Kobe huge favorite to win MVP according to one gambling site

[stretch]

HAHAH...KOBE ALWAYS HAD TALENT...WTF

Smush Parker
Kobe Bryant
Luke Walton
Lamar Odom
Kwame Brown

Odom is a of a lot more talented than anyone that Lebron has ever had alongside him.

Now I will say this... In terms of individual talent, Lebron the past years has had some more individually talented players, except for Odom, but in terms of the team around him... Kobe's teams are were a little more balanced and well built, so they pretty much even each other out. but the coaching is COMPLETELY tipped in Kobe's favor. that isn't even remotely close. and the amount of success is completely tipped in Lebron's favor. Sure, he may play in the east, he still always stepped up when he needed to, and made sure his team was able to beat elite teams like San Antonio, Dallas, Detroit, which matters more, than beating a bunch of garbage teams in the East. If they are capable of consistently beating elite teams, then thats what matters most.

Put it like this...

Lebron's surrounding talent and build = Kobe's surrounding talent and build

Lebron's success >>> Kobe's success

Lebron's coaching <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Kobe's coaching

I'm taking Lebron.

[DazedAndConfused]

Gino, you bring up some good points, I had to look up the answers:



Odom Yes. He's shooting his best percentages of his career 51% and he's one of the league rebounding leaders. And his turnovers are the lowest they've ever been. Odom this year is playing the best basketball he has ever played.

Luke, No. But at the same time, Luke is no longer a starter. Coming from the bench, this is his second best career year. His best year was as a starter...so it's hard to compare if he WAS a starter, would he have a career year.

Radman. Yes. He's shooting at the highest FG% of his career, 45%. For the last 1-2 months, Rad's been playing some very good basketball. If you extrapolate and project his lower minutes, he's having a career year.

Fisher, yes. Let's add in Derek Fisher for good measure. Fisher is straight up playing the best he's EVER played in all his years as a Laker.

Kwame. Kwame is not a Laker.


Young players usually do NOT mature. Most NBA draft picks flame out and are out of the NBA in 3-4 years. Kobe as a leader can take credit for making sure that Bynum, Sasha and Farmar matured. Look around the NBA, how many draft picks actually mature into quality NBA players? It's no coincidence that all 3 of these guys are Kobe's teammates. Add in Ronny Turiaf too...he was only an energizer bunny before but Kobe's constant open post feeds to him is giving Ronny a career year too.


Agreed...CP3's done a fine job and that's why I consider him #2 in the MVP race. He just didn't deal with adversity which Kobe did so that gives Kobe the edge in this area.


It's not hypothetical. Let's forget for a second that most of the East sucks so let's take the records at face value. Just do a simple team swap East to West. #9 Warriors would be #3 in the East and Lebron #4 in the East would be at home watching the Playoffs from his couch if he were in the West. Gaudy numbers or not, LeBron is not winning as many games as Kobe or CP3. He's only winning as many games as Kobe did last year and Kobe had the worst WC Playoff team I've ever seen.


Yes, just look at their record, they're still floating at the top. Mediocre? Nah, they lost to bad teams...but they beat most of the Playoff teams. Since Pau went out, Houston and Warriors are the only 2 Playoff teams that beat them.

Losing to bad teams has always been a Laker habit for some strange reason.

Damn that's some good ol' fashioned ownage right there. Nothing like FACTS to smack you upside the face and make you realize what an idiot you are.

Gino, let it go.....you've clearly embarrassed yourself enough in this thread. Stick to what you know, the Celtics. KG might not win the MVP, but you know he's locked up a spot on the 1st team All-Thug NBA.

[Gino]

Gino, you bring up some good points, I had to look up the answers:

Odom Yes. He's shooting his best percentages of his career 51% and he's one of the league rebounding leaders. And his turnovers are the lowest they've ever been. Odom this year is playing the best basketball he has ever played.

Odom is having his second worst scoring season in his career. In fact, Odom is below his career averages in points, assists and free throw percentage. He is having his best f/g percentage , but the Lakers haven't utilized this enough as his scoring is down. He is having his best rebounding season, but I don't see how this could have anything to do with Kobe.

