During the Michael Jordan era, there was, for better or worse, minimal debate as to who the best basketball player in the world was; whether you looked at stats, championship rings or highlight films, it always came back to Jordan. The present state of that discourse is less straightforward. In a league that cannot escape Jordan’s shadow, that is: along with its fans and the media: continually looking for the still elusive next Jordan, there is no clear cut “best” player. There are, however, two rather clear front runners for that title.   While other names sporadically and fleetingly surface in the discussion, the ultimate, prevailing question is: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant?

James is just entering the prime of his career at age 24. Meanwhile Bryant, who now sits on the wrong side of 30 from an athletic standpoint, may be approaching the twilight of his. Although at different points in their careers, they are immensely comparable at this point in time. Each player has won one regular season NBA MVP Award, two All-Star Game MVP Awards and at least one scoring title (Bryant has two) and, in the process, captivated countless fans with inhuman displays of talent and athleticism. However, while James certainly has youth on his side and has far more time than Bryant to augment his collection of accolades and rack up statistics, he has yet to win an NBA Championship. Bryant has won four. Whether or not James is at fault, people will continue to question and qualify his legacy until he leads a team to the ultimate prize. That being said, there are still plenty of arguments in his favor.  Bidnam Lee and Jay Gold discuss the relative merits of the two players vying for the throne that Jordan vacated.

Bidnam: First off, LeBron absolutely smashes Kobe in literally every statistical rating system that people have conceived to measure a player’s value and skill, from Player Efficiency Rating (PER) to Roland Rating to Plus/Minus to adjusted Plus/Minus, etc., and this isn’t a new development either. Two years ago, at age 21, LeBron posted a PER of 28.1 for the season. Kobe’s highest PER for a season in his entire career? 28.0. Coincidentally, both of those were achieved during the 2005-2006 campaign, which was arguably Kobe’s best statistical season. Viewing that season in terms of Win Shares, which estimates the number of wins contributed by a specific player for their team, Kobe still fell short of LeBron, 15.4 to 16.1 respectively.

Jay: I’ve never been a huge proponent of these statistical formulas. There’s no question that they can be valuable compliments to empirical observation, but they should be viewed as a secondary methods of determining a player’s value and skill. Andrew Bynum and Brandan Wright respectively rank 8th  and 19th  among all NBA players in the PER projections for the upcoming season. Would any person in his or her right mind rank either of those players anywhere near that highly? No. That doesn’t mean that PER is worthless, but it certainly suggests that we should not accept it without question.

When I watch Kobe play, I don’t see PER or Win Shares; I see the most polished perimeter player in the league. LeBron’s unbelievable. He’s an absolute force of nature from a physical and athletic perspective;  he makes his teammates better and he’s improved considerably on the defensive end. Still, his game remains somewhat raw in certain areas. His jumper’s gotten better, but it’s still erratic and unsmooth and his post game is surprisingly underdeveloped considering his size. He relies excessively on powering his way directly to the basket. Kobe’s game, on the other hand, is supremely refined and well-rounded.

Bidnam: It’s true, Kobe is definitely more fluid and smooth in his approach to the game of basketball, but to say that LeBron is not as good as Kobe because he takes advantage of his ability to drive to the basket instead of taking mid-range jump shots is a flawed argument. Not a single player in the NBA shot over 50 percent from the field on 2-point jump shots. Kobe shot 43.9 percent on those. On the other hand, LeBron’s field goal percentage on shots inside the paint? 72.1 percent. It’s not really debatable what the better way to score is: get to the hoop. Lebron has mastered the most efficient way to score points at the highest percentage.

Sure, a well-executed mid-range jump shot is what every true basketball fanatic loves to see: the arc, the wrist snap, the form: but at the same time, it’s a basketball move that is less efficient, especially in the long run, less conducive to drawing fouls and receiving free throws and less functional in a smoothly operating offense that involves the rest of the team. Yes, a more reliable mid-range jump shot would help Lebron’s game immensely, but to use that as the deciding factor, and perhaps even a major factor, in the Kobe vs. LeBron debate would be erroneous.

Jay: Kobe does fall in love with his jumper at times, but he still gets to the line with considerable frequency (though not nearly as often as LeBron) and I would argue that his game facilitates the smooth operation of Phil Jackson’s triangle offense better than LeBron’s would. I will concede that LeBron’s the more efficient scorer, but his inability to consistently hit mid-range jumpers was certainly a major factor in the embarrassment that was his lone finals appearance, although he has improved since then. In any case, it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of either player’s style.

Bidnam: What the debate really comes down to is a debate over how you measure a player’s greatness. Is it in the numbers? Or the intangibles? The rings? The awards? Who was the better player between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain? Russell won 11 championships, but Wilt put up numbers that are absolutely mind-boggling. Personally, I think, in the end, the number of championship rings between two players as otherworldly as Kobe and LeBron will have the greatest weight. Right now, Kobe has four and LeBron has zero, but ultimately, who knows. The most sensible thing to do now then is to just watch and enjoy the show.