Career wise it’s Kobe. Kobe maintained an MVP level prime for about as long as Bird was in the league period.
this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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What a dumb take “Mvp level” How many mvps do each of them have?
Cap, kobe had maybe 10 years close to league mvp level. However, bird in mvp voting finished in the top 2 for 8 years straight. Blatant cap
Kobe was MVP level from 2000-01 to 2012-13. That's 13 years ...
Longevity suddenly doesn't matter in this sub when Kobe is brought up
I don't care for reddit opinions either way but the fact that a 1 word answer like kobe gets down voted to not even showing is disrespect. I hate the Kobe slander but it's the easiest name to slander in basketball of all the legends, once ESPN started Kobe bashing about 8 years ago to boost LeBron then fans jumped right along with it. ESPN didn't even put Kobe top 10 TIL AFTER HE DIED 😂
Daily reminder that he's 4th in total points and would have almost 100% passed Kareem if he didn't snap his Achilles.
Only one is a top 10 player of all time and it isn't Kobe.
It isn't bird
lol come on. Bird is for sure a top 10 player. butt hurt laker fans I tell ya.
Bird is mad overrated, just look at how he plays, hella unathletic and played against far less talented and athetic players compared to Kobe.
Yeah bird just played against bums like Magic, Kareem, and Jordan.
Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Adrian Dantley, Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Dennis Rodman, Bernard King, Isiah,Thomas, Joe Dumars, Sidney Moncrief, Reggie Miller, Bob Lanier, Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, Jack Sikma, Bob McAdoo, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, etc.
All of these players are in the Hall of Fame and played against Bird in the Eastern Conference during his career.
Sooo you gonna back that up with….well any sort of evidence? How’s someone “hella unathletic” gonna drop 40+ with their non-dominant hand? 🤡-ass take right here.
I would argue bird has the better defense even if it dis not result to more recognition. Guy was good and grittier, he just was not eye poppingly athletic.
Bird and Bird
And for skills, bird wasn't a bad defender. He's also a significantly better passer and a tenacious rebounder. For a volume scorer his efficiency is pretty elite where Kobe's wasn't.
Bird had like the highest peaks anyone had. Only MJ and maybe Walton came close/as far, but this also is a hard question. His 3 and a half seasons before his injury, it’s maybe the best basketball has ever seen
r/nba would pick jaylen brown over Kobe.
Blatantly false
Wft are you talking about since last Heat/Celtics series everyone is shiting on Jalen constantly
The Great White Hope, every day and twice on Sunday.
Bird peaked higher, same tier of greatness imo
If you focus on "peak" rather than longevity, Larry Bird has a case for Top 5 all time. It's Larry.
If you only look at career, you could argue Larry is #6 right now.
Kobe EZ
Bird was the best player on the team the moment he got in there. Unfortunately, Kobe was not. His story was good though. But he is not at Bird’s level. Despite Bird having McHale and Parish, those two were also not at the level of Shaq. Shaq was the most dominant force in the NBA in his prime.
Better with ethic 😂😂😂😂
Bird & Bird
I love Kobe, but Larry Bird is one of 3 players not named michael Jordan that If there was an all time league draft and you had to draft a team that would win the championship among all timers and someone took him pick 1 i probably wouldn’t scoff at
If I was making an all time starting 5 I'd take KD over him. Not really relevant to the question though.
You underrate Bird's work ethic and defense. Read Jackie McCollum's books on Bird and Magic.
Bird > Kobe by a lot
I became a NBA fan in 1999 and have been a huge fan since then. I’m not qualified for this convo bc I didn’t watch Bird play live and haven’t spent the hundreds of hours watching game film necessary to truly analyze his game
I have bird slightly ahead. Kobe's longevity isn't enough.
- Beat the most 50+ win teams in NBA history
- Second most points scored in a single game
- 3rd most consecutive 50+ point games in NBA history
- Carried Olympic team to a gold medal
- 5x NBA Champion on a three-peat, dragged a squad with no all-stars to repeat
- 2x Finals MVP
- 1x MVP
- 2x Scoring Champ
- 9x All-Defense First
- 3x All-NBA Second
- 18x NBA All Star
Bean.
All day, every day.
Bird is my guy though. Was a killer.
Yes
I got Kobe 4th and bird 11th.
I’ll take the guy who has 2 Finals MVP.
Bird’s peak was higher but he retired before I was born. I actually watched Kobe play and his longevity is impressive. Before his injury in 2013 he was still a top 3 player at age 35. So I guess I’d say Bird was the better player but Kobe had a better career
Bird without question.