98-03 Kobe Vs 98-03 Iverson...

[Bgil]

lol this has to be AI. Neither had particularly good basketball IQ at that time

That's laughable. Both players have very high bballIQ's. Don't confuse bballIQ with a sometimes questionable shot selection.

But AI was always the better scorer in that era. His handles were too good and no one could stick him.

Ironically, Kobe was basically the AI stopper during that time period. This is especially true when AI played more off the ball. The only other "star" player that Kobe might have locked down harder in his career is Michael Redd.

[ImmortalD24]

Kobe Bryant by far.

[conleyorbust]

... and all the 15 year old laker fans "get out the vote".

Kobe was awsome during that time but if you say something along the lines of "Kobe easily" you are quite the revisionist. Iverson was straight dominating at the time. He changed the game - AI made breaking ankles cooler than dunking.

Remember watching Philly in 01'? He won the MVP and then actually followed through and got his team to the finals, single handidly won a game against the dynasty.

[ITK9]

the only one that won the MVP. take this kobe-fans

anyway..i've read all this thread and no one besides kobe-lovers(kobe doesn't have fans ..he has lovers..the guys are in love with him)vote for kobe. of course iverson was better..he lead his team to the final..kobe never lead his team anywhere, shaq lead his team.

[kooldude]

Kobe wasn't starting in '98 and '99 was the lock-out year. How is that a fair comparison? AI got 13 more minutes per game than Kobe. You might as well just include '97 when Kobe was getting 15 MPG so this thread can be in more of AI's favor....

From '00 to '03, Kobe was clearly better. He shot with much better efficiency and was already an elite defender. Kobe's PER was higher ever year and in '03, it wasn't even close at all. In the 4 year span, he scored 27PPG while AI scored 30PPG. I rather take a 3 less points with much better efficiency and superior defense.

I like how people bring up AI's MVP when Kobe has 3 rings as the 1b option. Don't say Kobe was Shaq's Pippen; he took over games when Shaq was in foul trouble, he was almost as important as Shaq to the titles.

[kooldude]

... and all the 15 year old laker fans "get out the vote".

Kobe was awsome during that time but if you say something along the lines of "Kobe easily" you are quite the revisionist. Iverson was straight dominating at the time. He changed the game - AI made breaking ankles cooler than dunking.

Remember watching Philly in 01'? He won the MVP and then actually followed through and got his team to the finals, single handidly won a game against the dynasty.

AI was amazing in Game 1 but you make it seems like he overcame a giant obstacle. Lakers weren't a dynasty then or ever; they were just the 1 time defending champs and they had 10 days off; clearly rusty.

[conleyorbust]

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AI was amazing in Game 1 but you make it seems like he overcame a giant obstacle. Lakers weren't a dynasty then or ever; they were just the 1 time defending champs and they had 10 days off; clearly rusty.

It was just the synapsis, thats what I remembered.

It was just the feeling you got watching him... sort of, "he could actually do this!" sort of thing.

[prophet_of_rage]

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AI was amazing in Game 1 but you make it seems like he overcame a giant obstacle. Lakers weren't a dynasty then or ever; they were just the 1 time defending champs and they had 10 days off; clearly rusty.

He hung a loss on a team that was expected to sweep through the playoffs. They were saying the Lakers would have the first perfect postseason in history. And those Lakers had gone through much tougher teams in the Spurs and Kings than the 76ers.

[kooldude]

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He hung a loss on a team that was expected to sweep through the playoffs. They were saying the Lakers would have the first perfect postseason in history. And those Lakers had gone through much tougher teams in the Spurs and Kings than the 76ers.

AI was more than great in that game but the Lakers has a 10 day layoff and their dominance through the playoffs started from the near the end of the season. They were rusty.

[Hussien Fatal]

^^^No they werent rusty they were just unprepared, its going to take a lot for me to be convinced that they didnt go thru regular preperatiton going into the NBA FINALS.

