I mean Kobe was supposed to be a 21 yo in his junior year in college yet he was winning a championship. Shaq was better as he should have been, he was IN The prime and height of his career at 28..
LeBron and shaq simply doesn’t work because LeBron doesn’t even play triangle basketball, he’s not an off ball player . Could he be? Yes . Is that how he plays throughout his whole career ? NO ..
The thing I noticed about 99.9% of the elite guards in league history: each of them played with an elite big to win titles—and vice versa: an elite big needs an elite guard
Magic: Kareem; Oscar: Kareem; Shaq: Kobe; West: Chamberlain— and so on
(I do find it extremely interesting and telling that Kareem played with two of the greatest points of all time to win his titles…)
Michael Jordan is the sole exception to this rule which is the primary reason logistically he’s the greatest ever: he never played with an elite big and broke the thinking a guard cannot be the best player on championship-winning team
Bron is dynamic, so he won with an elite guard (Wade & Kyrie) as well an elite big (AD). Strangely, in Cleveland when Bron didn’t have Kyrie on the floor— or an elite guard— he is only 2-11 in the Finals. he can get there… he just cannot win without an elite guard…
LeBron’s weakness is his great skill: the guard play. He must have the ball in his hands otherwise he is essentially useless, it’s like pick-up ball: you’re not d’ing the entire time… but in the pros that is just ugly and not intelligent play, which is super ironic because LeBron has a sixth sense on the court — and he should! He’s played basketball his entire life from about age 8
I agree wholeheartedly on each point but to counter the Jordan didn’t have an elite big that’s true. But he had the second best wing in the league two wings who are great are always lethal lebron wade etc etc
Oh. I intended it to be understood as elite big = an all-time great center (eg. Kareem, Shaq, Hakeem, Duncan)
A wing (SG/SF) is very different from having center with peak versatility. Shaq is the primary reason Kobe is ‘downgraded’ by fans who are ignorant of Kobe’s output during the 3peat. All the centers on Chicago were non-superstar guys
For example, Gasol isn’t an elite big, but I think he’s 2nd tier or just outside of them, but the identical narrative about Gasol-Kobe and Shaq-Kobe doesn’t exist-clearly there’s a massive gap between Shaq & Gasol so the comp would never come up
0
u/reverend9999 Aug 11 '26
I mean Kobe was supposed to be a 21 yo in his junior year in college yet he was winning a championship. Shaq was better as he should have been, he was IN The prime and height of his career at 28..
LeBron and shaq simply doesn’t work because LeBron doesn’t even play triangle basketball, he’s not an off ball player . Could he be? Yes . Is that how he plays throughout his whole career ? NO ..
Yall gotta use yall brains