by Armywriter

Created on: December 12, 2008

The choice to me seems so simple; LeBron James. While Kobe Bryant is a great player and may have a slight edge as far as overall scoring ability, I would still take LeBron any day, on any team. He is the face of the new generation of basketball stars in the league, a good guy who stays out of the negative spot light. He's big, versatile, and explosive. He passes, plays D, and scores when he needs to.

The big thing is not necessarily on the court, but off. LeBron has never been accused of being a selfish teammate. Kobe has. LeBron has never been accused of raping a woman. Kobe has. (though he was never charged and later discovered to be not guilty) All he has done is taken a team that was in the basement of the league and turned them around into a highly competitive basketball team. Not to mention that they are far more marketable now. Every game is sold out and that is for one reason; LeBron. Kobe has sat in the kingdom of basketball land, Los Angeles, and still made a mess of things in the past. He went from being one of the most marketable players in the league to losing most of his endorsements. He broke up a championship team a few years back and then complained about losing. LeBron plays his heart out day in and day out. He wins and all he expects from his organization is that they make an effort to surround him with decent players.

Then we take the argument to the court. LeBron rebounds better than Kobe. LeBron leads his team in assists. He averages near a block a game. His three point shot is improving more and more every year. Kobe, however, does pass the ball fairly well and can shoot the three like it's going out of style, but more often than not he forces shots when there would have been an easy assist instead. While Kobe may be an awesome player (and he is) he cannot compare to LeBron. Kobe has better players on his team than LeBron, yet LeBron is winning just like Kobe. Right now, as of 12 December 2008, Cleveland is 19-3. The Lakers are 18-3. Imagine that, LeBron's team actually has a better record than Kobe's.

The scariest thing is that LeBron is all these things and not even twenty four years old yet. How amazing will he be when he is in his late twenties, early thirties like Kobe? He's young, easy to like and one of the best all around players to ever play the game. While Kobe is in the prime of his career LeBron is still improving and will probably continue to improve until he hits his late twenties. That means we still haven't quite seen how good he could potentially be! This is true because if you look at how good Kobe was at LeBron's age and how he is now you can see there is a big difference. There is a maturity to his game that blends well with his raw talent. LeBron already posses the maturity at 23 years old that Kobe has today. Just wait until he fully matures. It's gonna be fun to watch.

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