^you mentioned players that are killers. I think it was Mark Jackson who said James was the best small forward who ever played taking what was Bird's throne. Nah...Bird would make James shrink even if he was not as physically gifted. He had the attitude...talked the talk and walked the walk. He would rip James' heart out and sneer at him. ...with John 3:16 on this. I respect his game but doesn't mean I drink the Kool Aid that he is a Top 5 All-Time great. Hell, I'd take Bernard King over James. Oh and 24 was the one Bird picked during his generation that he would go with in a crucial game.
also, in regards to the lebron vs kobe talk it should be a no brainer. its so easy to see how much better/skilled kobe was. if you watch his highlights almost EVERY single one of kobes highlights in any mix you watch is better than the absolute best lebron highlight. i could blindly pick a kobe highlight out of the biggest hat i own and be confident it would beat lebron.
Kobe could've easily won these 4 years. The fact that he didn't win in 06 and came in 4th place is criminal.
Watching a healthy Kobe with a healthy Pau was a thing of BEAUTY. Two extremely talented, inteligent and motivated players, that were a perfect match. I was overwhelmed with joy the second we got Pau... Mitch the genius
Jordan maybe and it depends how long were talking for Shaq because his prime isn't as long as Kobe's. Kobe has him beat on longevity. Overall to me Kobe in his prime was as dominant and as great as anyone that's ever played this game. He'd be my number one pick. Shaq's prime just wasn't nearly as long as Kobe's and he obviously couldn't close like him either, but he'd be a close third behind Jordan and Kobe.
I take a prime Shaq over anyone ever of all time. A man that size, that athletic, that angry? He was the most unstoppable force I've ever seen on a basketball court. Over a career I take Kobe and Jordan and Kareem and Magic, but for a small sample Shaq is the one. I take him over Wilt even.
yeah, I agree. For one season at their peak, I take Shaq too. He was so disruptive. Career, I'll go Kareem, Magic, Jordan, Kobe (no particular order).
Yeah, but who makes the free throws for prime Shaq in the clutch? Kobe covered for that in our title runs, that's why 4th quarter was a lot of the time Kobe time. Prime Shaq was incredible, but that was a glaring flaw MJ and Kobe didn't have.
2005 and 2006 was the most glaring omissions out of the four. Didn't remember 24 placing 4th in 2006 but yeah that is mostly due to bias and ignorance. The press viewed him then as a gunner plus his uncompromising personality certainly did not help.
That 00-01 and the 01-02 season too he was so dominant that I don't care about the free throws in a vacuum of "At his Prime". That 00-01 season he averaged 30/15 with 3.2 assists and 2.4 blocks. I mean just preposterous numbers and when he was focused in the game, he went to the rim over and over and over again. I'll never forget the image of DPOY Dikembe Mutombo's face eating a Shaq elbow. In a game of "In his Prime" Shaq wins. They had to invent a cheat code to try to stop him ("hack-a-shaq") and even that didn't really work.
He still had to be subbed in and out on offense/defense at the end of games multiple times by Phil. I get your point and I'm not even sure I'm disagreeing, but the free throws make it hard for me to take him above Kobe or MJ for one game. He did tons of damage in most of the game, but then in crunch time Kobe was the one with the ball, because with the game on the line you couldn't trust Shaq being fouled.
Shaq's 99/00 was just a ridiculous season. 30-13.4, 3.8 assists, 3.0 blocks, and his advanced stats include a PER of 30+ and like 19 Win Shares. It's stupid.