KB24 vs LBJ

[teecee]

I keep hearing Kobe has a chance to be better than MJ, because, among other things, he is the youngest to get  amount of points.  The thing is, MJ never played in the league when he was 18, so its a tough comparison.  Why don't we instead compare Kobe's first 4 years to LBJ's, both as 18 year olds.

KOBE
Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
96-97 LAL 71 6 15.5 .417 .375 .819 0.7 1.2 1.9 1.3 0.7 0.3 1.58 1.40 7.6
97-98 LAL 79 1 26.0 .428 .341 .794 1.0 2.1 3.1 2.5 0.9 0.5 1.99 2.30 15.4
98-99 LAL 50 50 37.9 .465 .267 .839 1.1 4.2 5.3 3.8 1.4 1.0 3.14 3.10 19.9
99-00 LAL 66 62 38.2 .468 .319 .821 1.6 4.7 6.3 4.9 1.6 0.9 2.76 3.30 22.5


LBJ
Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
03-04 CLE 79 79 39.5 .417 .290 .754 1.3 4.2 5.5 5.9 1.6 0.7 3.46 1.90 20.9
04-05 CLE 80 80 42.4 .472 .351 .750 1.4 6.0 7.4 7.2 2.2 0.6 3.28 1.80 27.2
05-06 CLE 79 79 42.5 .480 .335 .738 0.9 6.1 7.0 6.6 1.6 0.8 3.29 2.30 31.4
06-07 CLE 78 78 40.9 .476 .319 .698 1.1 5.7 6.7 6.0 1.6 0.7 3.21 2.20 27.3

So, for those of you who remember Kobe in those first couple of years, how was Kobe better after four years in the league compared to LBJ?   He wasn't, so who knows where Lebron can go from here.......

By the time Lebron has played 11 seasons, based on his per season avg of 2100 points, he will have far more than Kobe currently, not to mention more steals, blocks, assists, rebounds, etc.  If only LBJ can develop a consistent outside shot, free throw, some killer instinct, and its a wrap.

[Citizen-Y]

How dare you compare THE MEDIA HYPED NIKE BACKED NO GOOD LEBRON to GOD!?!!!

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Nice try, but Kobe didn't start his first 3 seasons in the league. Come make with some knowledge kid.

[Twentytwofifty]

You are obviously brainwashed by the ESPN and the media.

[I Am The Anton]

I'm generally not one to defend kobe and love him for everything he does (like everyone else here) ,but you cant really compare their stats from their first 4 seasons to see whos better. Kobes first 2 seasons he wasn't even a starter, and the first year he was a starter, it was a season that was cut short by the strike. So basically, this thread fails at everything it tried to do.

[GangstaBoogy]

Kobe started his career as a backup for Eddie Jones. He came from that to being the nightly 50+ point scorer we see today. That shows hard work.

Lebron, though putting up great numbers, is all hype. "A Nike creation" as Skip Bayless said.

[I Am The Anton]

Kobe started his career as a backup for Eddie Jones. He came from that to being the nightly 50+ point scorer we see today. That shows hard work.

Lebron, though putting up great numbers, is all hype. "A Nike creation" as Skip Bayless said.

All hype? Come on, look at his fucking numbers. To say LBJ is just a product of hype is ridiculous.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Lebron, though putting up great numbers, is all hype. "A Nike creation" as Skip Bayless said.

Skip is a crazy guy. LeBron > Dwayne Wade

[teecee]

Nice try, but Kobe didn't start his first 3 seasons in the league. Come make with some knowledge kid.

Uh, i am 27.  How old are you?  Old enough to have watched Kobe in his first year???    All you losers calling peeps "son" "kid" etc need to shut the fuck up.

Kobe would've started coming out of highschool if he was as good as LBJ was early in his career, simple as that.  Am i wrong?  COuld you imagine Lebron having not started when he came out of highschool?  No way, he was way too good and everyone knew it.

How is Lebron a media creation?  Only the second guy EVER to go for 27, 6, and 6 three years in a row.  How the fuck did the media help him do that. 

All i am saying is, after their first 4 years, Lebron is a MUCH better player than Kobe.  If Kobe didn't start, thats because he wasn't good enough, mature enough, etc.  If you watched him in the playoffs as a teenager as i did, you know what i am talking about.


I am not saying LBJ will be better than Kobe, i am merely doing a comparion of their first 4 years, and there isn't really a comparison.

Kinda like how you can't REALLY compare MJ and Kobe until Kobe is done..........feel me?

[GangstaBoogy]

Kobe started his career as a backup for Eddie Jones. He came from that to being the nightly 50+ point scorer we see today. That shows hard work.

Lebron, though putting up great numbers, is all hype. "A Nike creation" as Skip Bayless said.

All hype? Come on, look at his fucking numbers. To say LBJ is just a product of hype is ridiculous.

