For the record, the past two years I argued that Kobe deserved the NBA MVP award. My argument was that no other player seemed as important to his team as Kobe was to the Lakers.  He carried them to two playoffs series, when in reality they should have been a low lottery team.  He was the best player on the court everyday, period. 

However, after witnessing LeBron single-handedly destroy a veteran Detroit squad in the 2007 ECF like he was back at St. Vincent-St. Mary, I began to change my tune.  Now, after Lebron’s unbelievably impressive start to his season, there is no doubt in my mind that when it comes to being an overall better basketball player, LBJ outranks Kobe.

You could argue for either one ad nauseam (and trust me, I’ve prattled away many nights doing just that) but for a more empirical look, let’s break down each players skill set:

In the NBA five major categories used when considering overall basketball ability are: jump shooting, driving ability, defense, rebounding, and passing skills.  To see which player actually has the upper hand lets compare their respective skills, and decide who has the advantage in each area. 

Jump shooting

Kobe’s ability to fill it up from the outside is unparalleled in today’s game.  He can seemingly get his shot off against anyone, and while he isn’t the greatest from behind the arc—33.7% career 3pt. average—he is still a threat to score from anywhere on the court. On the other hand, this might be LeBron’s biggest weakness as a basketball player.  Analyzing shooting percentages is misleading, as LeBron’s career average of 46.4% is actually higher than Kobe’s 45.3%. However, according to ESPN’s stat whiz John Hollinger, LBJ is making only 34.8% of long range 2 pointers and a ghastly 31.9% on three point attempts.  Keep working LeBron keep working

Advantage: Kobe

Driving Ability

With his rare combination of size, strength, and agility, LeBron can get to the rim against any single defender, and often times is able to get around multiple defenders and finish in the lane—hence LeBron’s higher shooting percentage.  In recent years Kobe has settled for jump shots, taking ¼ of his shots from behind the arc, and is content to pull the fade-away as opposed to going by his opponent.  However, when the game is on the line and Kobe needs a big bucket he still has the ability to go by most defenders and get to the rim.   The one thing that separates these two in this category is that LeBron’s strength allows him to take contact and still finish the plays, as he has a 66.1% on shots inside the lane (now if he could only raise that 73.3 free throw percentage.)

Advantage: LeBron (by a hair)

Defense

LeBron is a better off the ball defender and rarely ever guards the other team’s best player. However, his 1.6 steals/game in ’06-07(which ranked 16th overall, and 5th among forwards) has ballooned to 2.07 thus far in ’07-08 (which is 9th overall for players with at least 10 games).  It seems that James has realized that defense is all about effort and has shown some desire to become a better defender.  Having said all that there are few, if any, better defenders than Kobe.  He showed this summer on Team USA that he could still guard the best player on the other team, and he’s been named to the All-Defensive First team five times since 2000.  Take a look at the list and show me one other player besides MJ that can do what he does on the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.  Yeah.  Zero.

Advantage:  Kobe

Rebounding

Kobe does a fairly decent job rebounding the basketball for a guard.  He was in the top ten in guards with 5.7/game rebounding average last season.  What keeps him from being a great rebounding guard, like Jason Kidd (who averaged a whopping 8.2 reb/game last season) is his mediocre offensive rebounding.  Granted the “follow your shot” mantra doesn’t really translate into the NBA, but given that LA doesn’t have many good rebounders outside of Odom (only LAL inside the top 65), one would think Kobe would find a few more bouncing into his hands.   LeBron has become a progressively better rebounding forward over the past few years—one of the hardest parts of the game for a guard/forward to transition in the NBA.  Last year alone (a down year as far as his stats were concerned) he average 6.7 reb/g which was good for 5th among small forwards, but ties him for fourth on his own team.  No other team in the NBA has more players in the top 55 in rebounding than the Cavs, which says that LeBron is still getting his stats even when others around him are gobbling up potential rebounds.

Advantage: LeBron

Passing

Kobe’s biggest critics always charge him with being a selfish player and complain he never passes the ball.  His career assist/game average is only 5.2, but his 5.4/game average last year, by my calculations, put him 5th among non-point guard players.  LeBron, is by far the best passer for his size, and the comparisons to Magic Johnson are redundant but warranted, as not many people with that size and strength have the ability to make things happen for others off the dribble.  In ’06-07 he led all non-guards with a 6.0 a/g—1.2 average better than the next player) and was 17th overall, which is better than most teams point guards.  Both players are on teams in which they are the first, second, and third scoring options, yet LeBron’ passing skills and willingness to get others involved (even though he has worse players on his team than Kobe—by a lot in my humble opinion) and keep his teammates involved set him apart from all other scorers in the league. 

(Lebron to Kobe)

Advantage: LeBron

Winner – Basketball Skills

According to my analysis then Lebron takes the title in three of the five categories.

Kobe loyalists might still claim that these stats are bogus, and point to his rings as justification for him being called the leagues’ best player.  I don’t deny that Kobe has three NBA championships (I won’t mention that he has zero since a certain 350 lb. man left the team) and that his on-court tenacity might be second in history only to Michael Jordan.  But if you still don’t believe that LeBron is a better overall basketball player take a look at Hollinger’s Versatility Index.  As Hollinger states, a player’s VI is a way to analyze how much impact each individual has on every facet of the game.  According to stats on basketballreference.com Kobe’s VI over the past four years is 13.425, while LeBron’s VI in the exact same time frame is 14.275 (not to mention that these are Kobe’s prime years, while they are only LeBron’s freshman-senior seasons).

