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Who you got?

I suspect that Kobe will win this poll going away but I think they are a similar tier of player. Kobe winning a fmvp on his resume is too much for Luka to overcome though in terms of perception.

I took Jokic clearly in the other topic, but am taking Kobe slightly here.

Luka's playmaking is special but Kobe has the edge on overall scoring, defense, and playing off ball. Luka's whining to the ref constantly is also stupid. Probably not a huge impact on the floor, with it being hard to track whether that leads to better or worse calls for each player. But since he already has the edge, I'll put that in as another bonus point in favour of Kobe anyway.

I know we're hard on you here. But you cooked with this poll.

Offense is relatively close with Luka's playmaking advantage and Kobe off-ball chops.

For now, I would take the best Kobe seasons over any of Luka we have seen, because Luka's defense leaves a lot to desire. I expect Luka to overcome that problem at some point (along with cleaning up his shot selection), but it's not a given.

Hard to answer. We haven’t seen peak Luka yet.

Kinda off topic but wow it’s pretty evident just how low (relatively speaking) Kobe actually peaked.

Luka isn’t 25 yet and he already is atleast arguable vs peak Kobe. I think guys like Jokic and Giannis have already surpassed his peak. Kobe’s actual level of play doesn’t match his rep.


On topic - Kobe slightly. Luka is a monster in the postseason already though

1993Playoffs wrote:Kinda off topic but wow it’s pretty evident just how low (relatively speaking) Kobe actually peaked.

Luka isn’t 25 yet and he already is atleast arguable vs peak Kobe. I think guys like Jokic and Giannis have already surpassed his peak. Kobe’s actual level of play doesn’t match his rep.


On topic - Kobe slightly. Luka is a monster in the postseason already though

I think it has more to do with Luka being insanely good basically since day 0.

HeartBreakKid wrote:

1993Playoffs wrote:Kinda off topic but wow it’s pretty evident just how low (relatively speaking) Kobe actually peaked.

Luka isn’t 25 yet and he already is atleast arguable vs peak Kobe. I think guys like Jokic and Giannis have already surpassed his peak. Kobe’s actual level of play doesn’t match his rep.


On topic - Kobe slightly. Luka is a monster in the postseason already though

I think it has more to do with Luka being insanely good basically since day 0.

And he’s one of the rare players who seems to get better in the post season. But Kobe resilience is also a big positive for him

Where is the bad team Kobe dragged to the WCFs? I don't see his case.

Going Kobe but we haven't seen Luka's peak. The kid is 24 and we're comparing him to Kobe from age 26-31.

There's no comparing Luka and Kobe from their age 19-23 age seasons. Luka is simply better at everything on offense (except off-ball stuff, but I legit don't remember how good Kobe was at this early on. Was it always an elite skill or did he develop it over time?). Kobe is a much much much better defender over this career chunk.

Regular Season Luka might be the answer.

Playoffs despite Luka being an animal in the playoffs, Kobe actually being a positive/ capable playoff defender (not in the regular season he conserves energy) matters to me. So Kobe has a higher peak.

I don't think it's close at all. Offensively I think it's close but I would still prefer Kobe primarily due to his off-ball ability as a scoring weapon, and I have a lot of concerns about that aspect of Luka despite his incredible on-ball scoring+creation package. To me the separator is the defensive side. Sure, Kobe's defensive peak did not align with his overall peak but he was still a clear positive defender to me, whereas I consider Luka a strong negative defender

Kobe but it's not a big gap.I also have Harden above Doncic.
Doncic was impressive in 2022 but he disappointed a bit this season and I want to see how his prime plays out. I know peak is conventionally intended as "one season" (and Luka already has a few all-nba level seasons to pick from), but I want to wait for some confirmation.
I don't want to buy into the idea that a Doncic's early-prime season might be better than 2009 peak Kobe.

Doncic is similar to Harden in that they are great floor raisers, but because they dominate the ball so much, it’s hard to pair him with another great player and expect great results. 1+1 != 2 for these type of players.

I’ll take Kobe easily

Luka’s been a significant negative on defense every year. Kobe, at his championship peak was at least above average. Kobe has to get credit as the better overall player.

22 year old Kobe was was easily better than any version of Luka. The defensive gap is huge

Kobe really is such a fascinating player because I remember him being so unstoppable when he was hot, but then also being so flawed compared to someone like Shaq and LeBron, and even like prime/peak CP3 and Stephen Curry. Sometimes I feel like his peak was like top 25 ever, but his longevity and stats make him top 10 or 15 ever overall.

But also, like, it just feels as if Kobe would abuse folks today, idk. Look at these finishing numbers at the rim for people like Damian Lillard. look at this point totals and averages. Look how good people think Tatum is. Kobe is just better than these guys, better than Embiid, has to be better than Jimmy. SGA's advanced stats are way better than Kobe's ever were, but Kobe is much, much better than SGA. I think peak Kobe could average 40/6/6 on +3 or +4 TS% today. I think this more open spacing and a re-arranged shot-chart would be beneficial to him. He'd be a top 3 player, like Luka. But I'm taking Kobe. Much better defender, just as good or better scorer than Luka, can play on and off ball, can be a transition play finisher with his above the rim athleticism. Kobe is someone I'l ignore some advanced stats about. I know what I saw. He would abuse the league today

Wow wow wow...
The Black Mamba. Stifling on defence, killer on offence.

1993Playoffs wrote:Kinda off topic but wow it’s pretty evident just how low (relatively speaking) Kobe actually peaked.

Luka isn’t 25 yet and he already is atleast arguable vs peak Kobe. I think guys like Jokic and Giannis have already surpassed his peak. Kobe’s actual level of play doesn’t match his rep.


On topic - Kobe slightly. Luka is a monster in the postseason already though

Just goes to show how clueless people are about his peak. Giannis hasn't peaked higher and Luka has zero case over peak Kobe.