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The King (LeBron James) vs The Mamba (Kobe Bryant     The NBA’s very own Superman vs Batman matchup. Is Kobe Bryant a better basketball player than LeBron James? There are lots of compelling arguments siding with many different points of view, but in my opinion, Kobe is the better player. Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr, when asked who was closest to the skillset of Michael Jordan, said ” Kobe Bryant is the closest thing to Michael Jordan you know, everyone’s been compared to Michael, LeBron’s  been compared to Michael but, I don’t think LeBron is like Michael at all… Kobe has the same mindset and mentality, that MJ had. The assassin, the I’m gonna rip your throat out with my scoring kind of mentality.

” Steve has 4 championships as a player and 2 as a head coach, therefore he must have some sort of ‘ wisdom’ when it comes to basketball. People may argue that LeBron is the better player, for example, Sports Illustrated’s basketball column (The Crossover) was quoted saying,  “ James is the better player. He’s a better one-on-one defender, better team defender, more versatile defender, better passer, more willing passer, more efficient scorer, more efficient clutch scorer and better teammate than Bryant.”, but there are 2 more main pieces of evidence that prove The Crossover wrong. In terms of statistics, Kobe is the better player. Although LeBron has yet to retire, Kobe was 37 years old when he retired. If LeBron follows suit, he only has 4 more years to catch up to Kobe.

Kobe has played 20 seasons in the NBA and has reached the playoffs in 15 of those seasons. Kobe also has 5 NBA championships, 2 NBA Finals MVP selections, 12 All All-Defensive team selections, 11 All NBA 1st team selections, and to top it all off, he won the Slam Dunk Contest at the young age of 18. LeBron, however, has only 3 Championships, 12 Playoffs appearances, 6 All-Defensive team selections, and 0 Slam Dunk contest appearances. In LeBron’s defence, he has 1 rookie of the year selection whereas, Kobe has none. The last piece of evidence that proves Kobe Bryant is a better basketball player than LeBron James is this.

A child attending one of Michael Jordan’s basketball camps asked him, ” Would you rate LeBron over Kobe in terms of Greatest of all time?” To which MJ replied,” No. There’s something about 5 that beats 3″.  There is no doubt that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all time, therefore, MJ’s opinion trumps all. In the previous paragraph I said ” MJ’s opinion trumps all ” but what Michael Jordan said was not opinion.

If you look up the definition of opinion you will find something similar to this: a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.  What MJ stated was a fact. Kobe put on a show for the fans, win or lose. Kobe is known for his intense work ethic. Sometimes, he would be at the gym 5 hours earlier than the rest of the team. That work ethic leading to the 5 Championship rings he worked so hard for.

Hopefully, by now you have sided with Kobe. Before the end of this editorial, you must remember this, lots of people will contradict your beliefs. They might try to cast you out, but you know, and I know that Kobe is the better player. We will rise up over all LeBron fans.

If we don’t at least we went down trying. Kobe said it himself ” Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”