Luke, No. But at the same time, Luke is no longer a starter. Coming from the bench, this is his second best career year. His best year was as a starter...so it's hard to compare if he WAS a starter, would he have a career year.

Radman. Yes. He's shooting at the highest FG% of his career, 45%. For the last 1-2 months, Rad's been playing some very good basketball. If you extrapolate and project his lower minutes, he's having a career year.

Kwame. Kwame is not a Laker.

Radman is below his career averages in scoring and rebounding even though he already has his second most number of starts in his entire career.
Kwame was injured most of the season before he was traded so I won't argue with you there.

Young players usually do NOT mature. Most NBA draft picks flame out and are out of the NBA in 3-4 years. Kobe as a leader can take credit for making sure that Bynum, Sasha and Farmar matured. Look around the NBA, how many draft picks actually mature. It's no coincidence that all 3 of these guys are Kobe's teammates. Add in Ronny Turiaf too...he was only an energizer bunny before but Kobe's constant open post feeds to him is giving him HIS career year too.

The only argument I could buy is that Kobe's off-season comments made Bynum improve his game. However, I don't think Kobe made these comments to some kid at a fast food joint in hopes they would get back to Bynum. Also, Bynum's improvement probably has a lot to do with it being a contract year.

I can't really see how playing with Kobe has helped the maturity of Sasha and Farmar. I just can't. Kobe's had way too many 40 shot attempt games this season for me to honestly believe that.

Agreed...CP3's done a fine job and that's why I consider him #2 in the MVP race. He just didn't deal with adversity which Kobe did so that gives Kobe the edge in this area.

Agreed.

It's not hypothetical. Let's forget for a second that most of the East sucks so let's take the records at face value. Just do a simple team swap East to West. #9 Warriors would be #3 in the East and Lebron #4 in the East would be at home watching the Playoffs from his couch if he were in the West. Gaudy numbers or not, LeBron is not winning as many games as Kobe or CP3. He's only winning as many games as Kobe did last year and Kobe had the worst WC Playoff team I've ever seen.

I think Kobe's more talented than LeBron, but when I think of a team with Gasol, Bynum, Odom, the rest of the Lakers bench and LeBron, I can't help but think they would be a better team.

Kobe's still my number 3 considering how well the Lakers have done this year and how talented he is, but I just think the other two are still more deserving.

Yes, just look at their record, they're still floating at the top. Mediocre? Nah, they lost to bad teams...but they beat most of the Playoff teams. Since Pau went out, Houston and Warriors are the only 2 Playoff teams that beat them.
Losing to bad teams has always been a Laker habit for some strange reason.

I know they beat the Jazz and Mavs, but who else?

[Allanon]

Odom is a of a lot more talented than anyone that Lebron has ever had alongside him.

LeBron's had Big Z along for the ride and Big Z's a two-time All Star.

Outside of Kobe and Lamar, the rest of the team last year was pretty much trash. LeBron had BigZ, Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao, Eric Snow. Sure they're not star players but most of them are solid NBA players and much better than Smush Parker, Kwame, Luke, Devin Green, Von Wafer, Sasha, rookie Farmar.

Lakers definitely had better coaching.

[Allanon]

Odom is having his second worst scoring season in his career. In fact, Odom is below his career averages in points, assists and free throw percentage. He is having his best f/g percentage , but the Lakers haven't utilized this enough as his scoring is down. He is having his best rebounding season, but I don't see how this could have anything to do with Kobe.

Odom's strength is not as a scorer, his strength is his all around game. This year, Odom's a beast because he's doing everything while shooting at a blistering 51%. His recent string of 20-20 games has been ridiculous "video game type numbers" from some article I read.

Radman is below his career averages in scoring and rebounding even though he already has his second most number of starts in his entire career.

It's not about the starts, its about the minutes. He's playing fewer minutes so his numbers are slightly down. Give him the same minutes and he's doing much better this year than ever.

