Who is the better scorer: Kobe or Durant?

[CodeBreaker]

One scored 81 points. The other one is a 4x scoring champion.

http://image.en.yibada.com/data/images/full/79584/kobe-bryant-and-kevin-durant.jpg

[SpaceJam]

KD

[LAL]

KD's career high in pts is 54.

Kobe's career high in a half is 55.


Kobe also gave durant a scoring title in 2012 when he decided to sit out the last game of that season.

Durant's a beast tho

[Manny98]

KD and it's not even close

[ImKobe]

Kobe. KD played in the easier defensive era and never came close to Kobe's scoring. Kobe could have taken one of his scoring titles in the 2012 season but decided to sit out, KD won the scoring title with .1 more ppg.

[Turbo Slayer]

Kobe. KD played in the easier defensive era and never came close to Kobe's scoring. Kobe could have taken one of his scoring titles in the 2012 season but decided to sit out, KD won the scoring title with .1 more ppg.
:roll:
Rookie KD: averaged 20 points while...

Rookie Kobe averaged 8 points. :wtf: :wtf: :biggums:

[Uncle Drew]

It's KD. Only people with delusions will tell you otherwise. And even they know the truth as well. There is no contest, there is no debate to have. That is not an insult to Kobe, it's merely stating the truth and the obvious.

[Andrei89]

I say its extremely close. Durant takes it though.

[Kblaze8855]

Id have to imagine that if Durant shot as much as Kobe he would score more. Kobe took more shots than Durant ever did in 7 seasons but only topped his career high ppg in one of those years. And it was on over 27 shots a game in that outlier 06 season when like 3 people were over 30ppg and AI did over 33 a game past his prime. Anyone saying AIs 2006 of 33 a game on 45% shooting is better than any Durant season scoring wise when he took 25 shots a night and Durant peaked under 21? Durant has only taken over 30 shots 11 times in his career. Kobe did it 23 times one season.....

Its not as simple as that....but its not as simple as PPG either.

Lot of factors to consider.

Kobe has as good a scoring skillset as anyone ever had but he didnt have the physical edge to score as easily as some others. A 6'5'' Durant wouldnt score as well as Kobe but you cant grade on a curve. Durant can just look at you and comfortably shoot a 30 footer regardless of the defense. So can Kobe....but Durants will go in more often. Kobe has more moves to get open...Durant doesnt need to get open though. He will just turn and shoot.

Defenses are weaker now than in Kobes youth. But towards his prime the league just signed over its rights to wings. The league as a whole played more D than they do now but Kobe, AI, Arenas, Wade, Pierce, Ray, Lebron, Redd and all those guys having career highs and shredding defenses for rings and epic point totals regardless of if they were in, before, or past their primes wasnt by chance....

I gotta think that if you pull peak KD in 2013-2019 form and drop him into the mid 2000s he balls too.

How you answer this question is for many people just gonna come down to personal bias.....and to others as a question of what scoring means. The ball going in....or looking pretty when it does.

But some of that argument that favors Kobe over some of his rivals isnt quite as strong with KD. That guy is an insane shot maker. Polished as ****.

Kevin Durant is an absolute scoring machine from all 3 levels. hes as unstoppable a midrange player as there is....has legit 30+ foot range even contested...and can eat you up and go to the basket. Shoots post fades over smaller guys like they arent even there. Can spot up or create a shot. Has everything in the bag. Hooks....one leg fadeaways....hes a machine. Kobes bag might be deeper but its out of necessity.

Cant really blame a guy for just shooting over you when you cant stop it can you?

You can pick either one and make your case....but Durant is a perfectly reasonable pick regardless of what ppg or huge totals on 45-50 shots might say.

Kevin Durant is nice as ****. His bitchassedness obscures that at times......but you sit that aside? Hes downright nice.

Hes probably an all time tier one scorer right there with Kobe MJ and whoever else you might wanna throw in there and fight about. Who the king of kings is on that tier is a good discussion to have...but im not sure how you exclude Durant from it.

That nappy headed cool whip soft ass ***** is a monster talent wise.

