Where do you rank Kobe as an all-time scorer?

[ScrantonBulls]

I think that MJ, KD and LeBron are the 3 players that are clearly above Kobe as an all-time scorer. Those are no brainers no matter what metrics you are looking at. After those 3, I can see a case for Kobe. Guys like Kareem, Steph and Shaq are up there depending on your criteria

When looking at stats such as point per 100 possessions, modern guys like doncic, embiid and Giannis are really impressive, but they don't have later, out of prime years to weigh down their career pp100 yet. I think Doncic will be up there when his career ends

[tsherkin]

He's certainly one of the more interesting volume scorers out there. I think you still have to consider Gervin and Harden, obviously others mentioned like Steph and KD. Kareem, Lebron, Shaq. MJ.

But you can make a compelling top-10 argument and he can't slip much farther than that. Huge volume. His 06 season very similar to 87 Jordan even if his lower-volume seasons don't match up. 10-year prime as a +3% rTS guy with volume. Which, all told, is still very impressive.

[Lockdown504090]

I have mj,kobe, kd, joker, lebron, steph, shaq, then luka in that order. points per 100 possessions is a foolish way to undermine the efficency loss for players who played more minutes. Not being in the game doesnt mean the game isnt happening, bryant playing more minutes, and scoring more points absolutely benifits the team. The nuggets get killed in non jokic minutes famously. jokic for example plays like 33 minutes per game. If he could play kobe minutes, keep his efficency and raise his performance like bryant, they would be the 1 seed every year.

he has a season where he legit scored or assisted on like 46 of his teams like 100 ppg. kd doesnt have anything remotely close to that

[ScrantonBulls]

I have mj,kobe, kd, joker, lebron, steph, shaq, then luka in that order. points per 100 possessions is a foolish way to undermine the efficency loss for players who played more minutes. Not being in the game doesnt mean the game isnt happening, bryant playing more minutes, and scoring more points absolutely benifits the team. The nuggets get killed in non jokic minutes famously. jokic for example plays like 33 minutes per game. If he could play kobe minutes, keep his efficency and raise his performance like bryant, they would be the 1 seed every year.

he has a season where he legit scored or assisted on like 46 of his teams like 100 ppg. kd doesnt have anything remotely close to that

Didn't seem to hurt MJ, LeBron or KD. Honestly, I see no case for Kobe above those guys. They are much more efficient volume scorers than Kobe.

What's your argument for having him above LeBron and KD?

[ballzboyee]

He's easily only behind MJ or maybe Wilt. Only Wilt and MJ have more 50+ and 40+ point games, so pretty straight forward if you are just talking about power levels. Kobe did all that while playing in Dead Ball era where other players like Wilt and MJ played their primes in inflated eras relative to the late 90's and 2000's.

[mastermixer]

#2 behind Jordan

[ScrantonBulls]

He's easily only behind MJ or maybe Wilt. Only Wilt and MJ have more 50+ and 40+ point games, so pretty straight forward if you are just talking about power levels. Kobe did all that while playing in Dead Ball era where other players like Wilt and MJ played their primes in inflated eras relative to the late 90's and 2000's.

Ya know you can adjust for pace, right? LeBron played during that era and still was a better score than Kobe. Is 40+ and 50+ point games your argument for what defines the "greatest scorer"?

[Lockdown504090]

I have mj,kobe, kd, joker, lebron, steph, shaq, then luka in that order. points per 100 possessions is a foolish way to undermine the efficency loss for players who played more minutes. Not being in the game doesnt mean the game isnt happening, bryant playing more minutes, and scoring more points absolutely benifits the team. The nuggets get killed in non jokic minutes famously. jokic for example plays like 33 minutes per game. If he could play kobe minutes, keep his efficency and raise his performance like bryant, they would be the 1 seed every year.

he has a season where he legit scored or assisted on like 46 of his teams like 100 ppg. kd doesnt have anything remotely close to that

Didn't seem to hurt MJ, LeBron or KD. Honestly, I see no case for Kobe above those guys. They are much more efficient volume scorers than Kobe.

What's your argument for having him above LeBron and KD?

playoff riser, played in a harder system in a harder era, elevated his performances scoring wise in the playoffs, had a larger of variety of ways to get good shots off. beat better teams than kd. I have more reverence for scoring before teams saw the miami heat put CB at the 5 and make it extremely difficult to defend, and less even for the scoring i see in todays, era, because of the space and how much easier it is to get to the free throw line when players want to.

Im not saying i dont understand why people think along the same lines as you, I just feel like bryant suceeded as a go to guy in situations where lebron and kevin wouldnt have because of his ability to score in every way imaginable. screens, post, cuts, spot up, pin downs, transition, isolation. i dont feel like i can say that about lebron, and it hurt him in his prime seasons, you saw it in 11' and 13'. and you can see how kevin struggled in okc when shorter guys would get up under him.

The questions i have, what do you consider kd's 4-5 year prime, and if its okc, how to you factor him having westbrook whos going to finish all time in assists, or steph, who possesses the most perimiter gravity in league history, compared to bryants prime which is either when he had nobody, or 2 bigs in the paint?

[Ruma85]

I can accept people saying a couple guys are better scores then Kobe based on points per game, but one on one I couldn't take anyone over him, & maybe Laker fan in me who's biased with tinted glasses, but you couldn't stop him one on one, what I mean by that is , he will deliberately keep scoring on you just to prove that you cannot guard him, now if people want to say that's a selfish thing to do in a team sport that's just fine with me,

[JellosJigglin]

Greatest pure scorer I've ever seen. No one tops him.

