, usually 2, to be in the discussion..
The difference between 2 rings and 6 rings is irrelevant IMO, as it's largely based on circumstance..maybe there are exceptions like Dad Killer, but a lot of these other players have rings where they weren't the clear-cut #1 guy(Kobe for 3 of his, Duncan in 2014, Shaq in 2006, Kareem, etc)..
I think Duncan was CLEARLY the best Spur throughout last year's playoff run, and even deserved FMVP consideration.
Malik Hairston
01-26-2015, 07:52 PM
You could argue that Duncan was the best player, but there's no argument that he was the "clear" best player..
Most consistent is probably a more accurate argument, tbh..
The 2014 Spurs were the most team-oriented squad in NBA history, statistically..they were probably the most versatile team of all-time, too, able to play at different tempos, able to go defense or offense(Manu instead of DG, Diaw instead of Splitter, etc), able to attack you through the post or perimeter(Duncan/Diaw/Leonard or Manu/Parker/Mills/Green)..
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