[Ghost1]

lebron

[SpaceJam]

It's very telling that Kobe, who's suppose to be some top 3 type scorer only has 2 scoring titles in 20 years

[Kblaze8855]

It's very telling that Kobe, who's suppose to be some top 3 type scorer only has 2 scoring titles in 20 years


Nah.

[Draz]

Kobe

[Angel Face]

KD is the better scorer in terms of how easy it looks when he does it. Kobe however is the more dangerous scorer. He's one of the most skilled players to ever play in the game and is a killer. KD can score more but most of all time he does not. Give KD Kobe's killer instinct and you will have the greatest scorer in NBA history. KD just lacks that killer instinct.

[Mr Feeny]

KD is the better scorer in terms of how easy it looks when he does it. Kobe however is the more dangerous scorer. He's one of the most skilled players to ever play in the game and is a killer. KD can score more but most of all time he does not. Give KD Kobe's killer instinct and you will have the greatest scorer in NBA history. KD just lacks that killer instinct.

Do you people actually believe half the junk you type? How on earth have you determined that Durant doesnt have a "killer instinct"?
How can you quantify that, to begin with? How did you arrive at the conclusion that 4 time scoring champion, 2 time FMVP who just left a team that was guaranteed rings, lacks a "killer instinct"?

[ImKobe]

It's very telling that Kobe, who's suppose to be some top 3 type scorer only has 2 scoring titles in 20 years

He's led the league in points 4 times and him and KD would both have 3 scoring titles if Kobe went for it at the end of the 2012 season when he was .1 off.

[Andrei89]

He's led the league in points 4 times and him and KD would both have 3 scoring titles if Kobe went for it at the end of the 2012 season when he was .1 off.


"If Kobe went for it" :roll: :roll: :roll:

If he led the league in points 4 times why only 2 scoring titles?

Are you retarded? Oh you mean like, KAT led the league after the first game of the season this year? That count as a scoring title?

[Kblaze8855]

I assume he means total points which is how the scoring title was Decided for the first 30 something years of the league. The year they changed it Elvin Hayes and Kareem were arguing over it. I don’t remember which one of them was leading in points but whoever it was was not leading in points per game and made the comparison to baseball and football saying nobody says the rushing champion is the one with the most yards per game and nobody says the homerun leader is the one with the most homeruns per game.

I think it was Kareem but I’m not sure. I am sure whoever it was sounded salty in the clips I heard.

Salty with a valid point though.

I’m not sure why basketball goes per game and not total like all the other American major sports.

[STATUTORY]

"If Kobe went for it" :roll: :roll: :roll:

If he led the league in points 4 times why only 2 scoring titles?

Are you retarded? Oh you mean like, KAT led the league after the first game of the season this year? That count as a scoring title?

:facepalm :facepalm :rolleyes:

ignorance exposed

[tpols]

If you watch their games its easily Kobe.

You can bully Durant he's been taken off his game by tony Allen types. Kobe used to swing bows with Ron artest, his game is more translateable across basketball history.

And of course his ceiling is waaaay higher.

[tpols]

You also can't say "if Durant took more shots" that's the whole reason for his efficiency ...he doesn't have the motor or energy store to operate on kobes level when he's on fire.

[Manny98]

KD is the better scorer in terms of how easy it looks when he does it. Kobe however is the more dangerous scorer. He's one of the most skilled players to ever play in the game and is a killer. KD can score more but most of all time he does not. Give KD Kobe's killer instinct and you will have the greatest scorer in NBA history. KD just lacks that killer instinct.
https://i.postimg.cc/RFk5q1SG/slack-imgs-4-1.gif

https://i.postimg.cc/jdCPRzWB/tumblr-p9xpk1pmhu1sbxj8ao1-r1-400.gif

"Lacks killer instinct doe" lol when did Kobe ever hit a clutch shot on the biggest stage, he shot 6/24 in a game 7 and had his teammates bail him out :
:oldlol:

[ImKobe]

"If Kobe went for it" :roll: :roll: :roll:

If he led the league in points 4 times why only 2 scoring titles?

Are you retarded? Oh you mean like, KAT led the league after the first game of the season this year? That count as a scoring title?

