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Accolades aside, strictly hoops

Not close at all lol

Win some rings. You don't get mentioned with greatness without the resume. SGA hasn't even made a Finals yet.

Significantly better.

Not close at all

The thing is, you can't get to Kobe level via regular season performances. SGA is doing great things but it's too early to compare to the legendary stuff Kobe has done in the playoffs.

Strictly hoops, SGA is is closest thing to Kobe since prime Kobe. His scoring package is insane.

He’s better at flopping.

Optms wrote:Strictly hoops, SGA is is closest thing to Kobe since prime Kobe. His scoring package is insane.

For his career Kobe took ~12% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and 27% from the 16 ft to 3pt area. SGA on the other hand takes 25% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and only 7% from 16 ft to 3pt.

SGA consistently plays near the paint and uses his footwork to get a lot of high quality clean looks, his shot selection is excellent which is why he's so efficient. Kobe on the other hand, while being the better player, had shoddy shot selection and took a lot of contested long 2s. They are both skilled offensive players who can knock down mid range jumpers, but that's where the similarities end.

Not taking anything away from SGA but relative to his position and the offense that Kobe was in, he was a more skilled basketball player on both ends.

uncleduck13 wrote:Accolades aside, strictly hoops

you mean how close would peak sga be to kobe

only 9years removed and already the disrespect of the "old timers"

He's closest to a rich man's Corey Maggette

I think he is very close, if not there already, but he needs to start building his play offs highlights.

I’ll wait and see how this foul baiting style translates when it matters

Not even close.

I'm a Kobe hater, but come on, you need to deliver on the bigger stage first. I'm not even talking about a ring, with so much parity today it's way too hard - but give me at least one incredible playoff run, maybe even a Finals appearance.

MrBigShot wrote:

Optms wrote:Strictly hoops, SGA is is closest thing to Kobe since prime Kobe. His scoring package is insane.

For his career Kobe took ~12% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and 27% from the 16 ft to 3pt area. SGA on the other hand takes 25% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and only 7% from 16 ft to 3pt.

SGA consistently plays near the paint and uses his footwork to get a lot of high quality clean looks, his shot selection is excellent which is why he's so efficient. Kobe on the other hand, while being the better player, had shoddy shot selection and took a lot of contested long 2s. They are both skilled offensive players who can knock down mid range jumpers, but that's where the similarities end.

OP said strictly hoops. Not strictly stats.

Most won’t admit but current SGA is better than Kobe ever was.

In the regular season he’s already much better. Kobe didn’t have a single season where he played well enough to have that OKC team at 49-11. He’s just way more efficient. Despite being the same size basically, SGA looks stronger to me than Kobe was. Kobe’s game was more aesthetically pleasing, but SGA does some stuff defensively that I really don’t get other than he’s very strong. Both got a whistle all day for anything on offense and got away with a lot on defense, so similar in that way.

SGA will deserve his MVP this year. Kobe was gifted his. Lebron was already better than Kobe at 22 by every metric that year. Better scorer, rebounder, passer all with better efficiency. Not really that close. It was basically a lifetime achievement award for Kobe as LeBron was better by any of the criteria they are supposed to use.

As far as passing his resume overall, obviously that’s a playoff thing and he’s a long way from that.

Optms wrote:

MrBigShot wrote:

Optms wrote:Strictly hoops, SGA is is closest thing to Kobe since prime Kobe. His scoring package is insane.

For his career Kobe took ~12% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and 27% from the 16 ft to 3pt area. SGA on the other hand takes 25% of his shots from the 3 to 10 ft area, and only 7% from 16 ft to 3pt.

SGA consistently plays near the paint and uses his footwork to get a lot of high quality clean looks, his shot selection is excellent which is why he's so efficient. Kobe on the other hand, while being the better player, had shoddy shot selection and took a lot of contested long 2s. They are both skilled offensive players who can knock down mid range jumpers, but that's where the similarities end.

OP said strictly hoops. Not strictly stats.

That's not what the OP said. He said discounting accolades, which clearly implies that this isn't about career profiles. SGA's last two seasons are above Bryant's best seasons.

Of course, at the same age, Bryant had three titles under his belt. He was also on a 34-win Lakers team because Shaq was gone and Gasol hadn't yet arrived.

league is a complete joke now. Kobe could average 40 ppg in this era easy. SGA is really good but please let's not compare him to Kobe