The Debriefing: Kobe vs. LeBron

Everyone agrees that in Game 5 against the Pistons, LeBron James made "the leap." But where exactly was he leaping to? From 'good' to 'great'? From 'great' to 'legendary'? From 'legendary' to 'thank God, someone's better than Kobe'?

It feels like people want LeBron to be the best player in the game, mainly because it would mean that Kobe Bryant is no longer the best player in the game. People dislike Kobe for a lot of reasons. Moodiness, arrogance, selfishness, aloofness, rape. Take your pick, but people are clearly not comfortable with the idea of Kobe sitting atop the league.

You're seeing it right now. There's a rash of articles and TV personalities talking about how Kobe could learn a few things from LeBron. The same exact thing happened during last year's Finals, too, when Dwyane Wade was torching the Mavericks with his unselfishly brilliant and floppy ways. Everyone was quick to say that Kobe could learn from Wade's unselfishness, just as they're doing now with LeBron.

I'm not saying any of these opinions are wrong, in fact, I see some validity there. I do, however, think it's odd that LeBron has the defining game of his career, and the reaction from some people isn't, "Wow, that was a real treat to watch," or "This is going to be fantastic for the NBA." Instead, it's, "WooHoo! He's better than Kobe now!"

Is it true, though? Are either of them the best player in the game?

Now, personally, I am of the opinion that Tim Duncan is the best and most valuable player in the league. At least for the next few years in the NBA landscape, post players are more valuable than perimeter players. And Shaq's in this conversation, too, as long as he's in-shape, motivated, and healthy. But since he'll never play anything close to a full season again, I'm leaving him out of this discussion. I'm going to leave Duncan out, too, because it's so hard to compare post players to perimeter players, and no one sees Duncan as a particularly sexy choice, anyway.

So, here we go ... it's Kobe vs. LeBron, right now, for best (perimeter) player in the game. Let's get it on.

The biggest and most intriguing variable heres are their respective coaches and teams. It makes them difficult to compare, and this conversation would be totally different if Kobe and LeBron were traded for one another tomorrow. I firmly believe that Kobe Bryant would be better off with LeBron's coach, and LeBron would be better off with Kobe's coach.Until the NBA sees a resurgence in player/coaches, Mike Brown would be the perfect coach for Kobe. Here's what Mike Brown did with the Cavaliers, and it was a fantastic idea. He said to himself:
"Okay, I've got LeBron, who can do everything. What I need to take care of is the defensive end of the floor, so I'm going to bring in a cheap, dirty, completely effective flop machine in Anderson Varejao, I need Eric Snow, and I'll take a bunch of other guys and hammer home the idea to them that if you don't dig in defensively with the same enthusiasm with which Zydrunas Ilgauskus dances to Lithuanian hip-hop group Sel, you don't play. Our defense will keep us close, and as long as we have LeBron, we'll have a chance. The better LeBron gets, the better we get, and LeBron is going to get a lot better. Also, we might sometimes run offensive plays."

That would be perfect. Here's the dream scenario for Kobe: His coach says in the timeout, "Alright, we're gonna come out with a straight man defense out of this timeout, funnel guys to the middle, switch every screen, and keep your hands in the passing lanes. Defend like your life depends on it. If your man gets dribble penetration on you, I will kill your entire family. Okay, hands in, defense on three. One, Two, Thr--"

And then Kobe interrupts with, "Hey! Coach, what do you want us to do offensively?"

And the coach replies, "I don't know, score? Just take the damn ball and score, I don't care how. Two, three, whatever you feel like. Just go."

That's pretty much the Mike Brown coaching philosophy, and I think it's a solid one. Phil Jackson, meanwhile, has presided over the last two Lakers teams, both of which have been terrible defensively, which they don't have to be. Defense is, more than anything else, a matter of effort. The Lakers, sans Kobe, have never seemed particularly inclined on this end. Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are to defense what Dikembe Mutombo is to clear and understandable diction.

And offensively, Phil's got this triangle system which gets everyone touches, and relies on guys picking the correct option out of several available to them. LeBron would thrive in the triangle, because he doesn't mind sharing the ball, he'd always have open guys to pass to, and he'd always get his shots. So the coaching variables make the whole thing difficult to assess.

A popular opinion these days seems to be, "Hey, LeBron got the Finals with a bunch of scrubs, Kobe should, too." Easy there ... let's calm down. First, Kobe plays in the Western Conference, which all the members of the Eastern Conference look at, and say to themselves, in awe, "Damn."