 I know one other person who’d agree LeBron is the best player in the world: 

"He might be the only guy I’ve seen that looks like he was engineered to play basketball."
— Pacers forward Danny Granger after witnessing one of LeBron’s triple-doubles. 

Now that the basketball comparison is settled, let’s compare several other areas of these players’ lives and see whom we can consider the winner of the “My life is better than yours” debate.

Significant Other

LeBron still dates his high school sweetheart Savannah Brinson and currently has two children with her.

Kobe proposed to Vanessa Laine who at the time was still a high school student and married her in April 2001.

Now based strictly on looks you’d have to say that Vanessa makes Savannah.  But here is where the genius of LeBron comes in:  While the Red-state conservatives may not appreciate his relations and children with an un-wed mother, at least when he goes on the road and “strays from the righteous path” he’s not technically committing that damning sin of adultery.  Plus he doesn’t have to buy rings worth millions to “prove” he loves his woman when he wanders off the reservation during a long road trip in Denver (too soon?)

Advantage: LeBron

Monikers

This might be an arbitrary category, but if you look of Kobe on wikipedia its almost impossible not to notice that his middle name is “Bean.”  Really? Bean? Can we start calling him “Mr. Bean” or “The Bean”, as in: “The Bean just went for 50 tonight”?  Not only is his middle name Bean, but the name Kobe was actually taken from a famous type of beef from Japan.  I wonder if PETA knows about this, are they setting up protest rallies until he changes it? Do they refer to him as “Bean Bryant” instead?  We need to know these things. Kobe does have one of the best nicknames in basketball:  Black Mamba.  Think he asks women if they “Want to see Black Mamba in action” and gives a wink? 

LeBron’s middle name is Raymone, and we all know I’m all for oddly spelled names (Dwyane, or Anfernee) especially if your name is LeBron, because Michael, or Jeffery just wouldn’t fit.  His nicknames “King James” and “The Chosen One” might be two of the worst nicknames in basketball.  Can you have a less creative nickname?  It tells us nothing about him as a player or person, and don’t even sound cool.  The best thing about LeBron when it comes to a “name” category is the name of his most recent son: Bryce Maximus James. Honestly, can you have a more badass name? I Can’t wait until he becomes famous and starts going exclusively as Maximus. 

Advantage: Kobe

Children

Now I respect everyone’s family, and would never diss someone’s child.  But I found this interesting:  Kobe has two daughters, and LeBron has two sons.  Just a thought, but it looks as though one is trying to start NBA team, while the other a WNBA one.  Take it for what it is. 
Advantage: No Comment

Favorite Athletes/Teams

 Kobe’s favorite player is reportedly all-world soccer player Ronaldinho and his favorite team is FC Barcelona.  Soccer is one of the least popular US sports, but considering he grew up primarily in Italy you can’t fault him.  LeBron grew up liking the Bulls, Cowboys and Yankees, and considering that Cleveland had teams in all three sports I can fault him for that.  There is nothing worse in this world than a frontrunner.  Part of being a sports fan is wallowing in despair when your teams are crappy; it makes it that much better when they become good. 

Advantage:  Kobe

Guest Appearances

According to “E! True Hollywood Story” Kobe has appeared on Moesha (while dating Brandy); Arli$$; Sister, Sister; In the House; Bette; and The Proud Family.  I am not sure which is worse: that Kobe would appear on all of those shows, or the fact that I have watched all of those shows more than once.
To date, LeBron has co-hosted the 2007 ESPYs with Jimmy Kimmel—during which he sang “My Prerogative” in an obnoxious get-up. He was a guest star on My Wife and Kids and then was a guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons.  He also hosted Saturday Night Live.  And LeBron, just incase you’re reading this: good god don’t quit your day job. 
Advantage: Push

Houses

In 2002 Kobe bought a $4 million home in Newport Beach, CA.  According to the report, he and his wife looked at 15 homes before settling. Surprise, surprise, Kobe has trouble deciding what he wants.  The couple cited privacy and safety as their main reason for purchasing the “Mediterranean-style house that was in a private cul-de-sac.”  Wait so your telling me his house was almost the same amount as that ring he bought for Vanessa
LeBron’s first concern when building his home doesn’t seem to be privacy.  His 35,000-square-foot home is highlighted by a casino, two-lane bowling alley, barbershop, aquarium, sports bar, and a recording studio.  Hey if he adds a produce section he can file for his own private city. 

Advantage:  Hmmm, which would I want to visit?   Yep, LeBron.

Biggest Faux Pas

I don’t have to go in depth about Kobe’s alleged rape case.  I just wonder if Kobe now carries a tape recorder with him at all times and before he has relation with a woman other than his wife he asks “Do I have your consent” and shoves the tape recorder right into their face.  You know, just incase. 
Now LeBron showed up at a Cleveland Indians baseball game wearing a New York Yankees hat.  As I stated earlier, there is nothing worse than a front-runner, especially one that isn’t from that area. My biggest problem was that not only did he have the gall to wear that hat, but also when the Yankees got down big, he switched to an Indians hat before sneaking out of the stadium.  He’s like that one buddy who always roots against your favorite teams, then when you start winning jumps on the bandwagon—and you always want to just push him off and hope he gets ran over. 
Disadvantage:  Kobe

Winner – Intangibles and Extracirrculars

Looks like not only is LeBron the better basketball player, but in case you didn’t already know he also has the better life.  He’s younger, more popular, and made less mistakes.  It’s ok though Kobe, maybe you’ll be invited over for a game of bowling and gambling, if the wife will let you stay out late. 

Killer K

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