[xstreaminsanity]

There's not really going to be a winner in this conversation, I can see it now.

And wasn't Garnett the first high schooler turned Pro? Anyways, I don't think even if LeBron wins a ring anyone will like him any more than they do now. The only thing a ring will do is give him his own justification, kind of tell teams that if you want to win a championship you need to pay out your rear for it, and make some people say that now that they have one, they still have 7 more to go to fulfill James' promise. lol. I love how on First Take today, Steven A Smith who agrees that James is the most skilled player in the NBA, says that James still haven't proven he's clutch yet. The question was "Do you want LeBron to take the last shot with the game on the line" or something like that. No. No. No. Not even close. Give it to Wade. And all teams know this. So if the game is close, you don't even have to double LeBron unless he's going for a dunk. Get a triple team on Wade. But then if you do that, if LeBron gets a shot, people will start calling him clutch when he hits wide open game winning shots. lol. There's no winning situation in this. LeBron does have haters because of his move, and many of them won't change that. And I'll say it now, though I don't think it will happen, if Derrick Rose were to do the same thing (being from Chicago, playing in Chicago) the exact same thing would happen to him (meaning people would hate him). Why? Because it's such a nice story when people support their home town team that if you start doing that and then turn your back on it (for whatever reason, ring, money, friend, etc.) you will be hated. Some will lose the hatred, others won't.

Now my question to you is, was this thread to really debate who is the better player or to try and convince people LeBron shouldn't be hated? Cause that's kind of what it's starting to sound like from how I've been reading it, and I've been reading them all. Also, I do believe there is a difference between a more skilled player and the best player. LeBron is the more skilled player because of his athleticism (though Kobe has done some amazing things) and his physical attributes. However, I am starting to lean more towards Kobe being the best player because as someone said, if you looked at a spray chart of LeBron's shots vs. Kobe's shots, I believe you would see that a very high portion of LeBron's points come within 5 feet of the basket. That's not a bad thing, but Kobe doesn't have the physical qualities of LeBron and isn't dumb enough like AI to tear up his body like that (not ragging on AI, simply stating that could have been one of his down falls). Kobe won't be able to get more rebounds than LeBron because of physique. Kobe could have more assists, but I'm sure if you could the times Kobe or LeBron pass the ball rather than taking a shot, it'd be pretty equal. An assist is two things. The player with the ball finding a player in an opportune spot, and the receiving player's ability to knock down that shot. You could pass the ball 50 times a game to different people for wide open shots. If they don't make them, that's not your fault.

Yes, I know bbills1999, another thesis.