I'm not denying or trying to downplay his numbers. But at the end of the day, Nike( along with ESPN) shoves him down everyones throats which leads to idiots saying ridiculous shiet like "Lebron is just as good as Kobe".

[jeromechickenbone]

Lebron>>>>>>Kobe and it's not even close.  Lebron started shaving before Kobe did, Lebron started using cusswords before Kobe, Lebron has more letters in his name then Kobe.  Please don't bring this up again it's obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about.

[Antonio_]

I do agree that you can't compare the total points scored by Kobe till now to the total points scored by Jordan when he was 28-29. But man, the thing you did is uncorrect too, somehow. Let me explain: when Kobe was selected straight from high school, it was a totally different NBA. Rookies coming from high school were just 1-2 out of the whole draft, and people didn't even respect them for their decision. The NBA didn't like it (they wanted players to go to College first), the players didn't like it. Plus Kobe was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers (i mean Charlotte and then traded to the Lakers), arguably the best team in the NBA at that time (Van Exel, Jones, Ceballos, Shaq...). So he had a very slow start, starting just 7 times in the first two seasons and averaging 15-20 minutes per game. He became a starter for the Lakers in his 3rd season, when he was 20 years old. And still he was the 2nd team option in offence till the Lakers traded Shaq. LBJ has had a totally different scenario, man. He was a starter in all the 79 games he played in his first season, averaging 40 minutes per game and being the first (and only) offensive weapon of his wack team, who was built around him. So he became a starter from the very beginning, being 19. You can't compare a 2nd team option who played the first 2 season from the bench averaging 15-20 minutes to a player whose team was built around him and who averaged 40 minutes per game from the beginning. That said, don't get me wrong, i'm not a LBJ hater: i do like him a lot, and i think he'll be a superstar in the future. But you just can't do the comparision you did.

[wcsoldier]

¨^^^^ yeah you can't compare Kobe and LBJ carreer beginnings... they weren't in the same position.. Lebron got a strong potential, he's already a nice all aound player, but he needs to work A LOT on his offense and defense if he wanna see Kobe level.. his outside offensive game is weak and he barely takes over in the 4th quarter.. though he's still 22 but I think he lacks this "killer instinct" to be among the top 10 of all the time.. the sector in which he's better than Kobe is the assists.. I think he has a better court vision than Kobe has.. but in other sectors no way..

[teecee]

I do agree that you can't compare the total points scored by Kobe till now to the total points scored by Jordan when he was 28-29. But man, the thing you did is uncorrect too, somehow. Let me explain: when Kobe was selected straight from high school, it was a totally different NBA. Rookies coming from high school were just 1-2 out of the whole draft, and people didn't even respect them for their decision. The NBA didn't like it (they wanted players to go to College first), the players didn't like it. Plus Kobe was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers (i mean Charlotte and then traded to the Lakers), arguably the best team in the NBA at that time (Van Exel, Jones, Ceballos, Shaq...). So he had a very slow start, starting just 7 times in the first two seasons and averaging 15-20 minutes per game. He became a starter for the Lakers in his 3rd season, when he was 20 years old. And still he was the 2nd team option in offence till the Lakers traded Shaq. LBJ has had a totally different scenario, man. He was a starter in all the 79 games he played in his first season, averaging 40 minutes per game and being the first (and only) offensive weapon of his wack team, who was built around him. So he became a starter from the very beginning, being 19. You can't compare a 2nd team option who played the first 2 season from the bench averaging 15-20 minutes to a player whose team was built around him and who averaged 40 minutes per game from the beginning. That said, don't get me wrong, i'm not a LBJ hater: i do like him a lot, and i think he'll be a superstar in the future. But you just can't do the comparision you did.

Lebron is a SUPERSTAR NOW, not just in the future.   As for this:   "I do agree that you can't compare the total points scored by Kobe till now to the total points scored by Jordan when he was 28-29. But man, the thing you did is uncorrect too, somehow."   

I completely understand what you are saying, and i did the comparison for a reason.  Peeps were saying Kobe is as good as Jordan, has a better outsude shot, more points at a younger age, etc, but its all too hard to speculate as they are too different eras and players didn't come from HS in Jordan's say.  so i did this comparison, because Lebron is clearly better at his current age then Kobe was.  Does it mean he will be better?  Maybe or maybe not. 

[Antonio_]

Man i simply think you can't compare different situations, that's it. Anyway keep in mind that Kobe won a ring as a starter when he had about the same age Lebron has now.. So who the fuck cares about stats anyway? Kobe was not only a superstar, but "a superstar with a ring". But like i said i don't like those comparisions, he was a Laker, Lebron is a Cav. Lebron is a very good player that if he improves can dominate the NBA in the future; Kobe is the best shooting guard in the game right now. Jordan was Jordan, Bird was Bird, Magic was Magic. A different era.