Wade Overhyped?

Login to find out (June 4, 2005 at 1:36am)

Jordan was a great offensive player in his early days. It wasn't until the Bad boys of the 80s/90s showed him that until he played defense as hard as did offense, he'd never be a championship player. 6 championships later, I think he learned the lesson well.

Login to find out (June 3, 2005 at 6:24pm)

Dont confuse athletic ability with defense. Kobe, TMac, Marion, Stack, Vince and others have physical skills that match Jordans even in his prime but dont play near the defense. I look at it this way ... energy. Its hard to expend so much energy on one end and the other. Thats why Bowen, Rodman, Ben Wallace play great defense, because they save it on offense. The same holds true for offensive players. MJ was different ... he never get tired in games until maybe late in his 'real' career .. 97 or 98. Pre-93 he was an assassin on both ends in the 4th quarter. The only guy with more energy ever is AI, but hes too small to dominate defensively. Speaking of great two-way players .. right now you would have to give the nod to Artest .. but Pippen was exceptional at both ends.

Login to find out (June 3, 2005 at 9:28am)

marion used to be but I think having to play pf has caused his defense to deteroriate rapidly...he can probably defend a 3 okay, but I doubt he could take a 2...tanveer...what will be interesting to see is how much money they throw at Joe Johnson...I think he's a good player, but not a great player but I think he'll get near max contract numbers thrown at him...i think he's more deserving of parker/ginobli type numbers but we'll see. I think qrich gets kicked to the curb, though...they really need another big so they can shift amare to the 4 and marion back to the 3...

Login to find out (June 3, 2005 at 8:44am)

you can't compare anyone to MJ defensively. but kobe's on-ball defence is pretty good. the reason why he gets torched is because he tries to be a hero and guard smaller, quicker guards like iverson, marbury, francis (isn't funny how these guys cross him over?)...and obviously he can't handle them. i really can't think of one player who has dominant skills on both ends of the court; artest might be the closest thing; and maybe marion?

Login to find out (June 3, 2005 at 1:14am)

tanveer...definitely...artest, right before his suspension, was becoming an great wing player...wasn't he throwing up like 23 pts per game? Prince is good, but I think he'll never be an elite offensive player, especially with the pistons since he's the 4th offensive option...you could say that marion is there, though his on the ball defense has definitely fallen off from a couple years ago. AK47 is another guy...the thing is, these guys, while deadly at times offensively, don't have the skills to demand double teams on offense, which is what I would say the truly elite require (the difference between a ray allen and a joe johnson).

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 11:23pm)

i dunno...kobe is kinda like a lot of the great offensive players, who play defense as a second thought. He is a very good on the ball defender, when he chooses to expend the energy. He was definitely better in the middle of the lakers' runs, when he didn't jack the ball up 35 times a game. He does gamble, but so do most of those guys...it's rare to find a superstar who plays defense/offense, especially in a guard.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 4:26pm)

One more thing before I head home. The ESPN crew and irrational fans were comparing Kobe to Mike, yet he is numbers do not even match Clyde's numbers. Anyways, it is good to reminisce on how people hyped up Kobe, yet his career is prematurely done.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 4:17pm)

Do not forget about Alan Houston blazing Kobe for 50+ in the '02-'03 season. To make things worse he took lesser shots than Kobe, but outscored him big time. AI, and Stephon also scored 50+ on Kobe. During 84-93, Jordan was shutting down everyone. Only until MJ's second tenure in the NBA did someone give him a little trouble with a sweet crossover. That person was Allen Iverson, who also has a great deal of respect for MJ.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 1:43pm)

Oh another thing about Kobe. The man is unbelievable overrated as a defensive player. The media wants so much to make him the next Jordan that they started saying he is one of the best defenders in the league .. what a total joke. Jason Williams, L Hughes, Marbury, Iverson, Bonzi Wells are just a few guys that have lit him up over the years. He gambles for steals and fouls more than any guard I've ever seen. MJ would drop 50 a game against him in the Finals just to prove a point if they both played in the same era. Remember what MJ did to Drexler when people were saying they were at the same level? Talented offensive player .. yes. Defensive stopper? Please.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 11:24am)

i have to admint, wade is the stuff, i didnt think he was this good. still i think detroit will be in the finals. too much experience on detroits side.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 11:22am)

