I'm nowhere near a strict stat guy. I prefer eyes first and stats to confirm or disprove my eyes and intuition, but this article, based strictly on stats in the postseason, is very interesting, especially if you watched these series' like I did.
On the offense, Shaq is simply unstoppable. He is so impactful as he plays near the basket. But his free throw is a concern when we take into account of the rules. Kobe can score from everywhere but not that deadly. But his clutch plays are money, only few players in NBA history have reached this level.
On the defense, Shaq is great too in his prime but his position helping his impact again. But Kobe is much better defensive player overall.
Both are great but I would pick Kobe over Shaq.
Shaq could be very clutch under the right circumstances...
Kobe had a better overall career, has 1 more ring and gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. Shaq was lazy and at times just relied on his size and strength.
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 22841 Location: La Jolla, San Diego
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:28 pm Post subject:
kwase wrote:
Kobe had a better overall career, has 1 more ring and gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. Shaq was lazy and at times just relied on his size and strength.
C'mon dude. Even if Lebron wasn't wearing p&g and I'm back to hating him and pulling against him, I would still recognize that he is AT LEAST better than Bird on that list. Bird is out in my book. MJ, Magic, Bird was the holy trinity for the longest time. But Lebron has kicked him off the Island. A closer debate is Bird or Durant.
Kobe had a better overall career, has 1 more ring and gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. Shaq was lazy and at times just relied on his size and strength.
C'mon dude. Even if Lebron wasn't wearing p&g and I'm back to hating him and pulling against him, I would still recognize that he is AT LEAST better than Bird on that list. Bird is out in my book. MJ, Magic, Bird was the holy trinity for the longest time. But Lebron has kicked him off the Island. A closer debate is Bird or Durant.
Bird in his prime is up there with anyone. He's a 50-40-90 shooter who could rebound like a power forward and pass with amazing court vision. You can make a case that Bird had the strongest single-player impact on a team in NBA history. He joined a 25-win Celtics and (with no significant changes except the addition of him), it immediately became a 61-win team. I do not believe there is any single-season team improvement close to that that did not include other significant roster changes.
So I put Bird over Durant because of the X factor. I put Lebron over Bird because of career longevity.
The knock against him is the shortness of his career -- because he spent 4 years in college, he started in the NBA at age 23 and injuries decimated him by his mid-30s.
Shaq was unstoppable in his day, but he was a dickhead to Kobe most of his young life. I'm sure in hindsight, the big fella realized he had made mistakes just as he accused Mamba of doing for years.
There comes a point where you realize that resentment is poisoning yourself, and hoping for your adversaries demise.
Both men ended up realizing how much the other meant at a vital point in their lives and their brotherhood was recaptured.
Shaq himself would tell you that Kobe is the GOAT.
Kobe will tell you that Shaq was the most dominant he's ever seen.
I'm appreciative that both of these men were Lakers champions.
Love them both. _________________ I miss you Kobe. I miss you Gigi.
Kobe had a better overall career, has 1 more ring and gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. Shaq was lazy and at times just relied on his size and strength.
C'mon dude. Even if Lebron wasn't wearing p&g and I'm back to hating him and pulling against him, I would still recognize that he is AT LEAST better than Bird on that list. Bird is out in my book. MJ, Magic, Bird was the holy trinity for the longest time. But Lebron has kicked him off the Island. A closer debate is Bird or Durant.
lebron is nowhere near the shooter Bird was. Not even close. With Bird, you could be up 2 or 3 points, but you better keep the ball out of Larry's hands because if he gets it you're cooked. lebron is only a threat when he's barreling his way to the basket. You can foul lebron and put him on the line and more than likely he'll miss at least one. I'm not going to put a guy in my top five who's not a threat late in the game. Bird wasn't a great defender, but neither is lebron. I take Bird all day, every day.
Kobe had a better overall career, has 1 more ring and gave 100% every time he stepped on the floor. Shaq was lazy and at times just relied on his size and strength.
C'mon dude. Even if Lebron wasn't wearing p&g and I'm back to hating him and pulling against him, I would still recognize that he is AT LEAST better than Bird on that list. Bird is out in my book. MJ, Magic, Bird was the holy trinity for the longest time. But Lebron has kicked him off the Island. A closer debate is Bird or Durant.
Bird in his prime is up there with anyone. He's a 50-40-90 shooter who could rebound like a power forward and pass with amazing court vision. You can make a case that Bird had the strongest single-player impact on a team in NBA history. He joined a 25-win Celtics and (with no significant changes except the addition of him), it immediately became a 61-win team. I do not believe there is any single-season team improvement close to that that did not include other significant roster changes.
So I put Bird over Durant because of the X factor. I put Lebron over Bird because of career longevity.
The knock against him is the shortness of his career -- because he spent 4 years in college, he started in the NBA at age 23 and injuries decimated him by his mid-30s.
The Celtics team he joined was tanking - Auerbach was a personnel genius and intentionally rebooted after Havlicek retired.
As for "no significant changes," the 29-53 Celtics of 1978-79 added with ROY Larry Bird:
Nate Archibald (Hall of Fame)
M.L. Carr (1978-79 All Defensive Team)
Pete Maravich (Hall of Fame)
Then Bird's first championship team (1980-81) added more:
Robert Parish (Hall of Fame)
Kevin McHale (Hall of Fame)
Bird was great - but let's not act like he did it all by himself. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
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