LeBron becomes the all team leading scorer

[2010sarenevercomingback]

He also quit against the Celtics.

 

[hothouse_corn]

In before @jw3 or someone else fans the flames by calling him Labia or labia.

oops, L A B R U M auto-corrects to labia now.

 

[tman87]

Lebron is better than Kobe was even though I like Kobe more.

They are totally different players though. Lebron is a mix of Karl Malone and Magic Johnson with Dominque's vertical/athleticism.

Kobe was not as physically dominant as Lebron. Kobe had more will to win, more work ethic (not saying Lebron has a poor work ethic), and a totally different game. I don't think there has been a player with a larger offensive arsenal than Kobe had. Plus, he was first team all defense for many years. In the playoffs Phil Jackson would stick Kobe on the oppositions best offensive guard/wing to shut them down. Especially during crunch time. Lebron can obviously be a defensive force, but I don't remember coaches sticking him on the oppositions best scorer like Jackson used to do with Kobe. Very few top scorers are also asked to also be the top wing defender too. That dual role is tough to handle, which is why a combo of Pippen and Jordan - both elite all time defenders - but with Pippen the default defense first of the two, was such a devastating combo.

I like Kobe better, also, and in some ways he is more an alpha winner. He didn't have Lebron's size/strength/athleticism combo though. But then pretty much no one ever has.

 

[Cash68847]

They are totally different players though. Lebron is a mix of Karl Malone and Magic Johnson with Dominque's vertical/athleticism.

Kobe was not as physically dominant as Lebron. Kobe had more will to win, more work ethic (not saying Lebron has a poor work ethic), and a totally different game. I don't think there has been a player with a larger offensive arsenal than Kobe had. Plus, he was first team all defense for many years. In the playoffs Phil Jackson would stick Kobe on the oppositions best offensive guard/wing to shut them down. Especially during crunch time. Lebron can obviously be a defensive force, but I don't remember coaches sticking him on the oppositions best scorer like Jackson used to do with Kobe. Very few top scorers are also asked to also be the top wing defender too. That dual role is tough to handle, which is why a combo of Pippen and Jordan - both elite all time defenders - but with Pippen the default defense first of the two, was such a devastating combo.

I like Kobe better, also, and in some ways he is more an alpha winner. He didn't have Lebron's size/strength/athleticism combo though. But then pretty much no one ever has.

I’m not a Lebron fan, but Lebron could take shit talent in his prime and elevate them beyond Kobe. The guy did pretty well with some talentless teams. Hell some Kobe teams struggled in his prime even. Kobe is in my top 5, but Lebron has to be top 2-3 for sure.

 

[betsch]

I'd cheer for Crayton before I'd cheer for Leflop.

 

[DrinkItIn]

I'd cheer for Crayton before I'd cheer for Leflop.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I'd cheer for Crayton before I'd cheer for Leflop.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

You don't like LeBron? Cool
You want to fling your own feces at him? I'm here for it
You want to cheer for Pickle Smoochers? Get fucked to death by a silverback gorilla, reanimated, and then refucked back to death

 

[tman87]

I’m not a Lebron fan, but Lebron could take shit talent in his prime and elevate them beyond Kobe. The guy did pretty well with some talentless teams. Hell some Kobe teams struggled in his prime even. Kobe is in my top 5, but Lebron has to be top 2-3 for sure.

Yeah, they are different players. Lebron, even at 38, is still a force of nature, but not like he was 5 years ago, or even 3 years ago. He has been injured quite a bit the last couple of seasons, which is going to happen more the older a player gets, but he has still be incredibly resiliant to injury over the course of the year.

Kobe lifted teams in a different way than Lebron. Except for the year or two post Shaq leaving - and in those couple of years, the Lakers had a bad roster/supporting cast around Kobe - his teams were championship level up until he blew he achilles. I mean Pau Gasol is a really good player, but not as good or dominant as true top of the food chain superstars. Lamar Odom was good, but never even an all star. Derek Fisher was nails in the playoffs, but mainly he was a small shooting guard who was tough. Not particularly athletic (could barely finish at the rim), but playoff proven/tested and a winner as a supporting cast piece. Ron Artest was a tough as hell player and defender, but also somewhat loco and not an all-star level player.

Kobe was the only superstar on those post-Shaq bling teams, and even the year he blew his achilles, he had expended so much energy and elevated his play for such an extended amount of the season (which is why he ultimately blew his achilles as Kobe left it all on the court and had stressed his body to the breaking point), that had he not blew his achilles, the Lakers were probably a finals team and would have maybe won it all that year. Kobe was a force of nature in a different way than Lebron. Post achilles, Kobe was not the same player. That injury was the end of him as a top player in the league, unfortunately.

Lebron also got to play in a much weaker Eastern conference for his entire career up until he signed with the Lakers. For almost 2 decades, the Eastern conference was simply a far weaker conference with the real power/top of the food chain teams mostly all being in the West. Lebron was great at elevating a meh supporting cast though, better than Kobe for the most part doing that, but again he did it in different ways. I still say Kobe is more of an alpha winner than Lebron overall, but Kobe's game had it's warts (we know what those are) and Lebron had the physical size/strength/athleticism combo package advantage over Kobe, along with Magic Johnson level distribution skills.

Just different players, but looking at their entire careers and body of work, it is hard to put Kobe above Lebron overall as a player. But in some instances, Kobe was still more of an alpha winner than Lebron. Yes, Kobe had prime Shaq for his first 3 blings, and they were one of the most dominant superstar duo's in NBA history. They might not have gotten along perfectly, but they complimented each other very well, both had clearly defined roles on those 3 peat teams. Kobe proved post-Shaq that he was still right at the top of the NBA food chain for about 8 years post-Shaq, he was a force on the court that led teams to two blings and barely lost a 3rd bling in those years.

I am not going to crap on either of those two players - both whom are top 5, for sure top 10 ever all time greats in their sport.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

I would've loved to see Kobe play in modern basketball systems. Dude is basically the prototypical 3 + D wing.