Vince Carter vs Kobe Bryan in the year 2000

[Lebron23]

Who was the better individual player 20 years ago?? Both of their stars were quite close in the regular season, and playoffs. Kobe made it into the all nba 2nd team while VC was all nba 3rd team.

[Whoah10115]

Kobe was better.

[Phoenix]

Kobe because of his defense in 2000 but this year was also the peak of Vinsanity( and 2001) and you would have had some people saying Vince was better at the time ( like how some people thought Tmac was better in 03).

[Turbo Slayer]

Kobe.

[RogueBorg]

Kobe

[Turbo Slayer]

Kobe because he accomplished way more was a better defender and outperformed Carter in stats in the POs.

[RogueBorg]

Kobe because he accomplished way more was a better defender and outperformed Carter in stats in the POs.

This

[FKAri]

At the time I might have thought Vince at least offensively. But Kobe was already much better defensively. Vince got even better in 01 but Kobe took a HUGE leap in 01. By then there was no comparison between them.

[light]

Who was the better individual player 20 years ago?? Both of their stars were quite close in the regular season, and playoffs. Kobe made it into the all nba 2nd team while VC was all nba 3rd team.

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b51d4a1bbee0058010134c/1491861358036-HFIOM9R59043Z9F1DWKB/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kExMmEw7wvS6r1ojm8jI1M5Zw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWEtT5uBSRWt4vQZAgTJucoTqqXjS3CfND Suuf31e0tVHGNcpkVOLzvlIzBTk3FsfS5zUvqAdklTrmX_P3uL Kl6GQ6l2WM7tn7mqHTODzkmeM/image-asset.gif

Vince was better.

And the Vince Carter phenomenon reached such insane levels in 2000 that it had been given a name.

He was the most popular player in the league amongst the not-old people.

He was 'the next Michael' that year.

If you switched Carter and Kobe, then Vince would've been the dude with Shaq on a 67 win team and 2nd team All-NBA.

[light]

Kobe because he accomplished way more was a better defender and outperformed Carter in stats in the POs.

Standing next to Shaq is not an accomplishment.

Vince was the big dog on his team. Kobe was a sidekick.

[Lebron23]

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b51d4a1bbee0058010134c/1491861358036-HFIOM9R59043Z9F1DWKB/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kExMmEw7wvS6r1ojm8jI1M5Zw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWEtT5uBSRWt4vQZAgTJucoTqqXjS3CfND Suuf31e0tVHGNcpkVOLzvlIzBTk3FsfS5zUvqAdklTrmX_P3uL Kl6GQ6l2WM7tn7mqHTODzkmeM/image-asset.gif

Vince was better.

And the Vince Carter phenomenon reached such insane levels in 2000 that it had been given a name.

He was the most popular player in the league amongst the not-old people.

He was 'the next Michael' that year.

If you switched Carter and Kobe, then Vince would've been the dude with Shaq on a 67 win team and 2nd team All-NBA.

Vince Carter 25.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.2 spg 1.0 bpg. Kobe Bryant 22.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg. 3.8 apg, 1.4 spg, 0.9 bpg. Kobe averaged more points than Kobe in the playoffs. 21.1 ppg to Vince's 19.3 ppg. Even in 2001 they were almost equal as a player. Only from 2002 and beyond Kobe became head and shoulders above Vince.

[ImKobe]

Kobe because of defense. Vince was the more exciting player at the time though.

[LostCause]

Kobe wasn’t “head and shoulders” above Vince at that point and you could definitely argue Vince was better that year and the next, however I do think the belief was Kobe was a more complete player. He was much more active defensively and hadn’t completely broken out offensively, but people knew he could and even then he was putting up 23ppg

[tpols]

Kobe wasn’t “head and shoulders” above Vince at that point and you could definitely argue Vince was better that year and the next, however I do think the belief was Kobe was a more complete player. He was much more active defensively and hadn’t completely broken out offensively, but people knew he could and even then he was putting up 23ppg

Vince has a slight case for being better in 2000... none in 2001.

The crazy thing is how much longer kobe's prime was. By '08-'10 VC was averaging between 16 and 20 ppg while Kobe was still doing 30.

:bowdown:

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Kobe from 2001 and basically every year afterward.

Better postseason performer with better advanced metrics (BPM/RAPM/PER) and higher efficiency. But Kobe's defense and great midrange game is what really separated the two early on. After Bean showed what he could do without Shaq there was never any doubt. To people that actually watched then anyway.

In 2001, Kobe/Duncan were battling for second place. After Shaq.