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/kobe-bryant-sits-out-kevin-durant-wins-nba-scoring-title/

Kobe sat out the last game of the season when he needed 38 points against a bad Kings squad to win the scoring title. Could have easily done it if he cared about the award.

Maybe because other players who won the scoring title played less games? Ever thought about that?

How can you call anyone retarded and then compare Kobe and KD being .1 apart after a whole season to KAT after 1 game? And he didn't even lead the league in scoring after the first game because Irving had 50 in that same game. :facepalm

[Mr Feeny]

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/kobe-bryant-sits-out-kevin-durant-wins-nba-scoring-title/

Kobe sat out the last game of the season when he needed 38 points against a bad Kings squad to win the scoring title. Could have easily done it if he cared about the award.

Maybe because other players who won the scoring title played less games? Ever thought about that?

How can you call anyone retarded and then compare Kobe and KD being .1 apart after a whole season to KAT after 1 game? And he didn't even lead the league in scoring after the first game because Irving had 50 in that same game. :facepalm

How many shots did Kove average that season? How many did Durant?
What percentage did each shoot?

Exactly. Kobe was going for it all season long and was being heavily criticized before the dead rubber for chucking for the scoring title.

[Lebron6]

ChuckBe. Kobe stans mad their hero is chuck ball. :lol

We got these stans on a leash!

:(

[G0ATbe]

Kobe does literally nothing better than kd scoring wise. From ft shooting to midrange to the 3pt line KD wins. 0 debate.

[Kblaze8855]

You also can't say "if Durant took more shots" that's the whole reason for his efficiency ...he doesn't have the motor or energy store to operate on kobes level when he's on fire.

Of course you have to consider who shot the most....which you do yourself when you choose to.

There is no energy reason KD couldn

[Doranku]

How many shots did Kove average that season? How many did Durant?
What percentage did each shoot?

Exactly. Kobe was going for it all season long and was being heavily criticized before the dead rubber for chucking for the scoring title.

KD's efficiency is so overrated. :lol

He shot 45.5% overall and 32.9% from 3 in the playoffs as a member of the Thunder. Identical shooting numbers to Kobe's 20 year career in the playoffs and the dude is basically a 7 footer. All of this while losing, routinely getting outplayed by Russell Westbrook in the playoffs, and constantly coming up short when it mattered (Memphis series 2013, Spurs series 2014, OKC/GSW game 6, etc).

Not sure why people are bringing up what he did in Golden State. It literally means nothing. :oldlol:

[Haymaker]

I wonder how good Kobe would've been if he hand't obsessed so much with emulating MJ's game and developed his own style.


Id have to imagine that if Durant shot as much as Kobe he would score more. Kobe took more shots than Durant ever did in 7 seasons but only topped his career high ppg in one of those years. And it was on over 27 shots a game in that outlier 06 season when like 3 people were over 30ppg and AI did over 33 a game past his prime. Anyone saying AIs 2006 of 33 a game on 45% shooting is better than any Durant season scoring wise when he took 25 shots a night and Durant peaked under 21? Durant has only taken over 30 shots 11 times in his career. Kobe did it 23 times one season.....

Its not as simple as that....but its not as simple as PPG either.

Lot of factors to consider.

Kobe has as good a scoring skillset as anyone ever had but he didnt have the physical edge to score as easily as some others. A 6'5'' Durant wouldnt score as well as Kobe but you cant grade on a curve. Durant can just look at you and comfortably shoot a 30 footer regardless of the defense. So can Kobe....but Durants will go in more often. Kobe has more moves to get open...Durant doesnt need to get open though. He will just turn and shoot.

Defenses are weaker now than in Kobes youth. But towards his prime the league just signed over its rights to wings. The league as a whole played more D than they do now but Kobe, AI, Arenas, Wade, Pierce, Ray, Lebron, Redd and all those guys having career highs and shredding defenses for rings and epic point totals regardless of if they were in, before, or past their primes wasnt by chance....

I gotta think that if you pull peak KD in 2013-2019 form and drop him into the mid 2000s he balls too.

