Why do some fans rank Kobe Bryant ahead of Tim Duncan?

[QUOTE=bwink23]Pretty sure McHale was having bad foot problems around then.[/QUOTE]

He fractured his foot late in the '87 regular season, played the whole playoffs with a broken right foot, and yet still managed to put up a 21/9 on 58%! :eek: :bowdown: He had surgery in the offseason but was never quite the same after that - he lost some lateral mobility which affected his defence, especially.

But, next season, with Bird pulling the strings and having his best regular season to date, he still managed a 22/8/3 on 60% shooting. Then, the very next year, with no notable injuries and Bird out for the whole season, his efficiency took a massive hit. Coincidence? No way.

Interesting poll from the LA Times

[url]http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-tim-duncan-kobe-bryant-20120530,0,6883592.story[/url]

[B]51.7%[/B] of the voters say Duncan has had a better career... compared to [B]48.3%[/B] for Kobe.

Personally, I'd take Duncan for sure. Epitome of a franchise player.

Duncan is better than Kobe, and it's not even close. This current season is only reminding us of Duncan's greatness and whether or not they win, Duncan will still be better than Kobe, and here's why. If spurs do win, it's just gravy at that point. it's officially over and case is closed on Duncan > Kobe

- 13 seasons straight of 50+ wins
- never missing the playoffs since he was drafted
- best winning percentage of the four major sports since he was drafted
- 2 MVP's, 3 Finals MVP, 4 titles

Also, do you kids not play basketball or something? Do you know how hard/demoralizing to get your shot stuffed/altered every time you go into the paint and not be able to GET ANYTHING INSIDE the paint? How frustrating it is to have a guy on the other team that gets every rebound? There's another half to the game called DEFENSE, and Duncan has been the defensive anchor of that team since he was drafted. Heck, when was the last time the Spurs even had a legit center? Btw 6'8" Old man Kurt Thomas. 6'7" Old man McDyss don't count and 6'6" Dajuan Blair don't count.

Enough with this longevity shit LOL. Kobe came outta high school at aged 17, while Duncan stayed for 4 years in college. No shit, Kobe is gonna hold these longevity records or this made-up/reaching "most points in a 16th season" bullshit statistics. If you wanna play like that, let's hypothetically give Duncan 4 more seasons of 22-25ppg, 12-13rebounds, and 2-3 blocks per game... that would vault him top 5 in both REBOUNDING AND SCORING.

- top 5 in rebounding in the playoffs
- top 10 in scoring in playoffs
- all time blocks leader in the playoffs

I won't even get started on statistics and accolades... btw the only thing Kobe might be better than Duncan is scoring, but lets not pretend like Duncan couldn't score... in his prime, he averaged 22-25ppg and is top 5 in scoring in the playoffs.

Kobe 2005-2007... enough said, missing the playoffs, ~40+ win mediocre team. He even missed the playoffs once. Without a dominant big man and a dominant frontline, kobe aint won jack. All he did was whine and cry and demand a trade. Kobe can't put a team on his back. At this point, I'm not even sure if I have him above Dwight Howard, Lebron James, and Allen Iverson at this point... all of these players were drafted by teams that won ~20 games the year before, and took their teams to the finals and completely turned their teams around (~55+ wins + finals appearance) in less than 5 years.

ALSO LOL @ owning Kobe. I didn't know Duncan guarded Kobe head to head. btw 1999, 2003? what happened in 2005? oh wait, la didnt even make the finals.

Duncan never won anything without Pop. So overrated amirite ?

[QUOTE=Punpun]Duncan never won anything without Pop. So overrated amirite ?[/QUOTE]

Are you implying Kobe won a championship without Phil Jackson...?

[QUOTE=onhcetum].

- top 5 in rebounding in the playoffs
- top 10 in scoring in playoffs
- all time blocks leader in the playoffs

[/QUOTE]

:oldlol:

How about...

- top 4 in assists in the playoffs
- all time scoring leader in the playoffs

[QUOTE=SCdac]Are you implying Kobe won a championship without Phil Jackson...?[/QUOTE]
Backfired.:roll: :roll: :roll: :applause: :banana:

[QUOTE=Yao Ming's Foot]:oldlol:

How about...

- top 4 in assists in the playoffs
- all time scoring leader in the playoffs[/QUOTE]

LOL... duncan shits on him on defense and its not even close. so, i do agree to a certain extent that kobe [I]may[/I] edge Duncan offensively... Duncan is still top 5 in scoring... so what does that say?

kobe is only marginally better than duncan at scorer (not to mention, Kobe can shoot his team out of a game, Duncan wont and Duncan shoots a higher percentage)

[QUOTE=onhcetum]LOL... duncan shits on him on defense and its not even close. so, i do agree to a certain extent that kobe [I]may[/I] edge Duncan offensively... Duncan is still top 5 in scoring... so what does that say?

kobe is only marginally better than duncan at scorer (not to mention, Kobe can shoot his team out of a game, Duncan wont and Duncan shoots a higher percentage)[/QUOTE]

Shockingly Kobe edges Duncan in everything a guard normally is better at a center at.

