by Elias Salem

Created on: June 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I would rather have Kobe. It is a tough scenario from any perspective coach, player or owner, but there is one key quality in players that displays greatness. If a player can make other players around him better, is sure sign that he can make it to greatness. It's one thing to have star player that can score his 30-points a game, but what about the rest of the team. If your role players aren't solid and unified then other teams are going to let he star player score his points while the rest of he team suffers.

In Kobe's earlier seasons he was that selfish ball hog that was playing with the worlds greatest center, Big Shaq. Now that Shaq is gone with a championship under his belt, Kobe has to mature, and escape Shaq's shadow and be the leader of the team, he has. Kobe has lead his team to a first place record. In doing so, he has somehow managed to make his players play together as a cohesive unit. This is and has been the toughest division for a few years, the warriors didn't even make the playoffs with a 50 plus record.

In the eastern division I think the eight seed team was about 30 wins strong. Lebron's Cavs placed lower than third meaning that in a lower skilled basketball division he still wasn't able to rally his troops to an impressive record. If the Cavs were on the west coast they wouldn't have been in the playoffs.

Bottom line is that Kobe has all the things that will improve any team: experience, clutch performance, high IQ, youth, and a relentless quest to score. With these qualities Kobe is at the top of his game, this is why he is the leagues MVP. Not only has he made improvements on his game he has made improvements on his team.

Lebron will reach a level of greatness just as Kobe has, however, now is not the time. Lebron lacks experience. He has shown his clutch ability in last years spectacle against the pistons, but until he gains more experience and confidence, is still the number two player in the league, right after Kobe, maybe Chris Paul will get there too.

The similarities of the two players are almost identical, both coming high straight into the NBA, and being premier players. Kobe has been in the league good amount more then Lebron, so Kobe has overcame a lot of issues that plague the typical player. In doing so he has actually triumphed over his adversity. A big part of the game is off the court as well. Lebron is still a younger player so he has more time to develop, and unfortunately be faced with issue that might threaten his career. It will be how he overcomes this that will show his character, not only as a player, but as a person.

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