I've come to the conclusion that its really a preference thing. Both were megastars in the NBA at the same time. Lebron style was to do everything and Kobe's was to attack you as a scorer, while contributing in other areas. Both styles have won them multiple championships, and if the goal is to win championships, it simply comes down to whose approach you prefer the most.
I do feel, however - that anyone who takes Kobe over Lebron, is probably taking him because they respect him more. There is simply more brashness and machismo in Kobe, and it came out in his play. Lebron's stats are going to leap off the page more. Kobe's style of play leaps off the screen more, be that it a positive or a negative. lol. I've long felt Kobe played a game within the game with himself. That being, he didn't so much want to evade defenses so much as he wanted to prove his superiority over them. Kobe would routinely pick up his dribble far out on the perimeter, pump-fake 1 to 5 times, and fade. It didn't matter how far out on the perimeter he was, and it didn't matter how late in the game it was. Kobe would shoot the same difficult shots with 1 minute INTO the first as he would 1 minute left in the 4th. Very ill-advised, inefficient style of play, but it is a true testament to his brilliance that he played that way, and still managed to be mentioned in the same breath as the gods of bball.
Lebron is almost the total opposite. Lebron is trying to find the easiest path to greatness and wins as possible, relatively speaking. What I mean is, while it is the easiet path, everyone isn't gifted enough to pull the shyt off the way he does. If I'm being fair, that is probably the most intelligent way to do it. If you're always looking for the easy way, in theory, you should be more efficient and you should win more. So, Lebron's analytics should always look better, overall.
I personally preferred Kobe's style to Lebron's, simply because I like the 'take on all comers', 'lone gun' style. I do feel that style hurt Kobe's legacy, because there is always this abstract, hard to quantify thing about Kobe's style that is offputting to a lot of people. You would never teach kids to play the game like Kobe, unless you're telling them to compete hard. Other than that, he got away with that shyt he got away with because he was that damn great. Because Lebron did it the right way, he is going to be seen in a more favorable light in the long run.
