Sports

Faceoff: Is Kobe or LeBron the Better Player?

A big topic of discussion in the NBA is who the best player is; Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.

To me it’s a no brainer; the answer is Kobe Bryant.

Both players have similar paths to the NBA.

They both came straight from high school, and were both picked in the first round.

James was the first overall pick in 2003 by his hometown team, Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bryant was picked 13th overall in 1996 by the Charlotte Hornets, but was later traded to his current team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant is regarded as one of, if not the best, closers in the game today.

His clutch shooting late in games is one of the reasons he is better than James.

Bryant has hit more than 30 game winning shots over his 15 year career.

He had six alone during the 2010-2011 season.

Both of these players have been compared to at one point in their respective careers to Michael Jordan.

James is more MJ-like than Bryant in terms of overall stats, but Bryant is more like him overall.

It took Jordan six years to get his first NBA Championship.

It took Bryant six years to get three, which is half of Jordan’s.

Everyone will say that the only reason Kobe has three is because he had Shaquille O’Neal on his team.

To counter that argument, Kobe averaged 25.7 points per game during their 3-peat.

I will use this argument for a long time.

Bryant has five rings, James has zero. Granted Bryant has been in the league longer, James has had his fair share of opportunities.

Most recently these come this past season, when James was nowhere to be found in the NBA Finals.

This was the super team that was created in the offseason with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

He also led his Cavaliers to the NBA’s best record for two consecutive seasons, and yet his team could not reach the finals.

This is the year that everyone had LeBron versus Bryant in the finals, but LeBron failed to make the finals after losing 4-1 to the Orlando Magic.

Bryant led his team to another title the next season.

James has the better regular season statistics I will admit that, but it all comes down to winning championships.

Until James wins a title, I will consider Kobe a better player.

Now for the people, who don’t like to compare ring stats, let’s compare head-to-head statistics.

Bryant’s work ethic and leadership are leaps and bounds above James. Kobe, after losing to James’ Heat last season, stayed after to work on his game.

As for leadership, people were questioning whether or not James quit in the playoffs a couple seasons ago.

Never has that been said of Bryant. When the going got tough for both players, Bryant stayed with the Lakers, while James took “his talents” to Miami.

Bryant is the better player of the two.

When Michael Jordan came into the league in the 1984, he simply dominated the competition.

Heading into the later part of his career, people were wondering who they anoint as the “next Michael Jordan.” Well, in 1996, a kid from Lower Merion High
School in Philadelphia entered the league and his name was Kobe Bryant.

People thought Bryant would be the one to take the crown from Jordan and, in a sense, he did.

In 2003 however, arguably the most hyped high school player of all-time was set to make his professional debut.

That man was LeBron James. James took the league by storm and actually lived up to the hype that surrounded him.

Over the past five years or so, the debate has gone on as to who is the best player in basketball.

While names like Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitski, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant will be in the mix, the majority of people go with either James or Bryant.

Since we are comparing James and Bryant, let me first say that if I had to have the ball in one player’s hands to win the game, I would go with Bryant.

He has proved time and time again to be more clutch down the stretch.

Also, if the two played a game of one-on-one, I would go with Bryant.

James is an overall better player than Bryant is.

While Bryant is more of a pure scorer than James, James is more of a complete player.

James has the defensive edge, passing ability and rebounding advantage on Bryant.

Looking at last year’s stats, James scored 26.7 points per game which was second in the league, compared to Bryant’s 25.3 which was good for fifth.

James also topped Bryant in field goal percentage and three-point percentage as well as trumping Bryant in assists with seven per game to only 4.3 for
Bryant.

To compare their stats for their careers, through James’ first eight seasons, he averages 27.7 points per game, 7.0 assists per game and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Whereas Bryant averaged 21.6 points per game, 4.2 assists per game and 5.0 rebounds per game through his first eight seasons.

The knock on LeBron is that he hasn’t won a championship while Bryant has five.

I don’t argue rings, but look at the teammates Bryant has had over the course of his career.

Shaquille O’Neal, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Eddie Jones, Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Robert Horry, and the list goes on and on.

Meanwhile, James led his team to the best record in 2008-2009 as the Cavaliers went 66-16.

Playing in the weak Eastern Conference helped to pad the stats against for the Cavaliers against lesser teams before ultimately losing to the Magic in the
conference finals.

James’ supporting cast over the years has not been stellar until last year.

That is when he joined the Miami Heat with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade.

There again, James came under fire for losing another championship, but in his first year with a new team and three star players, a trip to the finals isn’t a
bad thing.

While I’ll still include Bryant in my top-five barely at this point in his career, I’ll take James each time.

Remember, this isn’t career accolades; this is the here and now.