[LostCause]

Vince has a slight case for being better in 2000... none in 2001.

The crazy thing is how much longer kobe's prime was. By '08-'10 VC was averaging between 16 and 20 ppg while Kobe was still doing 30.

:bowdown:

Yeah I actually didn’t realize VC’s prime was so short until I went back and looked at it. He had like 7 strong seasons then regressed drastically

Dont know why it “felt” so much longer

[tpols]

Yeah I actually didn’t realize VC’s prime was so short until I went back and looked at it. He had like 7 strong seasons then regressed drastically

Dont know why it “felt” so much longer

whats even more perplexing than how short he fell off, is how long he stuck around.

[Phoenix]

Vince peaked early, then had some injuries, played his way out of Toronto then had a mid 2000s rebirth of sorts on the Nets but yeah, the whole Vince-Kobe conversation ended after 2001 especially when Kobe had that great playoff run.

[RRR3]

It's weird Vince peaked statistically in his third season (2000-01). He was a monster that year for sure, though. 27.6/5.5/3.9/1.5/1.1 on .460/.408/.765, and a 7.6 BPM. In fact, his OBPM of 7.6 led the league, as did his VORP of 7.2. Obviously he wasn't better than Shaq, Kobe, Duncan or KG back then, but it seems like he might have had a case for 5th. He'd be competing with T-Mac, Jason Kidd, AI and a few others for 5th I guess.

[Axe]

When it comes to dunking, vince carter of course.

[tpols]

When it comes to dunking, vince carter of course.

he actually had a sick midrange and 3 pt game with the nets.

but was never better than jason kidd.

Nonetheless their alley oop connection was pure brilliance.

They used to hit gamewinners off oops lmao.

kidd would pretend to shoot and it would come just short enough vince could catch and do a reverse 2 hand dunk.

[Axe]

he actually had a sick midrange and 3 pt game with the nets.

but was never better than jason kidd.

Nonetheless their alley oop connection was pure brilliance.

They used to hit gamewinners off oops lmao.

kidd would pretend to shoot and it would come just short enough vince could catch and do a reverse 2 hand dunk.
Sure but we're talking about them in year 2000 here

[SouBeachTalents]

whats even more perplexing than how short he fell off, is how long he stuck around.
What's even crazier is he played 20 years for like a 1/3rd of the teams in league and made it past the 2nd round once in his entire career.

Could've been twice had he not decided to attend his graduation in '01

[RRR3]

What's even crazier is he played 20 years for like a 1/3rd of the teams in league and made it past the 2nd round once in his entire career.

Could've been twice had he not decided to attend his graduation in '01

Explain please

[Phoenix]

Explain please

Vinces graduation fell on the same day as game 7 against the Sixers. Went down to the wire and Vince missed a buzzer beater. I wouldn't say not going would have affected the outcome but he did take same criticism for doing it.


https://youtu.be/3emK-oy0LyQ

[Mauzah]

I remember back on ISH around the early 2000's the debate was TMac or Kobe and you could pretty much flip a coin on either. VC was in the conversation at first but for some reason he lost his will to compete like the rest. The effort was mostly there (final Toronto season excluded) but he seemed to lack something the others had.

[tpols]

I remember back on ISH around the early 2000's the debate was TMac or Kobe and you could pretty much flip a coin on either. VC was in the conversation at first but for some reason he lost his will to compete like the rest. The effort was mostly there (final Toronto season excluded) but he seemed to lack something the others had.

he seemed more laid back compared to the kobe types... to be fair, kobe was pretty much a psycho obssessed with legacy and winning so it's hard from our perspectives to comprehend how competitive you need to be, to be the best in pro sports.

[SouBeachTalents]

Vinces graduation fell on the same day as game 7 against the Sixers. Went down to the wire and Vince missed a buzzer beater. I wouldn't say not going would have affected the outcome but he did take same criticism for doing it.


https://youtu.be/3emK-oy0LyQ
Almost the identical situation the two teams would find themselves in 18 years later, only the opposite result happening

[Whoah10115]

Kobe did a lot deferring. Despite what people think it isn't easy being that good and playing second fiddle to Shaq. By the very next season he was no longer playing second fiddle. You could say he wasn't as good as Shaq, or even close if you'd like, but he wasn't a sidekick.

LeBron and Wade that first year great example. Pick whichever you want, but it was two #1's. Even in their second year there was some of that, tho by then LeBron was just way better than Wade.

Point is, people are quick to assume any guy blah blah. It isn't that simple.