[penbeast0]

Yeah, I'd go for Iverson . . . as long as you ignore pretty much the entire game of basketball except volume scoring.

Kobe is a much higher percentage shooter (both straight and TSP), a better rebounder, creates as many assists with far less turnovers, and shows up and works at practice with consistency . . . . plus Kobe plays man defense unlike Iverson who would have trouble guarding a good NBDL wing guard man to man.

Funny thing is that you ignore some of the best seasons Iverson has had by not extending it to today. Six of his best 7 seasons have been the last 6. Why? Two possiblilties. First, he may have matured a bit and starting taking practice seriously and forcing less shots. Two, the rule change prohibiting hand checking (at least when applied to perimeter players) seems to have helped him more than any other player in the league. It's not just playing with a better team, his last two years in Philly were a big step forward for him.

[big123]

During that time, AI was considered the more dominate player and was the bigger superstar.

I say it's close, but I give it to AI because of the stature difference. There have been some Kobe's, but there hasn't been any AI's as far as I'm concerned. The guy is a once in a lifetime player at 5'11.

[Hussien Fatal]

During that time, AI was considered the more dominate player and was the bigger superstar.

I say it's close, but I give it to AI because of the stature difference. There have been some Kobe's, but there hasn't been any AI's as far as I'm concerned. The guy is a once in a lifetime player at 5'11.

Good point Iverson was the more popular and Unique player but Kobe is one of the most exciting players in the league and at the time you could see his potential coming along and that also made him more fun to watch, but in all honesty did any of us expect kobe to be as good as he is?

[big123]

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Good point Iverson was the more popular and Unique player but Kobe is one of the most exciting players in the league and at the time you could see his potential coming along and that also made him more fun to watch, but in all honesty did any of us expect kobe to be as good as he is?

I always though back in the day, when Kobe was young he didn't have the heart, fire or intensity and I thought that would somewhat limit his abilities going forward. But as he grew up, he really proved me wrong. He is probably one of a few players in this league that have the most heart and fire. I think that's part of the reason why he is so great today.

[Hussien Fatal]

^^^I agree he has much heart and fire as well as Iverson and with that i say they are completly even during this time, but during that time Kobe had more trade value due to his age but Iverson was much more valuble to the Sixers than Kobe was to the Lakers.

[Neel]

I'm going with Iverson; he was just out of control surrounding '01

[big123]

Yeah, I'd go for Iverson . . . as long as you ignore pretty much the entire game of basketball except volume scoring.

Kobe is a much higher percentage shooter (both straight and TSP), a better rebounder, creates as many assists with far less turnovers, and shows up and works at practice with consistency . . . . plus Kobe plays man defense unlike Iverson who would have trouble guarding a good NBDL wing guard man to man.

Funny thing is that you ignore some of the best seasons Iverson has had by not extending it to today. Six of his best 7 seasons have been the last 6. Why? Two possiblilties. First, he may have matured a bit and starting taking practice seriously and forcing less shots. Two, the rule change prohibiting hand checking (at least when applied to perimeter players) seems to have helped him more than any other player in the league. It's not just playing with a better team, his last two years in Philly were a big step forward for him.

If AI was 6'6 like Kobe, I'd agree. It takes much more effort for AI to do what he does than Kobe. AI has no business being top 3 at getting to the line year after year. I don't think you understand that.

[Hussien Fatal]

I bumped this for the revisionist, this thread was created before the analytics, when we used our eyes to determine how good a player actually was. Kobe is generally classified as a top 15/ top 10 player of all time while Iverson gets compared to guys like Billups because of analytics, but before the numbers he was considered to be on par with kobe for most of his career. Pretty crazy how much Analytics has really changed the way we view a lot of players and even some legends.

[Jedi32]

Nah I think it was just the typical knee jerk "everyone is better than kobe" crowd.

[semi-sentient]

You're embarrassing a lot of folks by bumping this thread...