Kobe's pre-eminent work-ethic & LeBron's God-given gift of natural athleticism....
- Thread starter Ready2Rhyme
- Start date
True but the same can be said for pretty much every player in the league including Kobe. These nikkas are all in the top percentile in terms of height and athleticism. You got nikkas out here that bust their ass for years and cant sniff the league. People try to play the work ethic/natural gifts card in order prop up a guy they like or shyt on a guy they don't. Like most sports memes it's agenda driven. All of these guys are gifted. Many of them work hard. The best players are the ones who combine gifts and hardwork the best.
Its not right to use the term "God-Given" ability when talking about Kobe. When people say "god-given" it implies that it was just a random 1 in a million chance that allowed them to be athletically gifted.
Kobe's father was also a professional basketball player so we know exactly why he's tall, agile etc...his talent isn't "God-Given" its just given.
Kobe's father was also a professional basketball player so we know exactly why he's tall, agile etc...his talent isn't "God-Given" its just given.
Long Live The Kane
Tyrant Titan
Neither is really a myth...Lebron is pretty much the most physically gifted perimeter player to have ever played the game...of course he's highly skilled and works hard...but it doesn't take some kind of subversive coded narrative forced into your psyche to watch the guy and realize he's an athletic freak...not anymore than watching a young Shaq and realizing the same thing...even by "physically blessed top tier NBA player standards", Lebron is special...same thing with Kobe and his work ethic, that he's the archetypal 6'6 athletic shooting guard goes without saying...his athleticism was talked about a lot when he was younger, maybe not in as such transcendent terms as Lebron today but Lebron is somebody with no peer in that regard... by pretty much every account...by pretty much everybody that's been around him, whether it be teammates, peers, press, other superstars...even by the standards of top tier nba standards, kobe's practice and training regiment is exceptional...bordering on obbessive .... just is what it is, they're not myths any much more than "Ray Allen has a beautiful jumper" is
HacksawJimThuggin
All Star
people ignore that Kobe won the dunk contest his rookie year because it doesn't fit the "Kobe overcame physical limitations by working extra hard in the gym" narrative that they like to promote
Lebron with Kobe Bryant's basketball skills>Jordan
Jesus Is Lord
Give Thanks, Repent, and Forgive
Exactly.
shawn marion, gerald wallace, andre iguodala, etc... there's been many super athletic small forwards in the 6'6 to 6'8 category... yet none of them come close to doing what Lebron is able to do with a basketball, and obviously even if you spotted any of those guys 20 more pounds of muscle (to get closer to Lebron's weight range), it still wouldn't change shyt. Lebron's ball handling, playmaking and scoring abilities are on another level and all his athleticism really does is give him the same extra intimidation factor that both Kobe and Jordan's in-their-hey-day athleticism gave them over their opponents... i.e. not wanting to be on a poster or sports center top 10.
Once he ages, he'll continue to use his 6'8 height advantage the same way Jordan used his 6'6 height advantage against the john starks and jeff hornacek's of the world.. and how Kobe uses it against the courtney lee's and Dwayne Wade's (6'4 and down) of the world, and how Magic used it against Jordan, Isiah, and all the small guards in the 80s.
And as far as natural ability, Kobe aint too different than Lebron because similarly he was an athletic beast in his prime along with a slew of other super athletic shooting guards/wings around that 6'4 to 6'7 category in Jason Richardson, Desmond Mason, Fred Jones, Jerry Stackhouse, etc. in addition to Vince Carter and T-Mac. Yea you can nit pick over who out the group was the quickest/fastest/highest jumping, blah blah blah but they were all freaks of nature, Kobe included, but Kobe was also the most polished one fundamentally and, just like with Bron, it was obvious that he wouldn't need to be dunking over 3 people every other quarter to still be considered effective or a star.
Eternal Tecate
Superstar
Kobe's work ethic is definitely not a myth. He's dedicated to the point of weirdness and doesn't have any friends because he's so fukking crazy.
threattonature
Veteran
That was one of the most prevalant themes coming out of the 2008 Olympics. Everybody coming out there was talking about Kobe's work ethic and how it made them step their games up. I think all the talk about Kobe's work ethic goes into his preparation as well. They talk that his preparation isn't just in the physical but in the mental parts of the game.
Lebron busts his ass as well for the physical part of the game. The question was always in his preparation and watching video and working on holes of his game.
He had the fastest first step in the league for awhile
Iverson would like to know when this was.