Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

[ojandpizza]

its been fun comparing wade vs kobe. but its pretty unanimous by "most" folks that kobe is the 2nd greatest shooting guard ever. again most folks.

but would wade even be considered the 3rd greatest?

fwiw, id say yes but only because i personally place a high value on winning championships. and wade is a bonefide champion. but again thats my logic.

but as ive been told countless times on these very boards championships arent everything. so using some of you guys logic, not mines, is wade even on par with some of these shooting guards let alone kobe, who must ppl would acknowledge is greater than every 2-guard not named you know who..

so wade vs: (in no particular order)

1. mitch richmond
2. clyde drexler
3. reggie miller
4. allen iverson
5. jerry west

to name a few....

so when we ask and have an intelligent discussion on whether wade is on par with kobe, arent we really sublimially acknowledging that wade is a greater player than all these guys as well? because by most folks kobe is greater than all these other 2 guards.

now i say yes wade is, but if i took the chips away, im not 100% sure id come to the same conclusion. and ive been told, tho i disagree that championships shouldnt hold as much weight as i give to them.

my point being doesnt wade have to get thru these guys definately 1st b4 he can step up to being on kobe's level. thoughts.

Well I left Wade off my top 5 SG's of all time list in another thread.. That's not to say he isn't a great player, but his prime/peak whatever you want to call it was very short lived.. Almost like how T-Mac's was short lived.. It's great that Wade has 3 rings now but I can't act like adding 1 more ring really helps in much in my case. He had a few good games but then he had games where he was about as valuable as Mike Miller..

I do think that Wade at his very best was Kobe-good, but then again so was T-Mac.. It just didn't last very long for either of them.

[RedSceptile]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Well I left Wade off my top 5 SG's of all time list in another thread.. That's not to say he isn't a great player, but his prime/peak whatever you want to call it was very short lived.. Almost like how T-Mac's was short lived.. It's great that Wade has 3 rings now but I can't act like adding 1 more ring really helps in much in my case. He had a few good games but then he had games where he was about as valuable as Mike Miller..

I do think that Wade at his very best was Kobe-good, but then again so was T-Mac.. It just didn't last very long for either of them.

From 2004 until about now? These past 8 years or so have been pretty damn impressive even when he noticeably got banged up last year he still put in work.

[TajDeni]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Well I left Wade off my top 5 SG's of all time list in another thread.. That's not to say he isn't a great player, but his prime/peak whatever you want to call it was very short lived.. Almost like how T-Mac's was short lived.. It's great that Wade has 3 rings now but I can't act like adding 1 more ring really helps in much in my case. He had a few good games but then he had games where he was about as valuable as Mike Miller..

I do think that Wade at his very best was Kobe-good, but then again so was T-Mac.. It just didn't last very long for either of them.

forgot about mcgrady. a few things.

1. i never ever felt that mcgrady was as good as kobe; because while offensively he was a stud, defensively he was nowhere near kobe's level when he was either in his prime or even later in his career when he simply put his mind to it. so as an overall player i never really thought it was a legit argument.

2. how long are we saying these players prime yrs were? because i agree that to me wade's doesnt really seem that long. i mean kobe played with shaq (8yrs) just about as many yrs as wade has been in the league (9yrs) and that seems like forever ago. so how long was wades prime yrs really.

3. having said that about wade, i personally never thought that mcgrady would have aged as well as kobe either. 100% true story, i remember having lots of disagreements back in the day about mcgrady vs kobe; and the final point i would always make was we shall see who's still able to produce on this level once father time gets involved. i always thought that kobe game would withstand the test of time and in the end outlast all the players he was being compared to at the time.

4. so if we are counting a small number of yrs as prime yrs where does vince carter fit in all this. he played about as much defense as mcgrady and was a legit 25pt/g scorer for his prime yrs.

my honest take on all these different kobe debates is that ppl just dont like kobe; whether warrented or not. and that he just wont be truly appreciated until long after he is gone, say 10-20yrs after he is gone.

because honestly i just cant call how folks can say that any of these players being discussed are on kobe's level. i mean i know kobe was stuck on bad laker teams for a 3yr period, so he wasnt doing much winning, but prime kobe was as rentless and ruthless a player as the league has ever seen.

if you look back over the last 23yrs, so say since 1990; the only other players in the league that the other players in the league have ever been terrified of are MJ, Shaq, and Kobe. even as great as lebron is, it doesnt seem that the other players in the league are terrified of him. but in his prime, dudes were losing sleep over knowing that they had to face kobe the following night.

so again this entire convo has been entertaining, but i just cant call it personally.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anoqbgOZrEg

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxYZAgKRtM8

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtGJSiMqpWk

[I am disappointed]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Seems like forever ago, but that post redeem team Wade was about as good as any 2 guard i've seen besides the "big guy"

If I had to choose between him and prime Kobe, it's definitely not a no brainer IMO

I always seem to agree with 24...

[Melbournelad]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

I'm not sure why the OP is in the present tense considering Wade is nowhere near Kobe at this point in time, even though he is what, 3 years younger than Kobe. However Wade in his prime was pretty much on par with Kobe's prime, maybe even better.

