Miami Heat

[GoldKnightRises]

You can look it up, KG in those years never had better stats than Kobe even when Kobe was a so called 2nd option. Your right, Kevin McHale was a horrible GM, and one of the worst things that could've happened to KG in his career, but in those years you are talking about Kobe Bryant with THIS athletic ability man....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFetRgJOn7c[/youtube]

And in the 05-06 season Kobe averaged 35.4/5/4 with junk talent around him, you cant be serious if you think KG was a better player in this era

What about Garnett's all-time combination of defensive impact, rebounding and playmaking ability for a bigman? When Kobe was a second option, he had a guy named Shaq to create a lot of space for his infiltrations and demand attention off the bal. Kobe benefitted a lot from Shaq's ability to draw defenses and be succesful to escape from them.

Just how Magic & Kareem benefited from each other, just how LeBron & Wade benefited from each other, just how Bird & McHale benefited from each other. Just how Shaq himself also benefited from Kobe. Without Kobe, Shaq would be smothered.

What is your point here? Kobe still had the task to deliver & did just like all the other greats in the past have from their 1-2 punch.

[Heat3]

Except he wasn't.

He doesn't even have an argument for GOAT of this era unless you consider Shaq to be from a previous era.

Shaq was from a previous era.

Shaq came into the league in '93, he's mainly a 90s player. He only dominated for a few years of the 00's. And more importantly, his style of play was from the previous era of low post big men who scored and were the offensive & defensive anchor of their teams.

Kobe is a post 2000 player like Wade & Lebron, he didn't break 20 ppg until the 99-00 season. This era featured perimeter ballhandling players as the offensive focus, Kobe Wade Lebron Billups Pierce.

Shaq was an MVP candidate (and should have won) in 04-05. It's pretty ridiculous to count Shaq the "previous era" when his biggest accomplishments, and more than half of Kobe's, came in thie 00's!

[garcia3]

I guess most of these guys would agree Kobe was the greatest of this era

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxYZAgKRtM8[/youtube]

[EscapoTHB]

You guys are spending more time dissecting what he said than he did saying it.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[blumeany]

Jordan is partially right when he says that championships matter. They do, a lot. There were a bunch of great players in Jordan's time, but he easily rises above the rest with his six rings. Same goes for Kobe. Lebron may very well be better, but he has some catching up to do. Don't think anyone is saying he can't.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[RayBan-Sematra]

Why do people think NBA players should have their opinions valued when it comes to judging All-Time greats?
Most of them probably don't take stuff like that seriously.

I think a basketball fan who has watched multiple legends for years and has compared their playoff performances, regular / advanced stats and what they have accomplished in varying circumstances would be much more likely to produce a logical ranking of players then an actual player who faces these random legends a few times a year and on his off time is probably partying and not on the computer trying to compare player careers and make the best and most logical ranking.

Not saying Kobe doesn't have a case for current best player of this era (if you remove Shaq) but player opinions shouldn't mean much.
Most player quotes are lost over time but if you had them all written down you could find a player quote or interview to support almost any opinion.

I mean even the opinion of NBA coaches have begun to lose value in my mind considering how bunked up the all-defensive teams have been the last few years and some comments they have made.

I value the opinion of a die hard basketball fan/head 10000x more then any player or coach opinion.

[telekenisis24]

Wades just another one of them Kobe fan boys we all hate.

[Mirjalovic]

Why do people think NBA players should have their opinions valued when it comes to judging All-Time greats?
Most of them probably don't take stuff like that seriously.

I think a basketball fan who has watched multiple legends for years and has compared their playoff performances, regular / advanced stats and what they have accomplished in varying circumstances would be much more likely to produce a logical ranking of players then an actual player [b]who faces these random legends a few times a year and on his off time is probably partying and not on the computer trying to compare player careers and make the best and most logical ranking.[/b]

Not saying Kobe doesn't have a case for current best player of this era (if you remove Shaq) but player opinions shouldn't mean much.
Most player quotes are lost over time but if you had them all written down you could find a player quote or interview to support almost any opinion.

I mean even the opinion of NBA coaches have begun to lose value in my mind considering how bunked up the all-defensive teams have been the last few years and some comments they have made.

I value the opinion of a die hard basketball fan/head 10000x more then any player or coach opinion.

Its funny quote.

like sayin a random die hard gamer who know nothing about code but claiming they know their game more than the programmers itself, despite programmers paid professionally to make that game.

[bawse]

lol at how much this forum has changed in regards to the opinion of Kobe in the past couple of years.

