Where do you rank Kobe among today's top players?

[No-Man]

3rd or 4th
If Rose come back at his former level, maybe 5th.

[D Nice]

yeah, and clippers are #1, so why did u bring it up as a point against them?

edit: also, in terms of raw SOS, clippers are #16 and lakers are #14, so enough with the "clippers hava arguably had the easiest schedule"

Clearly I should've been referencing raw SOS, my mistake, and in my defense I had no idea they had the 16th ranked SOS, that's almost inconceivable given the teams they have been playing the past 3 weeks.

[PandGneverfold]

I agree with asianiac Lebron is number one but he's not on a different tier than the other top five especially not from durant. People calling Lebron a defensive anchor are sipping realgm kool aid. Great player and number one,but not on another planet at all.

[Klaas Bruinsma]

1) LeBron
2) Durant
3) 4) Kobe/Melo

[Sedale Threatt]

How so? I think Durant is just as good as LeBron. Better scorer, slightly better rebounder, weaker playmaker and defender. I'd still put LeBron ahead if I had to make a decision, but Durant is on the same level IMO.

Maybe "different planet" was too strong. But other than volume scoring and free throw shooting, I fail to see any category where Durant measures out clearly better. LeBron shoulders so much more responsibility as a playmaker and a defensive player. If he was up at his normal 28 ppg instead of just 25 or whatever he's at, there wouldn't be any discussion. Considering how well James is shooting, that doesn't really matter to me.

in the last few years, Kobe have been compared to LeBron as the best players on the game.. its pretty close at that time, and Kobe right now is better than himself in the past 3 years. As for LeBron, he just as good as he was in the last 3 years. So why we can't compare our Kobe to him ?

The only people making that comparison were Laker/Kobe homers. LeBron's been the better player for several years now by a pretty clear margin. With all due respect to the excellent season Bryant is having, last year should have ended the debate for good.

PER and WS/48. Hs ORTG is nice, I guess. I'd have actually blinked at this part of the post if you provided some Adjusted +/- data, but I'm sure that was intentionally omitted.

What, second in the league is no good?

http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/ratings/2013.html

Advanced stats aren't the end-all, be-all, but I think they're exceptionally valuable in this exact instance. You're blowing him off based on his box-score stats when in fact he measures out off the charts in pretty much any advanced measure you want to choose.

If you're going to fixate on his numbers, at least take into account that he's playing substantially fewer minutes than he did with the Hornets. His per-36 numbers are very much in line with his better seasons.

More than anything with Paul, I don't think it's any coincidence, barring some sort of collapse by the Clippers, that this will be the second franchise that has had its best success on his watch. The Clippers obviously have an exceptional team, but he is the driving force that makes it all work.

18ppg 8apg for a career just aint cutting it for me.

Do you know how few players in NBA history have done this?

[frugal]

Great list except for the last guy.

While Bryant is having a great year, he is not Top 5 and nowhere near it to be honest.

He is playing at an all star level and should make the team but right now he's the perennial "good stats on a bad team" guy.

The only difference between him and McGrady during the Orlando days is that the Lakers' team has 100x more talent.

I think Kobe is in the top 5 this year, which is amazing considering his age and mins.
1. Lebron
2. Durant
3. Carmelo (this year)
4. Chris Paul (can't deny the way he has the Clippers playing this year)
5. Kobe

[AcecardZ]

He is playing at an all star level and should make the team but right now he's the perennial "good stats on a bad team" guy.

The only difference between him and McGrady during the Orlando days is that the Lakers' team has 100x more talent.

Your post kind of makes it sound like regardless of a guy's numbers if his team has a bad record he shouldn't be considered a top player.

Comparing Kobe to McGrady??? Did you start drinking early today??

[D-BE-LAW]

Lebron
Kobe
Durant
Carmelol

[D-BE-LAW]

To me it seems kobe is less concerned about regular season wins then padding his own stats. He wants to win games while attempting to break records. Who the **** shoots 41 times.