I just want to quickly pose a slightly different question, i'm curious how many 34 year old's have there been in history that were better than Kobe at age 34?

[ojandpizza]

From 2004 until about now? These past 8 years or so have been pretty damn impressive even when he noticeably got banged up last year he still put in work.

Wade hasn't been at the top of his game for 8 seasons though. Impressive or not the past 3 years or so wasn't anything compared to the 2 or 3 years before that when he was at his peak. And that's the point I was making. Same for T-Mac. He was still impressive in Houston, it just wasn't at the level he was on for those 2-3 peak years in Orlando.

[Kashanova]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

I'm not sure why the OP is in the present tense considering Wade is nowhere near Kobe at this point in time, even though he is what, 3 years younger than Kobe. However Wade in his prime was pretty much on par with Kobe's prime, maybe even better.

I just want to quickly pose a slightly different question, i'm curious how many 34 year old's have there been in history that were better than Kobe at age 34?

There have been quite a few players who have had great seasons at the age of 34. Dominique Wilkins, Alex English, Bernard King, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem, Elgin Baylor and of course the great Michael Jordan. To say who was better at that age is up to a person opinion. I'd take Hakeem, Wilt, Malone, MJ at that age for sure. I'm not sure about the other guys as of yet

[Melbournelad]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

There have been quite a few players who have had great seasons at the age of 34. Dominique Wilkins, Alex English, Bernard King, Karl Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Hakeem, Elgin Baylor and of course the great Michael Jordan. To say who was better at that age is up to a person opinion. I'd take Hakeem, Wilt, Malone, MJ at that age for sure. I'm not sure about the other guys as of yet

Interesting, I hope Kobe somehow recovers from his injury to play at a very high level for the next year or two. How many of those guys were playing just as well at age 36?

[Kashanova]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Interesting, I hope Kobe somehow recovers from his injury to play at a very high level for the next year or two. How many of those guys were playing just as well at age 36?

We will see.... Achilles injuries are serious stuff.

At age 36 Kareem, Malone, English, Bird, Jordan, Baylor, Ewing and Lenny Wilkins were all highly effective at their advanced ages. None of them came off serious injuries I believe though.

[Vni]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Interesting, I hope Kobe somehow recovers from his injury to play at a very high level for the next year or two. How many of those guys were playing just as well at age 36?

He will either still be great, even in a more of a facilitator role or he will be gone.

[Moses Shuttlesworth]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Kobe's sneakers > Wade's sneakers.

Therefore Kobe > Wade

[JerzeyReign]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

We will see.... Achilles injuries are serious stuff.

At age 36 Kareem, Malone, English, Bird, Jordan, Baylor, Ewing and Lenny Wilkins were all highly effective at their advanced ages. None of them came off serious injuries I believe though.

Kobe will more than likely struggle in D'antoni's system since he has to work to hard for his shot. Put him in the triangle and run 52 rub like Phil ran for Jordan at 38 and he wouldn't miss a beat. That up and down game may wear him down quickly.

Tex Winter is still alive - LA should think about binging him in to see if he can try to work some triangle stuff inside of th current offense.

When I return to Texas in a couple of months I want to try o visit Tex Winter. Probably a long shot but its worth a shot and he's a bball legend. For you young bucks, Tex taught the triangle to Phil and sat on the bench through most of the titles.

[d11king]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Kobe will more than likely struggle in D'antoni's system since he has to work to hard for his shot. Put him in the triangle and run 52 rub like Phil ran for Jordan at 38 and he wouldn't miss a beat. That up and down game may wear him down quickly.

Tex Winter is still alive - LA should think about binging him in to see if he can try to work some triangle stuff inside of th current offense.

When I return to Texas in a couple of months I want to try o visit Tex Winter. Probably a long shot but its worth a shot and he's a bball legend. For you young bucks, Tex taught the triangle to Phil and sat on the bench through most of the titles.

Didn't Kurt Rambis try and run the triangle in Minnesota? Just didn't have the personnel to run it. Sigh, Lakers management, smh. Trying to run something other than the triangle, when the triangle took us to 7 championships this past decade smh.

[SimCommish]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Didn't Kurt Rambis try and run the triangle in Minnesota? Just didn't have the personnel to run it. Sigh, Lakers management, smh. Trying to run something other than the triangle, when the triangle took us to 7 championships this past decade smh.

Have to agree. Not sure why Lakers are keeping D'Antoni given his system not fitting their roster. They are not winning a championship regardless of the system with that roster.

[StankonYa]

Re: Dwyane Wade actually better than Kobe ?

Didn't Kurt Rambis try and run the triangle in Minnesota? Just didn't have the personnel to run it. Sigh, Lakers management, smh. Trying to run something other than the triangle, when the triangle took us to 7 championships this past decade smh.

I remember when Kobe hated the triangle and loved playing outside of it when ever he could until Phil left. Once Phil left, Kobe realized that the triangle didn't seem so bad...

Kobe and Wade.... both players play hard