Brandname

No reason to put either guy down. They're both separating themselves from the rest of the NBA more and more, especially this year.

As always of course, it's hard to stack their abilities as wing players up against the likes of a Tim Duncan or Chris Paul, so I dunno, they deserve to be in the conversation as well.

Regardless, each of the two players has advantages over the other in certain areas. For one thing, it's not really arguable that Kobe is a better shooter. Lebron is a better rebounder and (up until this thread I believed it was consensus) a better passer.

They're very close to being equal in many aspects, as well. Scoring (overall), defense (this is probably the first year they can be legitimately compared defensively, and they've both really stepped it up here this year), and late game heroics (I understand Kobe has an extra 8 years or so of history here, I'm referring to their current abilities only). Leadership is almost entirely subjective and who really knows the answer to that one.

But ultimately 23AJ, in working so hard to bring Lebron down, you're truly overlooking the fact that we're witnessing two players who will go down as all-time greats in the NBA playing at or near their prime (of course Lebron has a little ways to go before his prime, but he's playing at a high level nonetheless). They both have a chance at becoming top 10-15 players of all time or so, and at some point we're going to reminisce about the days we got to see them compete against each other.

I'd even venture to say that even you, 23AJ, might one day fondly think back to being able to watch these guys play at the same time.

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