Has the NBAs 'best" player ever been on a .500 team?

[monosylab1k]

there's no debating that Kobe is the most talented player in the NBA. I don't know if he's the best though.

[Testing]

Kobe is the best player in the league. His team consists of Smush Parker, Sasha Vujcic, Maurice Evans, etc. Other than Lamar Odom, there isn't a single player on that Lakers team that would be a starter for any other team in the league.

As for the people who say he's a ball hogger....against Denver a few nights ago, he had something like 30 points and 9 assists...and the Lakers still lost bad. They need him to score 40-50 points a night for the Lakers to have a chance. And there isn't a single other player in the league (aside from maybe a healthy D wADE) who could arguably win an entire playoffs game by himself...Kobe can literally do that. Best player is about individual accolades and Kobe has plenty.

I would have gone with Tim Duncan as the best NBA player if it weren't for his poor FT shooting...sometimes so in the crunchtime. Kobe doesn't have a glaring hole in his game like that. For the most part, he plays defense and is actually good at it. His offensive game is the most complete of any player in the league: He's dangerous at inside, at the hoop, midrange, and from beyond the arc. Lebron and Wade don't have nearly the great outside shooting game that Kobe does.

Quit drinking the haterade. I don't think Steve Nash or Dirk Nowitsky, or even Tim Duncan could help this current Lakers team.

[Cry Havoc]

You're stupid.

I don't want to say much more because I don't think you'll understand what I say.

Ah yes, and biasing an entire concept of someone you've never met based on one internet post gives you a lot of elbow room to make such a determination.

Comparing an NBA player's knowledge of classical music to his knowledge of other NBA players' skill levels is a little ridiculous. These guys have spent their entire lives on basketball courts. No matter what you think their I.Q. might be, based off of their life experience alone, it's safe to assume that they can make a qualified assessment of who the best player is.

Yes, and we saw that. Back in the day, numerous players would vouch for Magic, Bird, or Jordan as clearly the best player in the league. The only problem is, Magic and Bird played at the same time, and there wasn't exactly popular consensus among players then.

So if you offer up 5 players who say Kobe's the best, I'm pretty damn sure I could find 5 who think Nash is the best as well. Does that mean 5 players are qualified to make an assessment and 5 are not? It's not like there's a single answer here, as you cannot -prove- that Kobe is or is not the best player in the league. Since there is popular dissent among critics who are paid to analyze the game and have a much more objective view of the subject, I'm not going to think a group of NBA players would agree, either.

[Testing]

I guess it also depends on the player's position. Kobe is a shooting guard. He's not a Point Guard, He's not a Center/PF the two positions which generally make it easier to statiscally see how exactly a player makes his team mates better.

Take Ginobili for example. He's an amazing player...both ends of the floor and he gives the team energy. But does he neccesarily make the guys around him better players? I don't think so...that generally falls on Duncan since he's the center of it all and is the player that constantly gets double teamed, etc. leaving his team mates open and giving them better shots.

Kobe Bryant doesn't make his team mates better...frankly because I think his team mates are about as good as they're going to get. I saw plenty of games where his teammates were bricking shots left and right, had no idea how to get back on defense at the other end, etc. He's playing with a bunch of bench players/role players...not starters. That makes a huge difference.

If you replaced Kobe Bryant on this Lakers squad with say a Manu Ginobili, or a Steve Nash, or a Tony Parker or a TmAC, you think they'd be better or worse? I doubt they'd be able to score 35 ppg or whatever considering the entire defense of other teams would be able to concentrate solely on them since the Lakers literally have no other dangerous/guardable player on that roster. 9 times out of 10, the opposing team would rather leave a Sasha Vujic or a Smush Parker open in order to triple/double team Kobe.

[ponky]

wgaf? why not just appreciate the different talents that different players bring to the game? y'all sound like a bunch of second-graders ing about "no my daddy's best" "my daddy can beat your daddy" "yeah, well my two daddies are better than your dad"

[cornbread]

Ah yes, and biasing an entire concept of someone you've never met based on one internet post gives you a lot of elbow room to make such a determination.



Yes, and we saw that. Back in the day, numerous players would vouch for Magic, Bird, or Jordan as clearly the best player in the league. The only problem is, Magic and Bird played at the same time, and there wasn't exactly popular consensus among players then.

So if you offer up 5 players who say Kobe's the best, I'm pretty damn sure I could find 5 who think Nash is the best as well. Does that mean 5 players are qualified to make an assessment and 5 are not? It's not like there's a single answer here, as you cannot -prove- that Kobe is or is not the best player in the league. Since there is popular dissent among critics who are paid to analyze the game and have a much more objective view of the subject, I'm not going to think a group of NBA players would agree, either.

I don't think there would be a consensus among players either. And it doesn't discredit a player if they don't say Kobe is the best or Nash is the best. It's just a difference opinion that is formed by their personal own criteria of what the "best" is. Sure there are biases that come into play but sports writers and analyists have their biases too. Who's the best? I dunno. I would just find it interesting to see who the players would vote for because of their unique experience.

[BgT]

there's no debating that Kobe is the most talented player in the NBA. I don't know if he's the best though.

I agree. Finally a good post that tells everything there is to tell about Kobe.

Kobe is the best player in the league. His team consists of Smush Parker, Sasha Vujcic, Maurice Evans, etc. Other than Lamar Odom, there isn't a single player on that Lakers team that would be a starter for any other team in the league.

If Kobe would have Tony Parker and Tim Duncan as his team mates, he wouldn't be even mentioned as someone who could be close to the best player in the NBA as Lakers fans ( ) think right now. Ok, Parker might not be the best example, because Kobe wouldn't get the ball without stealing it from him. Let's say Nash instead. Kobe is so "popular" because of his ballhogging abilities. Everybody says "He HAS to shoot 95% of all shots, because his team mates are so bad." That's just an excuse, Kobe loves the situation. Everyone could see what happens with Kobe, when he has a star team mate - he starts fighting for the "My is longer than yours" award. He is not able to appreciate the strength of his team, if this limits the possibility for ball hogging. There are many players in NBA who could have the same PPG average as Kobe - if they were so selfish.

Kobe best player in NBA? Get outta here.

[BgT]

I don't think there would be a consensus among players either. And it doesn't discredit a player if they don't say Kobe is the best or Nash is the best. It's just a difference opinion that is formed by their personal own criteria of what the "best" is. Sure there are biases that come into play but sports writers and analyists have their biases too. Who's the best? I dunno. I would just find it interesting to see who the players would vote for because of their unique experience.

Of course there wouldn't be a consensus. There is no consensus with much more objective questions, like who is the FASTEST player in NBA. I think the latest poll amongst NBA players was run by SI? TJ Ford won ahead of Allen Iverson. But there were some players who said Iverson was the fastest. If the question was about the best player, you could expect a lot of different answers. I think that at least 10 players would be mentioned, probably more. I know that Rasho would vote for Tim Duncan, he had the same opinion before he came to Spurs and he has the same opinion now. I think that he would NOT be the only one voting for TD...