Are People Really Arguing Lebron James Is Not King? BLASPHEMY!
By Adam Hill
Yeah, let’s get one thing straight, Lebron James was dunked on by Xavier’s, Jordan Crawford, but are you really going to use that to say Lebron James is not King?First and foremost, until you show me a player who cannot ever be dunked on, that video is irrelevant, not to mention real blurry and hard to see who is who and what really happened. The most common responses for the best basketball players are Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James and right fully so.
If you do not remember, you definitely have seen replays and highlights of Air Jordan’s career and his famous game winning shots. How can you not have seen the highlights, if not the real game, against the Jazz, Game 6 in 1998 when MJ had less than 10 seconds and gives Brian Russell, of the Jazz, a bit of a shove (which is a whole different argument in itself) to win his 6th championship in 6 NBA Finals appearances all within 8 years! Miraculous would a bit of an understatement. Here is a list of some of his accomplishments. Michael Jordan-6 Championships in 8 years (only 6 Finals Appearances)-6 MVP’s-9 times a member of All Defensive Team-10 NBA scoring titles (7 of which were in consecutive years)-41 point average in the 1993 NBA finals (still stands as a record)-63 points against Boston in 1986 (most points ever in a playoff game)-Member of the original dream team coached under Bob Knight in 1984.
Kobe Bryant is approaching an older age and for many years was seen as the Kobe/Shaq duo, until a bit of controversy arose and Kobe proved he could do it himself. He is by far one of the best all around athletes and his abilities have no limits. He is a very good motivator and team player. He keeps his players active and is a great passer, but most of all he is a great scorer and everybody knows that.
Kobe won 3 titles with Shaq and had a few quiet seasons until 2007-2008 when he took the Lakers to the finals and was defeated by the big 3 for Boston. Kobe rebounded and returned to the finals the next season to capture his 4th championship in his career. Is Kobe worthy of being compared to Michael Jordan? It is always hard to tell since Kobe is still an active player, however taking a look at his stats and age having to make a judgment, I would say NO. Kobe is not better than Michael Jordan. At the age of 30, going on 31 next month, a rough estimate would say Kobe has around 8 to 12 seasons left, which some would say he is in his prime and only halfway through his career, however I would disagree. Although Kobe achieved his first championship without Shaq as well as an MVP award, I predict nothing but downhill from here. His points per game are going to drop little by little each year, and his assists will decline less than a full point, but regardless decline and in 3 years I predict the Lakers to be looking at a 5 or 6 seed in the playoffs.
Kobe is still going to put up good numbers regardless, but I do not see him achieving half of what Michael Jordan was able to. On the bright side, Kobe did have an 81 point game and was the youngest player to ever achieve 18,000 points (so far).Kobe Bryant-4 NBA championships-2 times the NBA scoring leader-2 MVP’s-9 All Defensive Team-25.1 point per game for his career average-81 point game is 2nd only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.
The last contestant for “Who’s the best of all time” game show, is the King, also known as Lebron James. Lebron James began his name early, before the NBA when he signed that huge 90 million dollar contract with Nike before playing a single game in the NBA. He then achieved large audiences his rookie season and lived up to the hype. He is still very young and yet to win a championship, however his future is very promising and is on the right track to the Hall of Fame. Lebron is one of those players that you cannot deny his talents although a comparison to Michael Jordan is definitely hard considering the different times but when those people want to say Kobe is much better and believe it is not even close, I look at them and say “ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” They must not know his facts.
Yes, Kobe was the fastest and young rising star, but now there is someone better and people refuse to recognize it. I would say it is almost one of those “I have to see it before I believe it” situations. In other words, it is going to take Lebron to accomplish everything before EVERYone starts to believe it. To be quite honest with you, the man is a beast, an absolute tank! He towers in at 6’8” and moves like a 6’ tall point guard! By his 2nd season in the NBA, Lebron had already averaged 27 points per game and became the youngest player to ever reach a triple-double and 50 points in a game.
Of coarse Lebron is lacking experience on Kobe, simply due to lack of seasons in the NBA, however his time will come when he has 10 years in the NBA and people truly believe he can do it in the clutch. I hear people say Kobe is better because he has more experience, but if we are talking about when they both retire, I would have to say Lebron. His playoff pressures were high in his 2009 post season playoffs and rose to the occasion. Lebron was as clutch as you could ask for, and what more do critics want? Lebron has proven himself and is now the youngest player to ever reach 10,000 points in his career.
We can take head to head matchups with Lebron and Kobe and here are their stats as of December 2007;
Lebron Kobe
Wins 4 3
PPG 26.0 24.7
RPG 6.9 4.3
APG 7.0 4.1
Is this enough? What more do you want?
Here is another comparison. Kobe vs. Lebron 2009 playoffs (which I remind you, the Lakers won the championship)
Kobe Lebron
PPG 30.20 35.30
RPG 5.30 9.10
APG 5.50 7.30
And here are the 2008-2009 seasonal stats
Kobe Lebron
PPG 26.8 28.4
RPG 5.20 7.60
APG 4.90 7.20
Kobe has 13 years in the league, Lebron has 6 seasons, which is less than half of that of Kobe.
Note: The 2 best players in the NBA are both commonly known by their first names, which are both unique names.
Keywords: Lebron James Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan The Best Basketball Player of All Time Stats Comparison Who is better compare compete
