The marquee matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat in South Florida on Thursday night resulted in a landslide win for the Heat. And with that, it brought up the age-old question and had many hoops people wondering: if you had a chance to add a star to your team who would you take as the cornerstone, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James?
If you call yourself a basketball fan and were somehow living under a rock and missed the game you can see the highlights here.
Let me start to formulate my answer, and those of you who know me can just stop reading because you know where I'm headed with this discussion, by making some qualitative observations. The numbers actually do support most of the following statements. I suppose the circumstances would also help dictate the answer. If you were looking at some sort of long term plan, James might be the better choice at this stage of their respective careers.
Offensively, LeBron is a superb passer. Bryant is also a good passer, but it takes a bit more for teammates to earn his trust and Kobe can be, shall we say, "selective", about giving up the rock. James just seems to be naturally more inclined to get his teammates involved in the game and help provide them with good looks at the basket. Both players rebound well, although again, James gets an edge, and both have good ball handling skills and the ability to take the ball off the glass and lead the break.
You can look at the numbers and they give the edge to James not just this year, but over the course of a career. In my estimation, numbers aside, Bryant is a better, more natural scorer and in general, he's they guy I want on my team.
Hey maybe it's simply the lens through which I'm viewing it all. With his gifts from winning the genetic lottery, LeBron should be going inside more and it sure looks like someone has been in his ear about that fact during the off-season. James has made a much more concerted effort to play closer to the basket and employ a post-up game. We'll see how well developed James' inside game is and how confident he is using it when its crunch time in big games; ahem, fourth quarters, and fourth quarters. Bryant's offensive arsenal is simply more refined and dependable as he has a better post-up game and when the game is in the balance, he seems to be able to get to the basket more regularly from the wing than James.
Defensively, both players are willing to take the challenge of guarding the other team's best player and while both do a good job of helping, James' stature gives him a slight edge as a shot blocker. Let's just say neither guy is what an offensive player wants to see when he is trying to score.
The argument can be made that James may appear to have a wider skill set, while Bryant may seem to do the same or fewer things, but do them with more proficiency.
If we compare basketball careers to a round of golf, James might be on the 10th or 11th hole while Bryant is probably playing the 15th or 16th. From this chair, James' physical stature combined with his wide array of skills might have one say he is the better basketball player, and he may be. But Bryant's drive and determination combined with his competitive spirit make him a better winner.
I guess it boils down to who you would want to give the ball to with the game on the line? Me, I'll take that Bryant guy who has the most important number of the all, five rings, as he has shown the ability to win games in the clutch particularly when the lights are shining the brightest.
Trouble in Beantown
Oh boy, I wonder where the panic meter is set in Boston as the Celtics currently sit at 5-9 in a tie for ninth spot in the Eastern Conference. It has become public knowledge that Celtics general manager Danny Ainge would be willing to trade one or all of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett for younger talent to help rebuild Boston's squad. So is it time for the rebuild? For his part, Ainge has stated that he does not want to see the franchise go through the sordid time when the previous incarnation of the "big three" (Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish) hung up their green and white uniforms and their black sneakers.
In a shortened season, there are fewer games to "throw away" and an even smaller quantity of losses where a team can just "turn the page" following a loss. Oh by the way, the Celtics' five wins this season are over Detroit, New Jersey, Washington (twice), and Toronto. Yes Celtic faithful, if you are saying to yourself that's not exactly "we're-ready-to-raise-another-banner" type stuff, you're right.
It was another loss for the Celtics at the hands of the Phoenix Suns as the big three played but the man that makes them all better, lightning quick point guard Rajon Rondo, was out of the lineup with a wrist injury suffered against Toronto.
Raptors roundup
It's seven losses and counting for the Toronto Raptors as they head out on a five-game road trip, with the first stop being Los Angeles for a matchup with the Clippers. But with the compressed nature of the schedule and injuries being a factor in a team's health, the Raptors might catch a short-handed Clipper crew. Chris Paul did not play in the recent loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and neither did Caron Butler. It remains to be seen if the Raptors will have a healthy Andrea Bargnani or Jerryd Bayless back in the lineup Sunday afternoon. But catching the Clippers short-handed can't hurt a Toronto team desperate for a win
Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.
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