But it seems that replacing an 0 time all star with a 8 time all star will be the Magic’s undoing.
And you never call out any cavs fans who is stupid enough to say Hedo>Vinc

And you said “fast” not “when”…..

BTW Hedo > Vince……………..

Where does opinion become fact? I don’t know, but I don’t think very many objective people would say we have reached the “fact” threshold.

I am not disparaging LeBron either, obviously he is a great player and certainly the best or close second best in the league. I just can’t say that I am “positive” that he is better than Kobe simply because “some” of the stats say so. (total championships won in the ‘08-’09 season is a stat…..lol) Of course most people think Kobe is better like me (counting Chinese fans of course……ha ha)

I love to have a good/spirited debate about any issues, but I don’t think saying everyone that disagrees with you is a homer or an idiot helps anyone. (I know you didn’t say idiot, I am just saying….)

Really Dude?

Give me a 1 second shot in game 7 of the finals to win.

Not high school championships.

that is the same argument that was used against Kobe for the last 4 years. Specifically that Kobe wasn’t that good because he didn’t win a championship without Shaq. Of course they fail to mention that along with Shaq leaving were (not necessarily in the same year), Fox, Horry, Fisher, Malone, Payton, Shaw, etc…. It may not be fair to pick on Lebron because he hasn’t won a championship, but it is consistent.

The truth is if he doesn’t win a few championships in his career he won’t be rated as high as he should. Think Karl Malone or even Chamberlain. Russell is ranked as high as he is based in a large part on championships.

Not right, but the truth nonetheless.

The question is just as posed. NOW. We are talking about the best player NOW, aren’t we? Unfortunately real life isn’t an NBA 2K disc that allows us to take the Kobe from 2003 or Garnett from 2000 and match them up with the LeBron of now.

Boston would gladly trade Pierce or Garnett, Portland would ship Brandon Roy and GASP!!! Dr. Buss wouldn’t have any issue with sending an aging Kobe to Cleveland for King James.

James is the only player that could be traded to ANY team for it’s best player. Be it talent and/or marketability.

P.S. And if you want to get in to Laker (family) issues here, as much as I love the Mamba, do you really think a LeBron/Shaq squad loses that NBA Finals series to Detroit the way the Kobe/Shaq team did? Do you think there’s going to be the selfish infighting going on with a young LeBron like it did with the young Kobe? Do you think they could have defended and muscled around LeBron and force him in to (many) bad shots the way they did Kobe?

You can’t use some sort of “golden” past with Kobe that doesn’t exist except in Laker homer’s minds. Kobe is a sure-fire hall of famer and one of the best players of his generation but let’s try to keep some real perspective.

now this is a reasonable argument that is clearly worth having. your comments about the applicability of PER, and other advanced stats, are certainly worth exploring more fully, especially as it relates to a fall off in stats from one year to the next for, example, KG.

i didn’t look at KG, but i did look at kobe’s numbers for last 6 years versus LeBron’s over that timeframe (LeBron’s whole career). your argument about kobe falls apart, as it happens, when you consider usage % — a stat which estimates the percentage of a team’s plays “used” by a player while he was on the floor (primarily FGA based). LeBron’s career PER is 26.2, which is substantially in excess of kobe’s 24.95 over the last 6 years. importantly, however, LeBron’s usage % is 31.6%, while kobe’s has been a more robust 32.78% of his team’s plays.

what’s more, LeBron’s defensive rating (estimate of points scored against per 100 possessions) is 103, while kobe’s is 106.33, and LeBron’s defensive win shares come in at 4.63 per year, with kobe’s at 3.12 per year. interestingly, LeBron’s offensive rating is 113, with kobe’s at 113.67 (in spite of the higher usage by kobe), which further suggests that LeBron is more of a net positive to his team than kobe (offensive rating minus defensive rating).

“best player” is a subjective argument, to be sure … but best stats is not, and kobe’s stats are not as good as LeBron’s, even though kobe uses more of his offensive possessions than LeBron does; as well, LeBron comes out better in the all important defensive world. best player may be subjective, but it has to be informed by the best stats is a meaningful way, and LeBron is clearly better statistically. by the way, all of this info is available at basketball-reference.com.

do you have a link for your “clutch” stats? i hadn’t heard those put the way you put them before, and i’d be interested in checking them out.

is this question serious? 25-year-old Jordan, and it’s not even remotely close.

there are a lot of Laker trolls on the internet. Interestingly enough I haven’t noticed any Cavalier fan trolls on Silver Screen and Roll. Of course if we met in the finals that might change. For the record, most of the regulars on SS and R don’t troll. Well by troll I mean being an asshole, some people think just showing up here is trolling.

BTW since your name is Buckeye, are you looking forward to next Saturday???

This was not Kobe’s best statistical year, but in my opinion it was his best season ever. A lot of people would agree. Obviously if this is true then it can’t be all about the stats.

If it was about stats, we wouldn’t even know who Steve Nash is………….

When did I say Lee>Carter? I said traded away young talent for Carter. Vikings traded away draft picks for Herschel Walker (bad idea in retrospect). That doesn’t mean the draft picks were better at the time than Walker, just that the good young talent for over the hill ex-superstar is a bad idea.

Try reading with a little comprehension next time, BS. By the way you seemed to get a little BS on your tires during your patrol……

Huh? The Spurs were clearly a better team than the Cavs in ‘07. LeBron had a decent center in Z, a good-shooting rookie coming off the bench (Gibson), a couple other decent post players, and that’s pretty much it. LeBron carried that team. How can you “blame” him for losing to a vastly superior team?

Are you not able to seperate the player from the team? Why do we keep having this same discussion over and over again? Let me guess — you probably also think that Derek Jeter is a “winner” and A-Rod is a “loser”.

the issue with placing blame about the sweep is that it could be as simple as the spurs derived a better defensive plan than had previously been employed against LeBron, and the teammates who had been riding LeBron’s coattails, anyway, were unable to adjust.

as well, it’s not as though LeBron played poorly … the spurs were just better. as brad says, i’m not sure losing to a better team brings about any “blame”, per se.