:rolleyes:

Dribbling, driving, assisting, perimeter defense, stealing, jump shooting, three point shooting etc...

If we are supposed to be impressed by Duncan likely all time playoff block record (yet we all know Wilt and Russell would have had more had those numbers been recorded) and top 10 scoring ... what are we supposed to do with Kobe's likely place in history as the all time scoring leader in the playoffs and a top 4 passer.?

[QUOTE=onhcetum]LOL... duncan shits on him on defense and its not even close. so, i do agree to a certain extent that kobe [I]may[/I] edge Duncan offensively... Duncan is still top 5 in scoring... so what does that say?

kobe is only marginally better than duncan at scorer (not to mention, Kobe can shoot his team out of a game, Duncan wont and Duncan shoots a higher percentage)[/QUOTE]
Kobe is not marginally better then Duncan as a scorer. As far as all time greats go, Duncan was just not that fantastic offensively. In his prime (00-05) He averaged 23 ppg on 55 TS%, compared to Kobe averaging 30 ppg on 57 TS% (06-09) That's 7 more ppg on a higher shooting %

[QUOTE=Yao Ming's Foot]Shockingly Kobe edges Duncan in everything a guard normally is better at a center at.

:rolleyes:

Dribbling, driving, assisting, perimeter defense, stealing, jump shooting, three point shooting etc...

If we are supposed to be impressed by Duncan likely all time playoff block record (yet we all know Wilt and Russell would have had more had those numbers been recorded) and top 10 scoring ... what are we supposed to do with Kobe's likely place in history as the all time scoring leader in the playoffs and a top 4 passer.?[/QUOTE]

wilt and russell are like #2/3/4 ALL TIME respectively by most analysts and experts so whatever, so what if hes top3 all time in blocks, doesnt change anything to be honest

all im saying is duncan > defense BY A WIDE MARGIN. go read my piece about playing defense. I'm fairly certain 75% of the posters on these forums dont even PLAY BASKETBALL REGULARLY so you really wouldnt know anything about defense. you guys just sit on the forums all day and look like john clayton.

you're right about kobe being better than duncan at what a guard is suppose to be better at. All I'm saying is that, let's not act like duncan was offensively challenged by ANY STANDARD. if the Spurs needed a basketball, they dumped it into Duncan. But 50% of basketball is on the defensive end, Kobe and Duncan are neck and neck but Duncan's defensive dominance just tips the scale for me and I gotta put duncan ahead of kobe all time

[QUOTE=onhcetum]wilt and russell are like #2/3/4 ALL TIME respectively by most analysts and experts so whatever, so what if hes top3 all time in blocks, doesnt change anything to be honest

all im saying is duncan > defense BY A WIDE MARGIN. go read my piece about playing defense. I'm fairly certain 75% of the posters on these forums dont even PLAY BASKETBALL REGULARLY so you really wouldnt know anything about defense. you guys just sit on the forums all day and look like john clayton.

you're right about kobe being better than duncan at what a guard is suppose to be better at. All I'm saying is that, let's not act like duncan was offensively challenged by ANY STANDARD. if the Spurs needed a basketball, they dumped it into Duncan. But 50% of basketball is on the defensive end, Kobe and Duncan are neck and neck but Duncan's defensive dominance just tips the scale for me and I gotta put duncan ahead of kobe all time[/QUOTE]

From

"Duncan is better than Kobe, and it's not even close."

to

" Kobe and Duncan are neck and neck but Duncan's defensive dominance just tips the scale"

I have no beef with that opinion but its silly to pretend that Kobe isn't arguably right up there with anybody.
I

[QUOTE=Yao Ming's Foot]From

"Duncan is better than Kobe, and it's not even close."

to

" Kobe and Duncan are neck and neck but Duncan's defensive dominance just tips the scale"

I have no beef with that opinion but its silly to pretend that Kobe isn't arguably right up there with anybody.
I[/QUOTE]

It's not close because Duncan's D just blows the debate wide open. Before, with all of the stats/accolades/1st team/all stars whatever -- EXCLUDING DEFENSE, it was close and debateable.

[QUOTE=onhcetum]It's not close because Duncan's D just blows the debate wide open. Before, with all of the stats/accolades/1st team/all stars whatever, it was close and debateable.[/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/wHyCW.png[/IMG]

:confusedshrug:

both greeat era players