Michael Jordan came out with quite the statement today
saying that he would take Lakers G Kobe Bryant over Heat F LeBron James. MJ,
who turns 50 on Sunday said that, “ five beats one every time I look at it,” in
reference to Kobe’s five titles and King James’ one. A big reason why Kobe has
more rings than James is because he has been in the league seven more years
than LeBron. But if you compare the numbers at the time of Kobe’s 10th
season, who was better statistically?
By the time
Kobe was in his 10th year in the league, he had already won three
rings. His 10th year was in 2005-2006 when he led the league in
scoring with 35.4 points per game. Kobe single handling carried that team into
the playoffs, as the next highest scoring player on the team was F Lamar Odom
with 14.8 per game. He had 29 games where he scored over 30, 21 over 40, and 6
over 50. That season Kobe also scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on
January 22nd, 2006 which is the 2nd most points in a
single game behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100.
LeBron
James is the first of his kind: a player that is built so strong that can also
move quickly. LeBron has Kobe beat in the stat of NBA MVP as he already has
three and Kobe didn’t get his first until 2008. He is in the midst of an NBA
record for consecutive games where he scores 30 or more points and shoots 60%
from the field. Like Kobe and Shaq, LeBron felt that Cleveland wasn’t the team
where he could win a championship so three years ago he teamed up with F Chris
Bosh and G Dwyane Wade and joined the Miami in the 2010 offseason. After
falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals, James finally won his
first ring last year when the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. Last year,
James perhaps had the best season a single NBA player could have as he won an
NBA MVP award, Finals MVP award, became an NBA Champion, and won an Olympic
gold for Team USA in the London Olympics.
James is
widely regarded as the most criticized athlete in the league something that
Kobe is used to but has never had as much pressure to win a title like James. The
numbers are so close but these players are different than each other because
Kobe is more of a pure shooter while James drives more to the basket.
Jordan’s
statement means a lot to the media but nothing to these players. Kobe and
LeBron will easily go down as one of the top 10 NBA players of all time. As
James said during shootaround this morning, “If you take Kobe one and I go
second, it doesn’t matter.”
Lets see
where James compares to Kobe in seven years to see who is better. But for now,
it’s too close to decide on who is better.
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