How you answer this question is for many people just gonna come down to personal bias.....and to others as a question of what scoring means. The ball going in....or looking pretty when it does.

But some of that argument that favors Kobe over some of his rivals isnt quite as strong with KD. That guy is an insane shot maker. Polished as ****.

Kevin Durant is an absolute scoring machine from all 3 levels. hes as unstoppable a midrange player as there is....has legit 30+ foot range even contested...and can eat you up and go to the basket. Shoots post fades over smaller guys like they arent even there. Can spot up or create a shot. Has everything in the bag. Hooks....one leg fadeaways....hes a machine. Kobes bag might be deeper but its out of necessity.

Cant really blame a guy for just shooting over you when you cant stop it can you?

You can pick either one and make your case....but Durant is a perfectly reasonable pick regardless of what ppg or huge totals on 45-50 shots might say.

Kevin Durant is nice as ****. His bitchassedness obscures that at times......but you sit that aside? Hes downright nice.

Hes probably an all time tier one scorer right there with Kobe MJ and whoever else you might wanna throw in there and fight about. Who the king of kings is on that tier is a good discussion to have...but im not sure how you exclude Durant from it.

That nappy headed cool whip soft ass ***** is a monster talent wise.

[Smook A.]

I'm a fan of Kobe and I don't even like Durant, but I'll still say KD is the better scorer. He can literally do everything Kobe could, except on a higher efficiency.

If KD really, really wanted to score 60, 70, or even 80, he definitely could.

[Hardtop Hero]

I think that one thing more obnoxious Kobe fans just can't comprehend is that not every great scorer has had Kobe's mentality. That is, they think because Kobe was so focused on scoring, even to the detriment of the team at times, that if other scorers DIDN'T have this mentality that somehow that means they couldn't score similarly to to him. I mean just look at this idiocy:

Originally Posted by tpols
You also can't say "if Durant took more shots" that's the whole reason for his efficiency ...he doesn't have the motor or energy store to operate on kobes level when he's on fire.

Haha, an NBA player that's been deep in the playoffs on up to the Finals several times, doesn't have the "motor" to shoot a few more times a game. He also scores easier than Bryant so wouldn't have to expend as much energy to get shots off as he did. it's really one of the dumbest things I've read on here, but in their desire to protect his legacy they'll just say anything so long as it appears they've made some kind of "argument".

At any rate, anyone who isn't one of these types, realizes that if KD was singularly obsessed with scoring as much as Bryant was, he would most certainly put up very high scoring games. And has been previously mentioned, his height with his skillset means he can scorer easier than Bryant so it seems pretty clear that he's the better scorer - and I'm not even a fan of KD at all.

[superduper]

I'm a fan of Kobe and I don't even like Durant, but I'll still say KD is the better scorer. He can literally do everything Kobe could, except on a higher efficiency.

If KD really, really wanted to score 60, 70, or even 80, he definitely could.

That is simply not remotely true and I don't know how anyone who watched both can even come up with such an asinine statement.

Don't get me wrong Durant is better than Kobe in many areas of offense but he doesn't nearly have as many moves as Kobe did. Kobe was more of a master of the fundamentals and had more of an arsenal.

Also Duran't efficiency is incredibly skewed because of his time with GSW.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

KD is a better shooter whereas Kobe had more ways to score.

Efficiency can also be overrated like Doranku pointed out. Before GSW? Durant wasn't as efficient in OKC. For obvious reasons.

Tough call. Might depend on who they're playing with.

[WillyJakk]

The only answer is Kobe and it is not even close.

Look at the perimeter offensive firepower of KD's teammates (Westbrook Harden Curry Klay) vs the offensive firepower of Kobe's post teammates (Shaq Pau Bynum Dwight).

KD has better spacing but clearly the outlier is Shaq for Kobe.

Considering Kobe had to more often than not guard the opposing teams best perimeter player and Durant did not that weighs into an equation as well. Durant had Harden Thabo and Klay to do that.

Kobe had a short lived period where Artest/ Metta was assigned those duties. He never had the luxury of a Jordan who could hide behind Pippen on defense and guard perimeter option #2 of other teams.

