*USA Basketball* WOMEN EARN GOLD v. ESP (101-72)! MEN EARN GOLD v. SRB (96-66)!

 
You'd have a point if Kobe was putting up 19 a game, he had to put up the same numbers as T-Mac AND be that defender. How is that more responsibility?
Because one is putting up those numbers w/o Shaq and a far worse team as a whole.

You can be a better defender when you're playing with Shaquille on both sides of the ball. It's not as simple as they are both putting up the same numbers while one is a better defender. Context in this situation indeed matters, and LAL having shaquille and a much better team plays a pivotal part in why Kobe was able to be an all world defender at this time. 

I don't think Kobe is as good of a defender if Darryl Armstrong and Pat Garrity are his running mates.
have this rep for bringing up Pat Garrity 
 
He was still an all world defender with Smush and Kwame though while putting up 35/5/5.


Bruh. :lol :lol :lol


Kobe was -1.0, -1.3 and -1.4 in Defensive Box Plus Minus in those years.

It's understandable because he was carrying a crazy offensive load but you gotta stop with the madness b.
 
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Bruh.
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Kobe was -1.0, -1.3 and -1.4 in Defensive Box Plus Minus in those years.

It's understandable because he was carrying a crazy offensive load but you gotta stop with the madness b.
But this is what I'm saying. 

You can't say Kobe was putting up identical numbers as Mac while being an all world defender when A) He wasn't an all world defender in 03 and B) Even if he was in 03,  He wasn't close to an all world defender when he had talent comparable to Tmac's in 05-07. 
 
You think he was an all world defender from 05-07? For real?

Umm yea. It's not like he had a choice to not be one given the cast of characters around him. The lifetime achievement award portion of his defensive prowess came in 09. He was still a great defender during his prime peak offensive years.
 
Yea I'm sure the best player of his generation would've had a problem in the west. :lol

not a problem, but definitley not as easy as its been.


The competition level compared from east to west is laughable.

Since MJ left in 98....

the west has won 12 out of 18 NBA finals

and 11 out of 18 All star games....

the difference in competition is definitley palpable
 
Umm yea. It's not like he had a choice to not be one given the cast of characters around him. The lifetime achievement award portion of his defensive prowess came in 09. He was still a great defender during his prime peak offensive years.
I'm going to respectfully disagree.

In fact, I don't think he was close to an all world defender during this period. 
 
not a problem, but definitley not as easy as its been.


The competition level compared from east to west is laughable.

Since MJ left in 98....

the west has won 12 out of 18 NBA finals

and 11 out of 18 All star games....

the difference in competition is definitley palpable
All star games? 
 
I read super interesting point about LeBrons first stint in Cleveland and why his teams were so bad. He got too good too quick and they were never allowed to build through the draft. You see teams like the Thunder who followed up with Russ and Harden after getting Durant. KAT after Wiggins. Parker after Giannis ect. Just by adding an 18 year old LeBron they went from 17 wins to 35 wins his rookie season. Had no choice but to fiend in a dry free agency period over Redd and Ray Allen who just said no to the Cavs. Nothing they could do.

Which is why I always wanna ask in the hypothetical if LeBron played in the stacked West for most of his career. Does he get a stacked team of his own in the West his first 7 seasons?
 
I feel like the media's search for the next jordan after 98 pushed Kobe into a territory of him being an all world defender that never truly was accurate with the exception of a couple of years.
 
You can make the argument that Lebby played in the east but say you put him in the west imagine if he teamed with some of the other stars over the years..
 
Yea the West has had more good teams on average that's a known fact but it doesn't impact Bron's legacy at all.


He still had go through elite teams at the top of the East and he smashed the Thunder/Spurs and the greatest regular season team ever, all from the West, in the Finals.


:lol @ bringing up the West winning All Star Games.

We gonna count jump balls too?
 
Lebron's greatness supersedes conferences man, come on.

When you're that great it really doesn't matter. Besides, placing Lebron in the west doesn't guarantee that he doesn't win at the Clip that he's winning at now. Too many variables to consider which is why I stay away from the whole if lebron played in the west thing.
 
The guys who take prime Tmac over prime Kobe are the same ones that take prime KG over prime Duncan. While you could make a case that they had better numbers, they didn't accomplish nearly as much and their primes didn't last nearly as long.
 
MJ so legit because he played on the EAST when it was the most competitive, the league was actually probably the most competitive its ever been back then...

dood any team lebron is on is going to win the east, every year and I dont think it not so much because he's that good, its more that the other teams are just notoriously that bad.

Lakers would have made playoffs last year in the east
 
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MJ so legit because he played on the EAST when it was the most competitive, the league was actually probably the most competitive its ever been back then...


dood any team lebron is on is going to win the east, every year and I dont think it not so much because he's that good, its more that the other teams are just notoriously that bad.

Lakers would have made playoffs last year in the east
Depends on what era you're talking about because Expansion hurt the overall competitiveness of the NBA for a large part of MJ's six titles.

And no the Lakers wouldn't have man, chill.
 
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I read super interesting point about LeBrons first stint in Cleveland and why his teams were so bad. He got too good too quick and they were never allowed to build through the draft. You see teams like the Thunder who followed up with Russ and Harden after getting Durant. KAT after Wiggins. Parker after Giannis ect. Just by adding an 18 year old LeBron they went from 17 wins to 35 wins his rookie season. Had no choice but to fiend in a dry free agency period over Redd and Ray Allen who just said no to the Cavs. Nothing they could do.

Which is why I always wanna ask in the hypothetical if LeBron played in the stacked West for most of his career. Does he get a stacked team of his own in the West his first 7 seasons?


People forget that if Dajuan Wagner doesn't have serious health issues, things coulda turned out very differently during Bron's first run with the Cavs.
 
Depends on what era you're talking about because Expansion hurt the overall competitiveness of the NBA for a large part of MJ's six titles.

And no the Lakers wouldn't have man, chill.

League wasn't ever as competitive as it is now, that's how I already know dude isn't saying nothing.

Between that, the Lakers comment and bringing up the West All Star Game record, imma have to bow out.
 
So, the 2016 USA Basketball thread turned into a Kobe v. LeBron, then Kobe v. T-Mac debate? Didn't see that coming . . . but I probably should have . . .
 
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