Where would Kobe 2003 rank in today's league

[ottooooooo]

he would rape the league like he did that girl in colorado

[DFish24]

Best in League

[turnaroundJ]

How can anyone put current Durant over any version of prime Kobe? He's at least as good on offense but the gap in defense and eye test stuff is ridiculous.

Bran has a case, but if you consider his wilting in big moments then he's not ahead either.

[Cold soul]

Top 2 for sure. Arguably the best player in NBA.

[MavsSuperFan]

Best in the league

[miles berg]

Strong case for #3, definitely top 5.

[Jameerthefear]

Without Shaq he would average something like 25/5/5 on 40%
So not even top 10. More around Tyreke Evans tier.

[Thorn]

He's definitely in the discussion for best in the league, but I think he's got more of an argument with Durant. Kobe and Durant had pretty similar years.

Kobe 30/7/6 on 45/38/84
Durant 32/7/6 on 50/39/87

Kobe has an edge on defense. Durant's length and athleticism makes him a bit better than average, but he can be exploited due to his lack of strength, especially when OKC goes small with Durant at PF.

Both players had an All Star teammate that missed significant time due to injury/surgery, Westbrook on the rise, Shaq declining. Westbrook played 46 games compared to Shaq's 67, but Shaq was working his way back into shape for a while after surgery.

Both players had extremely thin casts especially in the playoffs, Lakers were thinner since Fox went down after Game 4 of the Minny series, his replacement got hurt in the Spurs series and they didn't have a third player on Ibaka's or Jackson's level. Ibaka missed 2 and a half games, everyone else was injury free for the Thunder.

Both players lost to the eventual champs with neither playing at their RS level, Kobe had 32/5/4 on 43/44/79, Durant had 26/8/3 on 48/33/76. But the 03 Spurs played a slower pace than the 14 Spurs (03 SAS 90 possessions/48, 14 SAS 95). Kobe was also coming off three long championship runs and 3401 minutes in the RS. Durant played 3102 minutes this year, but he also played more playoff games against better teams in Memphis and Clippers. Kobe played a pretty good team in the Wolves (51 wins).

Kobe is a better playmaker, but Durant is a better rebounder. edit: default was the wrong word. Since Kobe had 3 years of playmaking experience in the triangle he was better, but Durant was pretty good himself, especially with Westbrook out. Similarly Durant was a better rebounder because of height/length but Kobe was also pretty good. In the RS they averaged about the same number of boards.

How much is Durant affected by OKC's terrible offensive system? Westbrook was awesome in the playoffs, but was it at the expense of Durant? Entire possessions went by where the Thunder stood around while Westbrook went on one of those balls out drives and finished some ridiculous layup or dunk. Durant's offensive game has some holes (putting smaller defenders on him can blow up his dribble drives and since he can't post up, he ends up taking some garbage fallaway, plus it's not so hard to deny the ball to him), whereas Kobe was more versatile.

The 14 Spurs were most likely better than the 03 Spurs, but I really feel like the 03 Spurs were better defensively (clearly the 14 Spurs were miles better offensively). The 14 Spurs had more defenders to throw at Durant (Green/Manu/Leonard), but the 03 Spurs have Bruce Bowen plus peak Duncan playing 40 minutes a game. But again...the Spurs could throw more defenders at Durant because of an exploitable hole in Durant's game. Kobe would've eaten everyone apart from Bowen alive on the 03 Spurs.

Durant's obviously more efficient and probably has better shot selection, but apart from that...I don't really know what he's better than 03 Kobe at.

14 Lebron's probably better though.

[Ne 1]

IMO '03 Kobe would be considered the best player in the league if he played in the league right now. This is the weakest era of bigs and weakest era of superstars compared to back then he was measured against prime Shaq/Duncan/KG as a guard, those were the only players who were better than him.

Scoring wise he trumps anyone. I don't think there's any players since prime Jordan that was as dynamic and creative, inside and out on offense. 2003 Kobe:
30 PPG
7 RPG
6 APG
2.2 SPG
0.8 BPG
57.1% TS (adjusted for league average)
23 double-doubles
5 triple-doubles
20 40+ point games

Did it in the greatest defensive era (1999-2004)

[dubeta]

Definitely not top 5, 30 ppg chuckers who shoot 45% ish arent exactly efficient

Doesnt, have the efficient scoring of the bigs/forwards (LeBron, Blake, Durant)

Doesnt have the playmaking skills of the guards (Paul ,Curry)

Him and Westbrook is arguable but Westbrook is much more aggressive and attacks the basket hard instead of shooting those fadeaway bricks

Probably #7

[Carbine]

He would be tied for #2 at worst.

[ArbitraryWater]

IMO '03 Kobe would be considered the best player in the league if he played in the league right now. This is the weakest era of bigs and weakest era of superstars compared to back then he was measured against prime Shaq/Duncan/KG as a guard, those were the only players who were better than him.

Scoring wise he trumps anyone. I don't think there's any players since prime Jordan that was as dynamic and creative, inside and out on offense. 2003 Kobe:
30 PPG
7 RPG
6 APG
2.2 SPG
0.8 BPG
57.1% TS (adjusted for league average)
23 double-doubles
5 triple-doubles
20 40+ point games

Did it in the greatest defensive era (1999-2004)

Kobe fans getting as desperate as Wilt stans.. adjusting efficiency for league average n shit

[guy]

Top 2-3. Pretty crazy, there wouldn't be any big man like Shaq, Duncan, or KG in the argument. Not only is there no big time centers in the league anymore, but the quality of power forwards is also going down. All the big time PFs in today's game like Love, Griffin, LMA lack the defensive prowess. And guys like Noah and Duncan who are renowned defensively don't put up the scoring numbers. Really, its only Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis that put up close to 20/10 with elite defense, and they still clearly aren't on the level of Duncan or KG were back then.

[Jameerthefear]

Top 2-3. Pretty crazy, there wouldn't be any big man like Shaq, Duncan, or KG in the argument. Not only is there no big time centers in the league anymore, but the quality of power forwards is also going down. All the big time PFs in today's game like Love, Griffin, LMA lack the defensive prowess. And guys like Noah and Duncan who are renowned defensively don't put up the scoring numbers. Really, its only Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis that put up close to 20/10 with elite defense, and they still clearly aren't on the level of Duncan or KG were back then.

davis will be. might be even better tbh.

[BlackVVaves]

Without Shaq he would average something like 25/5/5 on 40%
So not even top 10. More around Tyreke Evans tier.

You do realize that Kobe put up a sizable portion of his numbers that season with Shaq injured and out the lineup right?

Oh right, I forgot. You were born 4 years earlier, so you have no idea wtf you're talking about.....again.