Kobe had enough in the tank to play both ends at an All World level.

This is why Kobe and LeBron are > MJ and I'm a late 80's 90's era guy.

[tontoz]

Durant easily. Kobe was too much of a chucker.

For his career Durant is averaging 27 ppg with excellent efficiency.

Kobe's shot selection was some of the worst I have ever seen for a star player.

[Walk on Water]

Without a doubt Kobe. Durant is just taller and makes it look easy but Kobe had way way more 50 point games. Durant would never be able to create enough to score 50.

I saw Kobe play. KD doesn

[Smook A.]

That is simply not remotely true and I don't know how anyone who watched both can even come up with such an asinine statement.

Don't get me wrong Durant is better than Kobe in many areas of offense but he doesn't nearly have as many moves as Kobe did. Kobe was more of a master of the fundamentals and had more of an arsenal.

Also Duran't efficiency is incredibly skewed because of his time with GSW.
Okay maybe not everything Kobe could do, but Durant can still hit extremely tough mid-range shots, and fadeaways a lot like Kobe could.

And your last statement about Durant's efficiency couldn't be any more wrong. He had a 50/40/90 season with OKC and had 4 straight years where he shot above 50% with that team. He was 0.04% off from have 5 straight years of shooting over 50%. Not only that, but this guy hasn't shot under 50% since the 2011-12 season.

[NBAGOAT]

Kd should be pretty lauded for how efficient he was with that poor spacing in okc, still one of the most efficient scorers ever just in okc even accounting for era. Kobe does have 06 and more high scoring games but overall pretty similar points/100 so similar volume. Kobe does maintain his numbers well in the playoffs and Kd does have some playoff problems in okc but he

[ImKobe]

[QUOTE=NBAGOAT][B]Kd should be pretty lauded for how efficient he was with that poor spacing in okc, still one of the most efficient scorers ever just in okc even accounting for era. Kobe does have 06 and more high scoring games but overall pretty similar points/100 so similar volume. Kobe does maintain his numbers well in the playoffs and Kd does have some playoff problems in okc but he

[ShawkFactory]

The only answer is Kobe and it is not even close.

Look at the perimeter offensive firepower of KD's teammates (Westbrook Harden Curry Klay) vs the offensive firepower of Kobe's post teammates (Shaq Pau Bynum Dwight).

KD has better spacing but clearly the outlier is Shaq for Kobe.

Considering Kobe had to more often than not guard the opposing teams best perimeter player and Durant did not that weighs into an equation as well. Durant had Harden Thabo and Klay to do that.

Kobe had a short lived period where Artest/ Metta was assigned those duties. He never had the luxury of a Jordan who could hide behind Pippen on defense and guard perimeter option #2 of other teams.

Kobe had enough in the tank to play both ends at an All World level.

This is why Kobe and LeBron are > MJ and I'm a late 80's 90's era guy.
Durant

[Smook A.]

[QUOTE=ShawkFactory]Durant

[AussieSteve]

I'm lower on Kobe than a lot of people, but he is definitely the right answer here.

If you were to adjust Durant's and Kobe's ppg and scoring efficiency to compensate for:
- pace
- the level of interior defense each faced
- the level of spacing each was afforded by their perimeter sidekicks

Kobe's numbers would look far better than Durant' s.

Then there's the eye test, which tells me Durant is basically just an ATG jump shooter, while Kobe had pretty much every trick in the book when in comes to ways in which he could score.

Kobe. In a landslide.

[Boogaboog]

Do you people actually believe half the junk you type? How on earth have you determined that Durant doesnt have a "killer instinct"?
How can you quantify that, to begin with? How did you arrive at the conclusion that 4 time scoring champion, 2 time FMVP who just left a team that was guaranteed rings, lacks a "killer instinct"?

The notorious Game 6 OKC against GSW proved it. You never lose a game like that if you're a killer like Kobe. Klay exposed KD and Westbrook something serious. Durant is the most skilled scorer ever probably, but mentally he's not Kobe.

