Take It In Blood
Banned
classic moment in sports
Shaq to Kobe: "Because I had you, I was able to chill out every summer"
- Thread starter SwagBoy
- Start date
murksiderock
Superstar
I wrestle around with who I have ahead between Shaq and Kobe, I have for years. I was always more of a Kobe fan, to be honest I never cared much for Shaq. I respect the hell outta both their games, though...
Joining this site is the only time I've ever heard more people say Kobe is greater than Shaq overall, in my experience more people than not believed Shaq is the greater player all time; this has probably swung dramatically with the freshness of Bean's passing, but Shaq was described as arguably the most dominant player ever. No one said that about Kobe....
Not that I'd never heard a person here or there say they felt Kobe was better, because I had, but I've never been anywhere where more people were pro-Kobe in the Kobe/Shaq thing. So while I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that notion, I will admit that being on here definitely forced me to reevaluate where I place both...
Overall I think a thin margin separates the two of them, and Duncan. I don't really have an issue in what order you place either of those three, I do have an issue with extremists who think there should be this "clear" or massive gap from either of the other two. Again haven't really seen this in real life, but certainly the history on here, it has been said by some that Kobe is "clearly" over Shaq or Duncan, like it's some easy call...
The way I look at it is this, all Top 10 players, I feel fortunate to have watched all of their careers in real time, because at the end of the day we're saying if someone was better than either of them, that's a short ass list. Shaq was clearly the driving force of the 3peat Lakers, this board debates that but to my own eyes and I think to most people in more balanced communities of convo, there is no question to really be had. Prime Shaq was a difference maker everywhere he went, took Orlando from a lottery team to The Finals in three seasons, 50 win team in two. Lakers were a mediocre middle-of-the-road team that instantly went to 55+ wins. Miami went from a .500 team to the final four and damn near 60 wins his first year there. On this board his impact is undervalued but there are few players in history that raised the bar from loser to contender as swiftly as Shaq did, and he did it multiple times in multiple locations...
Joining this site is the only time I've ever heard more people say Kobe is greater than Shaq overall, in my experience more people than not believed Shaq is the greater player all time; this has probably swung dramatically with the freshness of Bean's passing, but Shaq was described as arguably the most dominant player ever. No one said that about Kobe....
Not that I'd never heard a person here or there say they felt Kobe was better, because I had, but I've never been anywhere where more people were pro-Kobe in the Kobe/Shaq thing. So while I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that notion, I will admit that being on here definitely forced me to reevaluate where I place both...
Overall I think a thin margin separates the two of them, and Duncan. I don't really have an issue in what order you place either of those three, I do have an issue with extremists who think there should be this "clear" or massive gap from either of the other two. Again haven't really seen this in real life, but certainly the history on here, it has been said by some that Kobe is "clearly" over Shaq or Duncan, like it's some easy call...
The way I look at it is this, all Top 10 players, I feel fortunate to have watched all of their careers in real time, because at the end of the day we're saying if someone was better than either of them, that's a short ass list. Shaq was clearly the driving force of the 3peat Lakers, this board debates that but to my own eyes and I think to most people in more balanced communities of convo, there is no question to really be had. Prime Shaq was a difference maker everywhere he went, took Orlando from a lottery team to The Finals in three seasons, 50 win team in two. Lakers were a mediocre middle-of-the-road team that instantly went to 55+ wins. Miami went from a .500 team to the final four and damn near 60 wins his first year there. On this board his impact is undervalued but there are few players in history that raised the bar from loser to contender as swiftly as Shaq did, and he did it multiple times in multiple locations...
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murksiderock
Superstar
His teams literally were either back to average or lottery status when he left. Someone who saw the 90s would have to tell me exactly where he places in that decade, but he was a Top 10 player in the 90s and Top 5 (to me, #3) player in the '00s. At his height he had an unstoppable mode that I've never thought Kobe quite had. Its gets tricky when you start comparing bigs and wings, functionally they have different skill sets and job descriptions...
