re: Yes or No: Duncan is the better player than Kobe all time

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If that's all you're going to take into account of course you'd think Kobe's the superior defender. LeBron's greatest value is that he's great both as a perimeter help defender and as a rim protector on top of one on one defense. Kobe was also great one on one and as a help defender but never had the impact of a big man defensively.

LeBron was amazing in last season's playoffs serving as the linchpin of the defense that shut down GS's "death lineup."

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I don't disagree with anyone of this, it's quite good of an analysis. Probably the most rational I've seen in this thread. I think Lebron was a better help defender, but Kobe was great at that too no doubt.

Age 18-24 Kobe played defense before zone defense existed, which is almost 1/2 of Lebron's career. People can call it bias if they want, I was simply acknowledging the last peak 1 on 1 defender before zone changed how we look at things.

Others who are throwing out metrics of Lebron's "numbers" defensively aren't isolating them thru Kobe's age 32 year. They are including ages 33-damn near 40, so of course those extra 6-7 yrs or whatever drop those career "numbers" significantly.