[RayBan-Sematra]

Its funny quote.

like sayin a random die hard gamer who know nothing about code but claiming they know their game more than the programmers itself, despite programmers paid professionally to make that game.

I don't think this is a good analogy at all.

Players, Coaches and especially the Media over the years have said many things which are obviously not true or simply don't make any sense.

Just because a person is involved with the game or works for the media doesn't mean they have this deep special understanding that us fans don't have or that they use intelligent or logical criteria when judging things.

[G35]

Why do people think NBA players should have their opinions valued when it comes to judging All-Time greats?
Most of them probably don't take stuff like that seriously.

I think a basketball fan who has watched multiple legends for years and has compared their playoff performances, regular / advanced stats and what they have accomplished in varying circumstances would be much more likely to produce a logical ranking of players then an actual player who faces these random legends a few times a year and on his off time is probably partying and not on the computer trying to compare player careers and make the best and most logical ranking.

Not saying Kobe doesn't have a case for current best player of this era (if you remove Shaq) but player opinions shouldn't mean much.
Most player quotes are lost over time but if you had them all written down you could find a player quote or interview to support almost any opinion.

I mean even the opinion of NBA coaches have begun to lose value in my mind considering how bunked up the all-defensive teams have been the last few years and some comments they have made.

I value the opinion of a die hard basketball fan/head 10000x more then any player or coach opinion.

We have to save this post somehow lol. I know this is how some people TRULY feel that their opinion somehow has more weight than GM's/Owners/Players/Coaches/Beat writers. That's ridiculous.

You have been drinking too heavy from the REALGM kool-aid.....

[TheChosen618]

Its funny quote.

like sayin a random die hard gamer who know nothing about code but claiming they know their game more than the programmers itself, despite programmers paid professionally to make that game.

lol, exactly. There is nothing wrong with people having their opinion, but it's quite funny when people completely shrug off an analyst, players, coaches, etc. opinion and think they are smarter/know more than them. These people are getting paid millions of dollars to list their opinion, I wonder how many RealGMers are getting paid to list their opinion.

[Sedale Threatt]

Listen to your average color analyst, who are almost always ex-players and getting paid healthily, and that's about all you need to know about how much stock we should put in their opinions.

Case in point: Reggie Miller made reference last night to all the big shots Robert Horry made in the Toyota Center during his career. Case in point II: Virtually anything that comes of the mouths of Charles Barkley or Magic Johnson. Then you have the fact Kobe Bryant continues to make All-Defense teams despite the fact he hasn't been worthy for at least a couple of seasons.

In this particular instance, Dwyane Wade isn't paid to know the NBA on a deep level. He's paid to put the ball in the basket. Other than the scouting reports he gets, I wouldn't give him credit for knowing the NBA any better than some of the most knowledgeable posters here.

There are going to be a handful of true students of the game who do -- Manu Ginobili, Shane Battier and the like -- but I would bet every penny I have that they're very much in the minority.

[JordansBulls]

I think it has more to do that he was more of a top 5 player for a longer period of time in the 2000's than Duncan or Shaq.

[kasino]

I think it has more to do that he was more of a top 5 player for a longer period of time in the 2000's than Duncan or Shaq.

Yea I would agree for most part of his career top three with a brief stretch on top but see what your saying
Personally think the 00 was a great era having Duncan/Kobe/Shaq as your top players only era I can think of with three top ten players
90 had Jordan
10 has Lebron
70 had Kareem
Every other has two with Magic and Bird or Wilt and Russell

[NY Kicks]

Wade is right,as LJ is not comparable to Kobe yet...

[420]

Classy comments by Wade and it motivates himself and LeBron to be better.

[DWiz]

Listen to your average color analyst, who are almost always ex-players and getting paid healthily, and that's about all you need to know about how much stock we should put in their opinions.

Case in point: Reggie Miller made reference last night to all the big shots Robert Horry made in the Toyota Center during his career. Case in point II: Virtually anything that comes of the mouths of Charles Barkley or Magic Johnson. Then you have the fact Kobe Bryant continues to make All-Defense teams despite the fact he hasn't been worthy for at least a couple of seasons.

In this particular instance, Dwyane Wade isn't paid to know the NBA on a deep level. He's paid to put the ball in the basket. Other than the scouting reports he gets, I wouldn't give him credit for knowing the NBA any better than some of the most knowledgeable posters here.

There are going to be a handful of true students of the game who do -- Manu Ginobili, Shane Battier and the like -- but I would bet every penny I have that they're very much in the minority.

What makes Manu and Battier true students of the game in contrast to Wade ? It seemed like a random plug in your post, stood out like a sore thumb