@Stack Money
I don't need to explain shyt to you
Replace that "don't need to" with the word can't, as in you are incapable of explaining this point without referencing "most people".
2) Lol if you didn't care about my reasoning you wouldn't be matching my post length with replies. Duncan does have a strong argument, but you're too blinded by bias and standom to see it. He's arguably the best defender of his generation and you have personally stated that his offense was able to match Shaq in a playoff series. Given his two way dominance, how does he not have a case over Kobe.
3) Some slaps? Shaq got fouled a lot harder than that and I don't think you understand the human body if you think size made him impervious to harm especially when he's being exposed to more contact than anyone else in the league. There was no one who was more physically dealt with in the NBA than Shaquille O'Neal during his prime. I'm not underrating the energy jumpshooting takes, it doesn't have as big of an impact on you as literally living in the teeth of defenses like Shaq did. He was not standing under the paint all the time, he did have to rotate, cover ball handlers, run the floor in transition and box out defenders in order to grab rebounds which is a very physical part of basketball.
Kobe of today's legs are gone not due to energy but because his body has failed him physically and he no longer has the lift that he used to. Whether its the 1st of 4th Q, his jumpshot is terrible.
Shaq was a beast from day 1 in this league, and Dikembe didn't do anything different against Shaq in his younger years than he did as he got older. Shaq put up 28/12 that Finals so to imply that he struggled is rather foolish. Hakeem did outplay him and actually does have his own case over O'Neal (He's better than Kobe too, btw), but if that was Shaq in his respective peak (2000) the matchup outcome is different.
4) I mean, it changes your assertion that Kobe had way more assists. Way more would be a more proper way to describe Shaq's rebound total by comparison. Kobe in closeout games for his career is worse than LBJ so not sure why I'd pay attention to that performance.
The highest conversion rate for Kobe at the rim at any point in his career was in '01 at 64.7% on 456 attempts.
LeBron has been at 70% in all but two seasons of his career, one of which was his rookie year, and on a much higher volume of attempts. He reached a high of 79% in 2014 on 668 attempts.
Here's a shotchart for MJ from the years '89-92, 74% at the rim
and Shaq of course was as dominant a force we've ever seen within reach of the basket. It is a fact that those three were better finishers than Kobe, and they belong in their own category separate from him because of how much better they were able to convert as compared to him.
the difficulty in his shots are second to none while LeBron just barrelled thru the lane usin his size to clear the path since players ain't want that collision
According to what. What is there that suggests Kobe's attempts at the rim are the hardest ever. This is the type of fanboyish stuff that doesn't belong in a legitimate argument between two great players. Hyperbole galore in your posts, more exaggeration than factual information. How LBJ got into the paint is irrelevant, fact of the matter is that he was more effective than Kobe once he got there.
That makes them incomplete, they don't encompass the entire postseason and its funny that you didn't provide which game it aired during. What stat of LBJ's did I exclude? Pretty sure I provided you with all of his averages which include those poor moments that your selective memory highlights, and defense/rebounding is a part of basketball so I do believe it belongs in a player discussion. The only reason its seen as though opposing teams had no big men is b/c of how dominant and a physical anomaly that Shaq was. If its harder for teams to match up with Shaq than Kobe, you don't just give him a handicap because of this. And go ahead and list these big men that "owned" Shaq before the dynasty era, which was prior to his peak as a player.
The creator of PER is currently a general manager in the association so I'm pretty sure its used in the NBA, and with ESPN making it so publically visible by placing it in plain sight in every player profile its become a very prominent part of player evaluation. In fact, executives will use most stats they can find that'll indicate a trend for prospective or current players. Its their jobs to gather all the data that they can in order to make the best judgements possible. Adv stats do paint a better picture of the game than box score stats, you just don't understand how they actually work which leads to you downplaying their role. & in this case, stats blatantly prove the consensus wrong as Kobe shoots worse than LBJ in clutch situations and plays worse than LBJ in the postseason on average which I'm sure the uninformed would be quick to assume the opposite.
I like how you didn't give any reasoning for injured Wade being better than odom, other than three greater than signs. Compelling argument. Ray Allen was an all star TWO years before he signed with Miami, and he did not play like one when he was there. He shot worse from three despite getting more wide open looks than he's ever gotten in his career and his mid range game deteriorated.
You had no problem using numbers to argue Kobe over Shaq in that graphic. But now that LBJ kills Wade there they aren't valid, right. That makes no sense. LeBron was not the robin because he was by far the most assertive player on that roster, controlled the offense more than anyone, was the most reliable and best player in the association in every single campaign. Wade played the clear 2nd fiddle to LBJ every year since 2011. Calm down Skip Bayless.
So LBJ stat padding is your best argument against him killing Kobe in all of those metrics. Thats a poor attempt at defending your position and I;m disappointed for you. FMVP does not mean best player in the Finals, generally best player on the winning team but even then that can be awarded incorrectly (Curry > Iggy, Frazier > Reed). You said LBJ does nothing on Jordan's level, I gave you three things he does on Jordan's level, and you ignored it b/c you don't have an argument against it. LBJ has been the best player on the floor in 4 of those 6 finals. Thats a better ratio than Kobe can claim. He was not the best against SAS in '07, but for damn sure in '14. Again you deflect blame from Magic more than you'd ever do for LBJ, and refuse to acknowledge that his great games far overshadow the poor ones.
Ironic how the stat boy ignores and downplayes the biggest stats 2-4 for LeBron and 5-2 for Kobe
This right here is my problem with the ring argument. No context whatsoever, just 2-4, 5-2. Ignoring the fact that LBJ has actually been better than Kobe in the Finals on average. In the '09 ECF, he played better than Kobe who faced the same team in the Finals.
1 & 2) He did a great job on his man but the Magic were able to generate offense away from him consistently. Explain how the major difference of the two series was Kobe, when he played worse basketball.
3) I guess positing a emoji here is your way of admitting that you have zero rebuttal for that performance.
4) So Gasol averaging two blocks is barely making plays. I never said Gasol was a stopper on D, but that his size made him a good matchup for Dwight Howard because of his lack of counter moves to punish a player with that stature. Bynum was exceptional as well. Kobe's lack of support in the three years post Shaq is on par with LBJ in Cleveland, and lets not pretend as though Odom wasn't a quality contributor for them (as was Phil Jackson).
Again referencing other people, anyone that calls Howard soft doesn't have an ounce of understanding of his game or what makes him a dominant player in this league. He can be criticized for a lot of things, but being soft isn't one of them.
5) How about you look up that information and provide it to this discussion. Instead of constantly referencing other people and the consensus as if its common knowledge or even worse telling
me to google something, you prove such since its your position.