[SouBeachTalents]

The notorious Game 6 OKC against GSW proved it. You never lose a game like that if you're a killer like Kobe. Klay exposed KD and Westbrook something serious. Durant is the most skilled scorer ever probably, but mentally he's not Kobe.
That's a terrible argument. Every player in history has had horrible performances in massive games, usually on several occasions, Kobe included

[Boogaboog]

That's a terrible argument. Every player in history has had horrible performances in massive games, usually on several occasions, Kobe included

That wasn't a "massive game". That was a game with the future of the league on the line. Can you imagine KD leaving if they won? GS has no dynasty. LeBron might not leave Cleveland, etc. And all because Westbrook and Durant played like mental midgets. There's never been anything like it.

[NBAGOAT]

His efficiency ballooned in GSW for obvious reasons. He averaged 28 ppg on 54%TS his last run with OKC in 2016. In fact he averaged 29 ppg on 56%TS his last 3 runs with OKC, 2012 is the only real outlier for him in OKC if we look at the POs.

People act like KD was so out of this world in 2014 but Kobe in 07 put up 31.6 ppg on 58%TS and that's on a much worse team.

Both are in the same tier but people obviously will try to use KD's regular seasons and his years with the Warriors in the easiest offensive era to discredit Bean. Durant wasn't dominating shit before 2017. We all remember him putting up sub-par shooting games in the Playoffs on a regular basis post-2012.

his Rs efficiency is super high however. he admittedly dropped off those last 3 seasons in okc but it's still just 3 playoff runs. You can find 3 years where kobe had a dropoff too and i'll give durant an excuse, westbrook was out most of 2013.

[tpols]

Look at the perimeter offensive firepower of KD's teammates (Westbrook Harden Curry Klay) vs the offensive firepower of Kobe's post teammates (Shaq Pau Bynum Dwight).

KD has better spacing



This is an astute point along with Doranku's.

KD's playoff efficiency is right around kobe's before he joined golden state... and even before that, he always had good teams.

The less spacing you have, the bigger beating you take, and durant simply is not built to take hits. Hes soft.

Add in his dribbling style, the guy might be the worst palmer in the history of the game.

Speaking technically as a scorer and basketball player, he's nowhere near Kobe's level of skill and ability, despite being an ATG player.

Add in his bitch ass mentality and it just aint close.

[AlternativeAcc.]

This is an astute point along with Doranku's.

KD's playoff efficiency is right around kobe's before he joined golden state... and even before that, he always had good teams.

The less spacing you have, the bigger beating you take, and durant simply is not built to take hits. Hes soft.

Add in his dribbling style, the guy might be the worst palmer in the history of the game.

Speaking technically as a scorer and basketball player, he's nowhere near Kobe's level of skill and ability, despite being an ATG player.

Add in his bitch ass mentality and it just aint close.

It's actually an atrocious point

OKC had terrible spacing every year he played there.

The rest of your post is pure shit as well, but that's expected because you're biased and forced to reach hardto sell the idea of Kobe being better than Durant

[SamuraiSWISH]

This is an astute point along with Doranku's.

KD's playoff efficiency is right around kobe's before he joined golden state... and even before that, he always had good teams.

The less spacing you have, the bigger beating you take, and durant simply is not built to take hits. Hes soft.

Add in his dribbling style, the guy might be the worst palmer in the history of the game.

Speaking technically as a scorer and basketball player, he's nowhere near Kobe's level of skill and ability, despite being an ATG player.

Add in his bitch ass mentality and it just aint close.
:eek: :applause:

[Walk on Water]

KD is a girl. Nobody respects his game.

[SamuraiSWISH]

KD is a girl. Nobody respects his game.
No, I think a lot of guys respect his game. Even though he does get away with a lotta palming and carrying more so than a lot of other players. People don’t respect his competitive spirit. Those two Golden State rings were absolutely bitch made.

[CodeBreaker]

[QUOTE=SamuraiSWISH]No, I think a lot of guys respect his game. Even though he does get away with a lotta palming and carrying more so than a lot of other players. People don

[StrongLurk]

They are basically equal, I just know that I'm taking Durant in the finals every time over Kobe.