[ScrantonBulls]

I have mj,kobe, kd, joker, lebron, steph, shaq, then luka in that order. points per 100 possessions is a foolish way to undermine the efficency loss for players who played more minutes. Not being in the game doesnt mean the game isnt happening, bryant playing more minutes, and scoring more points absolutely benifits the team. The nuggets get killed in non jokic minutes famously. jokic for example plays like 33 minutes per game. If he could play kobe minutes, keep his efficency and raise his performance like bryant, they would be the 1 seed every year.

he has a season where he legit scored or assisted on like 46 of his teams like 100 ppg. kd doesnt have anything remotely close to that

Didn't seem to hurt MJ, LeBron or KD. Honestly, I see no case for Kobe above those guys. They are much more efficient volume scorers than Kobe.

What's your argument for having him above LeBron and KD?

playoff riser

LeBron was a far better playoff riser. And since you're focused on the "harder era" claim which I dont particularly agree with, LeBron did it better than Kobe EVER did in the 08-09 playoffs with an absolute yeah Cavs team that provided him little help or spacing. Kobe never came close to that performance, and that was during the era you claim was harder.

played in a harder system in a harder era

What do you mean by "harder system"? I touched on how LeBron did it better during the same era above.

elevated his performances scoring wise in the playoffs, had a larger of variety of ways to get good shots off.

As I stated above, LeBron crushes him in playoff performances. You don't get extra points for scoring in creative ways. People always want to give Kobe extra credit for being above average at difficult shots. All that matters is that you're getting the ball in the hoop efficiently. LeBron did it more efficiently and better.

beat better teams than kd. I have more reverence for scoring before teams saw the miami heat put CB at the 5 and make it extremely difficult to defend, and less even for the scoring i see in todays, era, because of the space and how much easier it is to get to the free throw line when players want to.

This isn't true. FTAs are lower now than they were during Kobe's era.

Im not saying i dont understand why people think along the same lines as you, I just feel like bryant suceeded as a go to guy in situations where lebron and kevin wouldnt have because of his ability to score in every way imaginable. screens, post, cuts, spot up, pin downs, transition, isolation. i dont feel like i can say that about lebron, and it hurt him in his prime seasons, you saw it in 11' and 13'. and you can see how kevin struggled in okc when shorter guys would get up under him.

You're acting like Kobe didn't have complete choke jobs in the playoffs. He definitely did. LeBron's highs greatly eclipse Kobe's highs in the playoffs. Look at 08-09 if you're so focused on lack of help and spacing. And there's just so many more playoff examples where LeBron was better than Kobe had ever been.

The questions i have, what do you consider kd's 4-5 year prime, and if its okc, how to you factor him having westbrook whos going to finish all time in assists, or steph, who possesses the most perimiter gravity in league history, compared to bryants prime which is either when he had nobody, or 2 bigs in the paint?

Kobe played with prime Shaq. He had teams with Pau, Odom, Bynum, Artest, Ariza. He had stacked teams. You also said he played in a hard system. He had the GOAT coach most of his career. When LeBron had nobody (08-09), he has a GOAT playoff run scoring wise. Kobe never reached that point.

[ScrantonBulls]

Greatest pure scorer I've ever seen. No one tops him.

[ScrantonBulls]

I can accept people saying a couple guys are better scores then Kobe based on points per game, but one on one I couldn't take anyone over him, & maybe Laker fan in me who's biased with tinted glasses, but you couldn't stop him one on one, what I mean by that is , he will deliberately keep scoring on you just to prove that you cannot guard him, now if people want to say that's a selfish thing to do in a team sport that's just fine with me,

The NBA isn't 1v1. That has zero relevance at all.

[Ruma85]

I can accept people saying a couple guys are better scores then Kobe based on points per game, but one on one I couldn't take anyone over him, & maybe Laker fan in me who's biased with tinted glasses, but you couldn't stop him one on one, what I mean by that is , he will deliberately keep scoring on you just to prove that you cannot guard him, now if people want to say that's a selfish thing to do in a team sport that's just fine with me,

The NBA isn't 1v1. That has zero relevance at all.

I'm talking in isolation, he has more counters then any player I,ve seen.

[The Explorer]

Greatest pure scorer I've ever seen. No one tops him.

Typical Scrantonbulls. Creates thread seeking opinions from others, then proceeds to mock people for offering their opinions.

[SlimShady83]

Kobe!

Watch on YouTube

[NO-KG-AI]

Kobe has 1 40 point game in the NBA finals, in 7 finals appearances.(exactly 40, less than Magic Johnson’s career best in the finals) He has 1 50 point playoff game, and 13 40 point playoff games in 220 appearances.

For someone whose big scoring binges are like his only claim to making any kind of list like this, his playoff scoring binges are kind of tepid given how many playoff games he’s been in.

He’s not a top 5-10 playoff scorer by averages or scoring explosions. Do with that what you will.

[Ruma85]

Kobe!

Watch on YouTube

I remember I skip classes to watch this game.

[SlimShady83]

Kobe!

Watch on YouTube

I remember I skip classes to watch this game.

lol I remember it, too funny at the time. whole kings to try to guard him

[ballzboyee]

Kobe has 1 40 point game in the NBA finals, in 7 finals appearances.(exactly 40, less than Magic Johnson’s career best in the finals) He has 1 50 point playoff game, and 13 40 point playoff games in 220 appearances.

For someone whose big scoring binges are like his only claim to making any kind of list like this, his playoff scoring binges are kind of tepid given how many playoff games he’s been in.

He’s not a top 5-10 playoff scorer by averages or scoring explosions. Do with that what you will.

Just going by median rank since they never played in the same conference or same era and Kobe didn't start for two years. Playoff career scoring: Lebron 27.7, Kobe 27.9, and MJ 29.8. Kobe played against better teams than both in the playoffs by a mile and also had the disadvantage of playing with Shaq first half of his career in the triangle that was built to feature Shaq.