Several things.
First of all, in response to Cored, the difference between the Lakers of the 80\'s and the Lakers of today is that Magic had Kareem to pass to. Every game this season in which a player other than Kobe led the team in scoring, they\'ve lost. Kobe is shooting at a 45% clip, much higher than the league average, and the average of the rest of his teammates. He\'s also 2nd on the team and 35th in the league in assists, putting him above most of the league\'s non PG\'s.
I\'m not trying to argue that Kobe is a good guy or a team player, but I think that his current team doesn\'t have the talent to be a great team. They need one more solid player. Who would you rather see taking a shot as a Lakers fan, Kobe or Smush Parker, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, etc.? Sure, it\'s his fault the team has no other top flight talent, he chased Shaq out of town, but you can\'t fault his performance last night.
And Square, it\'s unfair to say Kobe is better than LeBron. At LeBron\'s age, Kobe was just getting off the Laker\'s bench. It was his first year even starting. LeBron is years ahead of Kobe in terms of development at this point in their careers, and if the list is going to include people who are no longer playing, that\'s the way you have to look at it. I\'d take LeBron\'s 31 ppg, 7 rpg, and 6 apg at a 49% FG % over Kobe\'s 19.9 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg, at 46% FG % for sure. Hell, I might take LeBron over Kobe now, despite Kobe having 7 more years of experience. It\'s at least close.