Greatest player in the world: Kobe Bryant or LeBron James?

August 18, 10:34 AMLA Sports ExaminerBrian Milne

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¹GREAT, adjective
remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness; full of emotion; chief or preeminent over others; markedly superior in character or quality; remarkably skilled; used as a generalized term of approval

Mark Jackson said it a dozen times during the NBA Finals:

The Boston Celtics are going up against “the greatest player in the world,” the ABC color analyst and former Knicks guard said of Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

But after watching the Lakers get smoked by Boston, and watching the 2008 MVP play side by side with LeBron James during the Olympic Games, I can’t help but wonder if Bryant really is the greatest these days.

• The greatest player doesn’t get held to 17 points at home and allow his team to butcher a 24-point lead in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

• The greatest player doesn’t miss 60 percent of his floor shots and average four turnovers in the Finals.

• And the greatest player sure doesn’t demand trades and pick up the “uncoachable” label from his Hall of Fame coach in the offseason.

If anything, it’s evident we can stop with the comparisons to Michael Jordan (six Finals MVPs to Kobe’s zero).

Yes, Kobe Bryant is a great player. An amazing all-around player with three championship rings. But the naysayers will always point out that all three of those titles came while playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal, the MVP of each of those Finals.

So that would make Bryant a great, All-NBA guard who has won it all with Shaq, i.e. Dwyane Wade. But even Wade earned the Finals MVP in 2006 when he won a title with Shaq.

Is Bryant greater than Wade? At this stage in his career, the obvious answer is yes.

Is he better than LeBron James at this point in time? I can’t say yes to that right now, and James might not even be in his prime as unbelievable as that might sound.

James went to the Finals a year ago with a supporting cast that isn’t half as talented as the Lakers last season (give LeBron Shaq in his prime and it's over). And James is completely dominating the competition in Beijing, which begs the question: Who is the more dominant player right now? Kobe or LeBron?

I think even Mark Jackson, who a couple of years ago said Kobe was better than MJ (maybe Jackson was talking about himself?), might have a hard time saying Kobe’s that man at this point in time.