People hate KOBE so much for whatever sick reason they have but they dont realize that all the things Prince James & Band-Wade are doing, KOBE done it.

1. He can go off for 50 plus any game or anytime easy.
2. He defensively locks down the best guards/fowards in the NBA like Wade or LeBron but Bron Bron guards LUKE WALTON or ex-Laker VLAD RADMONOVIC.
3. His game is like Michael Jordan so that means he plays in the triangle offense so rebounds & assists are not the shooting guards priority.
4. His team will have the best record in the NBA at the end of the year.
5. Last but not least, haters are so use 2 Kobe doing AMAZING things that when he does them PEOPLE ARE NOT SHOCKED.

is it the best player of the team, the one that makes his teammates better or the most VALUABLE player on his team?

Wade is not the MVP. He’s simply not. You can sit there and say, “Oh without Wade, the Heat wouldn’t even have 10 wins right now.” That’s fine, I completely agree. But guess what, without LeBron, the Cavs have maybe 15 wins at this point. Don’t believe me?

Right now, with Wade on the court, the Heat are about 3 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents. With Wade off the court, the Heat are -13.5 points per 100 possessions worse than their opponents. A net of +16.5 points per 100 possessions with Wade. So, the Heat as a team have a point differential of -13.5 when Wade is not on the court. This would be the worst in the league. However, take a look at what LeBron means to the Cavs. The Cavs are 15.1 points per 100 possessions better with LeBron on the court, and -9.6 points per 100 possessions worse when he’s not on the court. A net of +24.7! Compare that to Wade’s 16.5. In other words, the Cavs as a team without LeBron have a point differential between the Wizards (14 wins) and the Clippers (15 wins). That’s a drop from first place in the East to second last place.

In every statistical measurement that adjusts for minutes and pace (Heat play a faster pace, Wade plays a minute more per game than LeBron) LeBron is more productive than Wade. PER, Win Shares, Roland Rating, whatever you want. LeBron is better. In fact, LeBron is having a historic season by many measures.

If you consider only steals and blocks as a measure of defense, sure Wade has LeBron edged. But LeBron is the staple of the 2nd best defense in the NBA, and by the few defensive statistical measurements we have available (opponent PER, defensive win shares, etc) LeBron is head and shoulders ahead of Wade. (and the rest of the league)

Look I understand Wade is generating some buzz right now because of how well he has played lately. But LeBron’s been doing this for the last 4 years. LeBron does something you’ve never seen before at least once per game.

I’m sorry (Matt) that you are upset that he isn’t posting guys up as much. I wish he would too. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is a man among boys on the court. Wade was a Witness last night. Sure Wade got his points against D West and Pavlovic. But when the Cavs started doubling him he couldn’t do anything to help his team and the Cavs won.

Are you really MORE IMPRESSED with Wade yesterday than LeBron? Stats aside…did you see some of the shots/dunks/blocks LeBron made? I mean I know Wade did too – but LeBron did this stuff at the end of the game, when it mattered the most and his energy should have been at it’s lowest.

obviously you don’t watch the games either and based the performance purely on what you see in a stat sheet.

Yes LBJ’s stats h2h against Kobe is better. Yes LBJ had made leap and bounds in his performance and effort and there is no questioning that the league will be his or already is for next 10-15 years if he stays healthy. That being said…

Do you watch the games?? Lebron plays mostly ISOs and Pick-n-Rolls. He dominates the ball for most of the games. He is a great passer nonethless but their offense system is completely different from the Lakers.

Kobe plays in a complicated triangle offense. It’s a motion offense. Kobe takes the shots but he doesn’t dominate the ball as much as Lebron does. Watch the game!! There is a reason why none of the guards that played for Phil avged much assists. In regarding blocks, Kobe guards the best playes. Lots of Lebron’s blocks are from the weak/blind side which is a testement to his athletiscm. They are both great players.

Regarding with the topic, Wade has to be the MVP. if not, it’s like that 1 year where Kobe had the best stats and he got it stolen to Steve Nash…

You’re not only preaching to the choir, you’re angrily trying to set fire to the choir.

LeBron is not like Kobe or Wade. He picks his spots. He rarely decides (I’m going to score like mad) and dominate a game. There’s only 1 time this year I saw LeBron come out and decide early on that he was going to try to go off – his 52 point triple double night. Other than that, this entire season he has done exactly what the Cavs need him to do to win. He spends the majority of the 1st quarter setting up teammates and when he comes back in the game from rest, he rarely tries to force anything he lets the players that were already on the court slowly readjust to the fact that he is now in the game. He’s always been like this. In high school, he was often not the leading scorer on his team, because he set up guys like Romeo Travis. He averaged 30 points a game in high school and 6 months later averaged over 20 in the NBA. It’s surreal – he could have averaged 70 points a game in high school – i truly believe that. He’s not a volume scorer.

Matt, I understand some of your feelings about last night’s game. LeBron doesn’t play the way wade does. He doesn’t put his head down, drive and finish or get fouled. He picks his spots. Some of this is because he really doesn’t get the calls anymore on his forays to the rim. He gets body contact every time and rarely is it called. LeBron’s game last night was insane, but it was very quiet. He didn’t go on tears where he scored 12 straight points. The crowd was chanting MVP for Wade, not LeBron. Wade’s team seemed to be playing with way more energy. Wade seemed virtually unstoppable for short stints against iso coverage. LeBron didn’t. But LeBron played a superior all-around game. And the moment the Cavs started doubling Wade (which is what LeBron deals with on a nightly basis) – the Cavs went on a 24-6 run. Mike Brown hates doing stuff like that, but he had no choice last night, Wade is a superstar and he was going to win the game for the heat – so Brown decided to double = game over for the heat.

Also, I hope you realize that last night’s game was the Cavs fourth in five nights against playoff teams on the road. Pretty impressive.

I wonder if LeBron will ever be fully appreciated. Wade has the reputation as the offensive juggernaut, Kobe has the reputation of the clutch player, and even though history proves that LeBron is more efficient offensive player, that he is in fact more clutch, and that he has done more with less talent than either player in his career – because we can’t really put Lebron into a box – we think he’s not as good as he is.

Did you see LeBron’s dunk over Oneal in the closing seconds? What player in the NBA does that? Put’s someone on a poster in the waning minutes of a ballgame – putting a dagger into the hearts of the opposition with a DUNK? I mean, sure, some guys will hit a crazy 3, others a stepback jumper. Lebron has more “CLUTCH DUNKS” than any player I have ever seen. He picks his spots for 3 and a half quarters – keeping his team afloat and involved. And when his team needs a basket, he goes to the rim hard. Two nights ago he won the game in Atlanta (a comeback on the road) by going hard to the hoop and getting fouled. Last night he sealed it with a fierce facial.

this is essentially your “argument.” as i keep saying, it’s beyond absurd. who said last night was “the best james had to offer?” i’m noticing you are big user of the old straw man arguments.

last night, LBJ did what he had to do to win on a road back-to-back (and a 4th game in 5 days)and did it in breath-takingly efficient manner. you seem to fail to grasp that that kind of efficiency IS transcendent.

if you pay any attention to stats at all, you’ll know that in the last few years no one has been better in the fourth quarter than LBJ. he showed it again last night. against a lot of odds. and that, to quote you, “needs to be accounted for when discussing the MVP.”