The only argument I could buy is that Kobe's off-season comments made Bynum improve his game. However, I don't think Kobe made these comments to some kid at a fast food joint in hopes they would get back to Bynum. Also, Bynum's improvement probably has a lot to do with it being a contract year.

This is debatable and this theory has been brought up before. I don't know if it's true or not and I agree it's a stretch. But at the same time, it could have gone the reverse if Kobe wanted it to. Kobe could have been a baby and tanked the season to get his trade. He could have tried NOT to help Bynum succeed but instead, from the get go, he involved Bynum right away and gave him constant props.

I can't really see how playing with Kobe has helped the maturity of Sasha and Farmar. I just can't. Kobe's had way too many 40 shot attempt games this season for me to honestly believe that.

I don't think Kobe's had ANY 40 shot games this year, I think his highest was 33. I'm not sure where to look that up easily. But Kobe's shots have gone down this year.

2005 - 27 shots
2006 - 23 shots
2007 - 21 shots

I think Kobe's more talented than LeBron, but when I think of a team with Gasol, Bynum, Odom, the rest of the Lakers bench and LeBron, I can't help but think they would be a better team.

This is very possible, I don't know. I think in a few more years, LeBron is going to be THE man, but not just yet. His defense is sometimes there, sometimes not. He still shoots too many 3 pointers and hasn't developed the "We're going to win no matter what" at ude.

[stretch]

LeBron's had Big Z along for the ride and Big Z's a two-time All Star.

Outside of Kobe and Lamar, the rest of the team last year was pretty much trash. LeBron had BigZ, Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, Drew Gooden, Anderson Varejao, Eric Snow. Sure they're not star players but most of them are solid NBA players and much better than Smush Parker, Kwame, Luke, Devin Green, Von Wafer, Sasha, rookie Farmar.

Lakers definitely had better coaching.

Please... Z barely made the all-star in the East, which is absolutely devoid of centers. Even Jamal Magliore was an all-star once. It's not like he has to battle with loads of amazing guards and forwards like Odom has to, in order to make an all-star game.

[ElNono]

The MVP should be Lebron... it's not even close.

[Allanon]

Please... Z barely made the all-star in the East, which is absolutely devoid of centers. Even Jamal Magliore was an all-star once. It's not like he has to battle with loads of amazing guards and forwards like Odom has to, in order to make an all-star game.

I'd take Big Z right now over most of the Centers in the NBA. He's not Yao Ming but he's probably the 5th-6th best Center in the NBA.

Magloire when he was an All-Star was a very good player.

[Killakobe81]

Kobe is THE MVP

[Medvedenko]

Odom is having his second worst scoring season in his career. In fact, Odom is below his career averages in points, assists and free throw percentage. He is having his best f/g percentage , but the Lakers haven't utilized this enough as his scoring is down. He is having his best rebounding season, but I don't see how this could have anything to do with Kobe.



Radman is below his career averages in scoring and rebounding even though he already has his second most number of starts in his entire career.
Kwame was injured most of the season before he was traded so I won't argue with you there.



The only argument I could buy is that Kobe's off-season comments made Bynum improve his game. However, I don't think Kobe made these comments to some kid at a fast food joint in hopes they would get back to Bynum. Also, Bynum's improvement probably has a lot to do with it being a contract year.

I can't really see how playing with Kobe has helped the maturity of Sasha and Farmar. I just can't. Kobe's had way too many 40 shot attempt games this season for me to honestly believe that.



Agreed.



I think Kobe's more talented than LeBron, but when I think of a team with Gasol, Bynum, Odom, the rest of the Lakers bench and LeBron, I can't help but think they would be a better team.

Kobe's still my number 3 considering how well the Lakers have done this year and how talented he is, but I just think the other two are still more deserving.



I know they beat the Jazz and Mavs, but who else?

All that and Kobe still has his team winning a high clip now up to 51-24 with all of the injuries. So, if Kobe doesn't make his players better as you have stated...how the have they won so many games...is it all Kobe...well then you must of answered your own question. No matter how you want to slice it.....injuries, making his teammates better etc...the Lakers are a top team in the West and it all starts with Kobe.