Originally Posted by
crustyme
just because you take a lot of clutch shots doesnt mean you make a lot. just look at lebricks 1-for-9 this season with a chance to win or tie.
kobes misses didnt hurt the team from winning 5 championships, did it?
kobe doesnt make teammates better? who else has carried smush and kwame to the playoffs? not even jordan could do it with kwame. yet kobe had the lakers in 1st place (15 games over .500) with kwame at center when they traded for gasol.
pau gasol was a good player but wasnt tough or knew how to win. kobe taught him that. intangibles isnt about stats, even though gasol never got double digit rebounds with memphis as he has with lakers. plus his rebounding, defense and work ethic improved.
lebron had mo who was an all star the previous season, shaq who was an all star previous season, jamison who was having an all star season at 21ppg 9rpg, ilgauskas who was a 2 time all star, the underrated varejao who was a great defender and who was avg'd a double double this season.
you dont win 60+ games without great teammates, not even jordan could manage to win more than 40 without pippen.
meanwhile kobe had smush, kwame, odom, walton and mihm. 0 combined all star appearances. yet made the playoffs in back to back seasons. would lebron have? no because he had a similar bad cast his first two seasons and couldnt make the playoffs.
if you had $1,000,000 riding on a game and it came down to the final shot, who would you rather have shoot it, lebron or kobe? exactly.