Secondly, LeBron's scrubs are hellbent on playing responsible defense, while Kobe's scrubs are hellbent on ... I don't know, trying to figure out what went wrong in Smush Parker's childhood. "LeBron's in the Finals, so Kobe should be in the Finals" is totally unfair.

The differences in their actual games are easy to pinpoint. LeBron's a better distributor, he's stronger, he's more of a ball-sharer. Kobe, though, is a better pure scorer, probably still a better outside shooter, he has a post game, I still trust him more to take a game-winning shot, and he's also miles ahead of LeBron defensively right now.

Another area where Kobe has it over LeBron, and this is something that Michael Jordan discussed the other day, is bringing it consistently every single night. Said Michael:
Making "The Leap" is where you do it every single night. It's expected of you, and you do it. That, to me, is "The Leap." Not one game, not two games. It's consistent. Every defense comes in and they focus on you and you still impact the game. I think he's shown signs of that. I think he's going to continue to grow with that. The test is going to come for him to consistently do that every single night, when everybody expects it.

Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith have been hammering this home constantly in regard to LeBron. He flips on the cruise control and takes too many nights off. Kobe Bryant, meanwhile ... well, you don't have 4 straight 50-point games in the regular season unless you've made that leap Jordan's talking about.

But there's one big gray area that we haven't touched: leadership. One of the things that struck me about the Detroit/Cleveland series was how often LeBron was talking to his teammates, and in a variety of different ways. He knew what each guy needed, and he gave it to them.Boobie Gibson got appreciative hugs, Zydrunas Ilgauskus got talked to in a calm, rational manner. And Drew Gooden was screamed at, which is totally appropriate. In fact, Drew Gooden should probably have someone following him around 24/7, screaming at him constantly about something. "DAMMIT, GOODEN, PICK UP YOUR SOCKS. NO, I DON'T THINK THAT WOMAN WANTS TO SLEEP WITH YOU. NO, IT IS NOT SAFE TO EAT PAPER. STOP SCRATCHING YOURSELF! THAT? IT'S CALLED YOUR BELLY BUTTON, IDIOT! WHAT'S SO DAMN FUNNY ABOUT IT? AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD?! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, GOODEN?!"

But I digress.

You don't see a lot of that type of leadership from Kobe. At least, not as much, and when you do see it, it doesn't seem completely natural. With LeBron, it feels like it is. His teammates want to follow him. With Kobe, it feels like his teammates are completely aware of how great he is, and they're still not quite sure how to act around him.

It always seemed like Michael Jordan's lesser teammates, the guys like Steve Kerr and Luc Longley, would throw themselves in front of a train for MJ. I felt a little bit of that from LeBron and his cast, too (incidentally, I hope a train passes in front of Drew Gooden soon). But with Kobe, I get a feeling like Jordan Farmar would say, "Hey, you're an awesome basketball player and all, but dive in front of that train your damn self."

Kobe's like Chuck Norris. He'll take on everyone himself, and he'll whoop some ass. But LeBron's like William Wallace in Braveheart. People just naturally believe in him and want to follow him. And that, external considerations like teams and coachs not withstanding, is probably the biggest difference between the two right now.I feel like there are too many variables to say that one is clearly better than the other, but here's what I can say:

If I had to pick one of these guys to build an NBA team around for the next 8 years, I'll take LeBron without batting an eyelash.

But if I was playing a game of 2-on-2 tonight, and if I had to do something completely repulsive if I lost, like having to look at Drew Gooden's head for an hour ... I'm going to take Kobe. At the moment, I feel like he's a little bit more lethal of a weapon. I would, however, like to reserve the right to change my mind about this, depending on what happens in the next couple of weeks.

by mjd

Kobe Saved The Lakers

Special thanks to Jeff Lee for writing this take and giving us the privilege to add it to GetGarnett.com. If you have an article that is Lakers related and you know that it will interest our readers, feel free to e-mail us and will add it to the blog. Thanks!

Things just aren’t like they used to be. Gas is at an all time high, Britney Spears has a shaved head, Lindsay Lohan & Jerry Buss can’t find designated drivers, the NHL championship is going through So-Cal, the Lakers haven’t found a way to extend there season into June, and Kobe Bryant is no longer happy being with the Los Angeles Lakers. The only thing positive going for this city is the USC Trojans and they don’t play there first game for another couple of months. What’s next? I am not sure, but I promise the Lakers off-season is going to be an entertaining one.

Memo to: Kobe Bryant
Subject: Thank you for saving the Lakers franchise and this city.