Salam all. Omer, yes I was pissed of about that too. It was MJ's last All-Star game, and Kobe still wanted to get the attention. Jordan nailed that beautiful shot over Marion, and everyone thought it was a great ending to his All-Star career. Jordan was old, and had the bad knees, yet he still showed that he can play the game at a solid level with players half his age. Kobe with his "all about me" attitude ruined it, and that was messed up since NBA players never do take the All-Star game serious these days. The funny thing is Kobe emmulates Mike in almost every way, but he never had ups, speed or defense like Mike. The furthest I've seen Kobe dunk it was the dotted line and he still barely made it. Just imagine what a young Mike (84-93) would have done to Kobe in a one on one situation.

Login to find out (June 2, 2005 at 11:01am)

Dont get me wrong .. Wade is the truth. However, he doesnt see the double teams like AI, Kobe (now), TMac, and others.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 8:12pm)

true say...thanks Denver.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 5:52pm)

It seems we all hate Kobe on this site. Lol. The man does annoy me the way he chews his gum and his mannerisms after he makes a shot, trying to be hard like Jordan. Remember though, with Shaq, Kobe was heir to the 'Next Jordan' throne, because he was killing everyone. Wade seems to be doing that to everyone these days, but I guess after watching the past few days against our best defense in Detroit, he is THE REAL DEAL. I don't think there is much to say ahhhhhhhh.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 4:53pm)

Kobe takes the song "If I Could Be Like Mike" to another level. The man has got Jordan's voice, talk, body movement, and tongue wagging down packed. Identity crisis explains it all.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 11:45am)

Kobe is a punk and might be the most overhyped NBA player of all time. He tries so hard to copy Mike, its ridiculous. I like the stat about him being the most blocked in the league .. does anyone ever remember MJ getting stuffed? (Dont count his time in DC) Kobe percentages dropped from 46 or so to 43 this year and most of the year he right at 40%. This is the first time he is getting doubled his whole career and it shows. Same thing holds for Wade, true is an awesome talent and unstoppable 1-1. It just goes to show you that Shaq and the great centers allow the talented 1-1 players in the league to excel. Trust me, AI would shoot 47% and average about 35 a game with Shaq. MJ woulda gotten 40 a night with a decent center.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 11:39am)

Funkadelic,

Salam. Believe it or not I used to be a Kobe fan until his ego got the best of him. For some reason his personality overshadowed his tremendous talent. Ever since he snitched, and told the public that "You know me," I lost total respect for the man. Funkadelic, I cannot deny that my biased view towards him influences my debates. Well, it is back to work for me. Salam!

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 11:13am)

w/salaam Wana; personally, i don't think its fair to kobe (once again, i hate him more than anyone; i even saw him at the NBA store in NYC and i refused to ask for his autograph) to use the argument of wade having the same players and taking them deeper into the playoffs. there's soooo many factors that you can't explain, such as the coach (did Rudy T. ever look like he was coaching at all last season?; and Frank Hamblen?). i shoulda coached that team; they looked lost all season. also, conference, and even division play is much tougher in the west, and has been for years. The pacific division is tougher than the southeast, and was even tougher than the atlantic last year. next you gotta look at the chemistry between players. some players just aren't meant to click with eachother. like i said before, the lakers played like the celtics this year(like an uncoached team; kinda like streetball). i've never denied wade's talent, but i just feel kobe is better, even though he's a hot bread...(if you know a bit of french, translate hot bread into french, and you'll get what i meant by that :)...hint: its punjabi.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 8:36am)

haha sorry, i just realized 5 other people made the same point.....just goes to show, stop hating on wade.

Login to find out (June 1, 2005 at 8:35am)

wade was the man as a rookie last year in the playoffs, and that was without a whole lot of support. you want to compare wade to kobe....wade took the players that kobe has now (lamar odom, caron butler, and brian grant) to the playoffs, and kobe did not. and kobe is at prime, wade was a rookie.

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