Who do you respect more? Kobe or LeBron?

[Neurotic Guy]

I respect each one differently.

Kobe because of his personality. This guy is just a competitor. He HATES losing and will do whatever he can to win (even if it means people hating on him for being selfish). He plays through injuries and is a very tough competitor. I love it whenever we play the Lakers and rooting against him

Lebron because of his skills. He is hands down the best player in the world. He makes his team better. I respected him so much more when he was with Cleveland when he led them to the finals in 06-07. It would've been special if he had won a championship there. I hated how he left Cleveland for Miami.

Most NBA players play through injury and being an intense competitor does not distinguish him -- there are many intense competitors in the NBA.  Hard to make it to the NBA without serious drive. 

Doing "whatever he can to win" and then acting selfishly because you don't trust your teammates (sometimes as a result making it LESS likely to win) is not actually doing anything he can to win.  Sometimes you've got to humble yourself enough to respect the play and value of your colleagues.  Desire to be Jordan can be confused with desire to win.  When this actually gets in the way of winning, it is not respectable.

[Snakehead]

LeBron.  He has always been a great teammate, say what you will about the rest.  Kobe has been a bad teammate consistently.

Also, just from a fan perspective, I am so tired about hearing about Kobe being glorified in a false way.  He was not even the best player on his team when the titles were won in LA in the Shaq era, he couldn't do it by himself in LA to the point where he demanded a trade (doing it by yourself is a BS premise btw, but people say LeBron couldn't and Kobe could, which is false), he calls out his teammates and he will walk off the floor, leaving them out there.

[Roy H.]

Well, until I feel that Lebron raped somebody, I guess it's him by default.  I have a hard time respecting the "King James" stuff, but it's hard not to be a better human being than Kobe.

On the court, I respect the 2012+ Lebron more.  The one thing Kobe had going for him was his killer instinct.  However, Lebron has learned that, while also realizing that it's okay to get teammates involved (a skill Kobe frequently forgets.)

[Fafnir]

On the court, I respect the 2012+ Lebron more.  The one thing Kobe had going for him was his killer instinct.  However, Lebron has learned that, while also realizing that it's okay to get teammates involved (a skill Kobe frequently forgets.)

LBJ was a killer early guy too, I think he just struggled to deal with expectations once he was the favorite more than anything. Two playoffs in a row he struggled at the end but before and after he was amazing.

[JSD]

I respect the heck out of both of them as basketball players. Lebron showed me a lot last playoffs and seems to have finally added the mental toughness to his ridiculous repertoire.

[Evantime34]

Lebron. To me Kobe has always been an overrated defender. Lebron is always one of the best in the league, not just on the ball but in help defense as well. He's a better passer, rebounder and shot blocker than Kobe.

[Clench123]

Lebron is a very likeable dude off the court (amazing guy from what I've seen and heard) and a beast on the court...I mean the best basketball player in the world today and on his way to be legendary.

Kobe on the other hand is top of the line bonified Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. on and off the court.  A terrible human being in my opinion, Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.ty teammate by all accounts, and one of the most selfish player to ever play the game.

[Snakehead]

On the court, I respect the 2012+ Lebron more.  The one thing Kobe had going for him was his killer instinct.  However, Lebron has learned that, while also realizing that it's okay to get teammates involved (a skill Kobe frequently forgets.)

LBJ was a killer early guy too, I think he just struggled to deal with expectations once he was the favorite more than anything. Two playoffs in a row he struggled at the end but before and after he was amazing.

This is a good point.

If you go back and look at when LeBron was being painted as a choke artist or unclutch, he had great clutch production (the best in the league).  Like a lot of his game, it was more than just scoring.  He got a lot of flak for passing up shots (even if it was the right choice) in the clutch.

And scoring wise his numbers in the clutch were still very good and the thing is he had more shots near the rim in clutch situations than anyone else by far.

There's no question he did fail to meet expectations, but as I've said my times as someone who lived in Cleveland then and watched that team, he simply didn't have the help to win a title.  Overall that team that got swept by the Spurs is probably the worst team to play in the Finals.  If you say took the best player off a team and looked at the rest, has to be the worst team.