I have questioned the decision making of the Lakers front office for three years myself. They have passed on signing key veterans, they have traded the wrong players, and they gave big contracts to a couple of slugs (Brian Cook & Vladimir Radmanović). When the Lakers selected Andrew Bynum in the 2005 NBA draft I thought they made an excellent decision. Bynum had the complete package. ( Youth, height, and size) That was something the Lakers needed immensely. Following the draft the Lakers immediately began working on his development by paring him up with former Lakers player, one of the NBA’s greatest 50 players, a Hall of Famer’, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Two years have now passed since we drafted Bynum and his skills have improved slightly (some people will beg to differ). Kobe has noticed it, and so has the Lakers organization. Bynum was supposed to be the next big thing here in Tinsel Town, but as you can see his development is taking longer than expected. Kobe doesn’t have the patience to wait for this kid to come full circle, nor should he have to. None the less, Bynum did have big shoes to fill following Shaquille O’Neal’s departure and many of us set unrealistic expectations, but that’s the way it is when you play for the greatest franchise in sports history. In all fairness to Bynum, he is young, very young, (youngest player in the NBA) and he was taken right out of high school when the Lakers made him there 10 th pick in the draft. However, the timing isn’t right for Andrew Bynum to remain in a Lakers uniform. It’s definitely the right place for him, but unfortunately it comes at the wrong time. A time, when you have the greatest player in history in his prime, who is in search for some teammates that have what it takes to win a championship. Bynum may have that in him, but it won’t be for another few years, and by then Kobe will be too old.

If the Lakers want to build a championship team like they promised Kobe Bryant, they must trade Andrew Bynum, and it must happen now. According to Kobe, Mitch Cupchak has already turned down players such as Carlos Boozer, Ron Artest, and Barron Davis because he labeled Bynum “untouchable” and didn’t want to include him in any package deal.

So you ask; why in the hell would you trade Andrew Bynum? The answer is really simple. Bynum has a lot of potential, he has a big body, he’s young, and teams could develop him into the kind of player that would benefit there select style of play. Outside of Lamar Odom, Bynum has the most interest from other teams mostly due to his size & age and the Lakers could get a big name veteran in return for him.

With the events that have taken place in the last 96hrs; beyond Kobe it now looks as if every player is marketable. Its going to take a Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, and possibly a draft pick to land some key veterans on this Lakers team. The Future of this franchise is hanging on by a thread. Within the last week Jerry Buss has become more than just an owner, he’s now a tailor. He must find a way to stitch this team, this franchise, this city and its fans back together. The Lakers front office must act NOW!! They have sat on there hands and done absolutely nothing to improve this team over the last 3 years. Time is critical, every second, every minute, and every hour are going to be scrutinized. Mitch Kupchak should be on the phone right now trying to make something happen, and he shouldn’t dare hang up the phone until something spectacular takes place. Jerry Buss might want to set aside the booze and young women for a while so he can focus on bringing a blockbuster deal to LA. Everyone is watching; every owner, GM, and coach around the NBA have there eyes glued on this franchise just anticipating for the Buss family to fall on its face. “Do something, and do it now”, but do it very carefully.

Don’t point your finger and try to blame Kobe Bryant for this off-season fallout. Not for a single second should anyone place blame on the guy that stood up, voiced his opinion and saved this franchise. It took two days for Kobe to say what Lakers fans have been saying for 3 years- “CHANGES MUST BE MADE”. Mitch Cupchak should have already resigned or been fired. It’s not fair for the best player in the league to go through a rebuilding phase when they promised him they wouldn’t at the time he re-signed as a free agent. It’s not fair to Kobe when he has to watch his team fail miserably in the playoffs because his teammates lack talent. It’s an insult to Kobe Bryant’s greatness, for him to go through a rebuilding process that is centered on a kid who is barely old enough to vote!!! Kobe is not getting any younger. He has many more miles on his odometer than Jordan did at the same time in his career.

And finally,

A lot of you will criticize, belittle, and nit-pick Kobe Bryant. You will call him selfish, childish, unstable or insane but if I’m Kobe Bryant I don’t want to play for a team that wants to save money and rebuild while I’m in my prime years. Kobe Bryant was the voice of the people. Kobe reiterated to management what all of us have been saying for years. Mr. Bryant did the right thing!!!

Kobe saved himself, a city, and an organization from being the next Atlanta Hawks. Someday all of you will thank him for it. And if you’re a true Lakers fan, you’ve already thanked him.

Published by
The Nuggetat June 1, 2007