To me Kobe is a coin flip with Duncan as the preeminent 2000s player, certainly his popularity was always greater than both Duncan and Shaq. I think it's similar to how Steph has been for kids in this era, it was easier to emulate Kobe, and his game was more fun to watch and more likeable. The way he dug the Lakers outta that hole, after Shaq left, to win those last two, made him Top 10 to me, shyt was truly special to watch. My thing with Kobe is he was never really definitively the best player in basketball, outside of maybe the two years Nash won MVP, and even then, besides '06 it's all debatable--->I've noted before that there is alot of revisionism on Kobe that started his last year or right after his retirement. We all acknowledge he was one of the best players, and back then we still separated bigs and wings so there was the, "whose the best SG/SF in The League", and Kobe was always at or near the top of that debate. He had a tok of competition for "best player", though. He was always in the debate, but me and the people I played sports with and went to school with, there was rarely this idea he was definitively better than everyone...
There was no question Shaq was the best player in The League for a multi-year stretch after Mike retired. But Kobe also gets points for me because he was greater for longer than both Shaq and Timmy, Kobe was a Top 10 player in The League at Year 17 right up until his Achilles snapped. That longevity holds weight, he wasn't out here getting done bad or wearing down early like a lot of GOATs...
I remember when they did this interview two years ago, it's cool to reminisce on that Lakers era. Specifically Kobe made me a basketball fan, Lakers were my original squad, but I was cool when they broke up. I never cared about the Kobe/Shaq beef, never believed Kobe raped the chick in Colorado, none of that other stuff mattered to me and I've never talked about any of those two points on here, shyt was irrelevant in my eyes, but I was tired of the Lakers winning and I was 15 when Detroit beat them, I loved it. It was time for some new shyt. I think if they stayed together, they had another title run in them, but as we saw Shaq only had two strong years left, I never bought into the idea that the Lakers woulda won 2/3/4 more chips, unless they revamped the roster significantly...was cool to go back down memory lane again, those 3peat Lakers were must watch TV...
My two cents!
To me Kobe is a coin flip with Duncan as the preeminent 2000s player, certainly his popularity was always greater than both Duncan and Shaq. I think it's similar to how Steph has been for kids in this era, it was easier to emulate Kobe, and his game was more fun to watch and more likeable. The way he dug the Lakers outta that hole, after Shaq left, to win those last two, made him Top 10 to me, shyt was truly special to watch. My thing with Kobe is he was never really definitively the best player in basketball, outside of maybe the two years Nash won MVP, and even then, besides '06 it's all debatable--->I've noted before that there is alot of revisionism on Kobe that started his last year or right after his retirement. We all acknowledge he was one of the best players, and back then we still separated bigs and wings so there was the, "whose the best SG/SF in The League", and Kobe was always at or near the top of that debate. He had a tok of competition for "best player", though. He was always in the debate, but me and the people I played sports with and went to school with, there was rarely this idea he was definitively better than everyone...
There was no question Shaq was the best player in The League for a multi-year stretch after Mike retired. But Kobe also gets points for me because he was greater for longer than both Shaq and Timmy, Kobe was a Top 10 player in The League at Year 17 right up until his Achilles snapped. That longevity holds weight, he wasn't out here getting done bad or wearing down early like a lot of GOATs...
I remember when they did this interview two years ago, it's cool to reminisce on that Lakers era. Specifically Kobe made me a basketball fan, Lakers were my original squad, but I was cool when they broke up. I never cared about the Kobe/Shaq beef, never believed Kobe raped the chick in Colorado, none of that other stuff mattered to me and I've never talked about any of those two points on here, shyt was irrelevant in my eyes, but I was tired of the Lakers winning and I was 15 when Detroit beat them, I loved it. It was time for some new shyt. I think if they stayed together, they had another title run in them, but as we saw Shaq only had two strong years left, I never bought into the idea that the Lakers woulda won 2/3/4 more chips, unless they revamped the roster significantly...was cool to go back down memory lane again, those 3peat Lakers were must watch TV...
My two cents!
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