He is considered one of the most complete players in the NBA, has been selected to every All-NBA Team since 1999, and has been featured in the last twelve NBA All-Star games. Sports writers and sports casters have frequently compared Bryant to Michael Jordan, a comparison Bryant dislikes. In 2007, an ESPN poll of sportswriters voted him as the second best shooting guard in NBA history behind Jordan. Bryant is a prolific scorer, averaging 25.3 points per game for his career, along with 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.5 steals as of the end of the 2009-2010 regular seasons. He is known for his ability to create shots for himself and is a standout three-point shooter, sharing the single-game NBA record for three pointers made with twelve.
In 1991, the Fab Five of Michigan University men’s basketball team impacted America’s traditions and morals. These five young, outspoken, rash African Americans not only stormed the court, but the media too. Making Americans question all that they knew, the Fab Five’s “us against the world” attitude and controversial decisions revolutionized basketball, for better or for worse, all while leaving behind a legacy of family and love. Coming off a championship season in 1989, the Michigan Wolverines acquired what is coined to be the best recruiting class in college history. In 1991, Michigan signed five of the nation’s top fifty high school recruits, and thus began the Fab Five era.
There is no doubt this is one of Dwight Howard’s strong points. He led the NBA in blocks in the 2008 and 2009 seasons (Harasymiw 20). He also won the defensive player of the year award in the 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons (Latest Headlines-NBA news. This is something Shaquille O’Neal never accomplished (Latest Headlines-NBA news). Not to say Shaq wasn’t a good defensive player.
His electrifying senior season earned him accolades such as McDonald's All-American and North Carolina's Mr. Basketball to name a couple (JockBio). In the McDonald's All-American game, Paul was teammates with the teenage phenomenon LeBron James. Chris Paul showed the world what type of player he was going to be, collecting ten assists and playing to get his teammates in position to score (Wake Forest: Men's Basketball). His pass-first approach to the game was special in itself, but what separated him as a superstar was his ability to score, as well as see the floor as arguably the best passer on the floor at all times. CP3 is notorious for manufacturing baskets when there seems to be no holes in the defense.
It’s a pretty high bar that has been set, and if you ask me, LeBron is nowhere near it. Towering at 6’8 just two inches taller than Kobe, he was eight time NBA All-Star and was the first Cavalier in franchise history to win the NBA’s most valuable player award. Do you think the Black Mamba is concerned? Nope. The Black Mamba 6’6, a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers since 1996, a span in which the team has won five NBA Championships.
Many believed that people graduating from high school were still kids and were too young to be thrown into such a “grown up” and high profile situation. Few believed he would succeed and felt players “should be required to grow and develop in college the years after they graduate high school to allow them to grow and develop both physically and mentally” (Hilton). This marks the first significant event in the transformation of Kobe Bryant’s public identity in a negative way, and the beginning of Bryant’s path to perseverance. Skip to four years later and to the first NBA championship for Bryant, who was now an all-star, and the Lakers alongside Shaquille O’Neal which silenced any doubt about Bryant’s maturity or work ethic due to his age, changing his public image to a superstar. He now had all the sponsors and fame chasing him along with all the money that comes with it.
(born January 17, 1982) nicknamed Flash or D-Wade, is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat. Awarded 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, Wade has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. He had the top selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two years, as he led the NBA in jersey sales from the 2005 NBA playoffs, until the mid-point of the 2006–07 season. [1] After entering the league as the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade was named to the All-Rookie team and the All-Star team the following eight seasons. In his third season, Wade helped lead the Miami Heat to their first NBA Championship in franchise history.
Phil also played baseball for his highschool team. Phil Jackson is considerd one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. He led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles, and the L.A Lakers had five. Phil Jackson holds the record for most championships in NBA as a player and head coach. Phil won the 1996 NBA coach of the year award.
Spoiled: The Best Two Basketball Players of All Time The sport of basketball was created over a hundred years ago in the year 1891 by Dr. James Naismith at a YMCA where they used peach baskets and soccer balls. Over the past century, basketball has evolved into one of the most popular sports in the world and it has given us some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. We have seen plenty of great players over the years, like Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Wilt Chamberlain, but in my opinion the two best basketball players ever to play the game are Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Watching them play basketball is like watching poetry in motion! I just can not get enough!
Some similarities are they both play professional basketball, both drafted out of high school into the NBA, and both have won Olympic gold medals in 2008. The differences are Kobe has been in the league for 15 years and LeBron for 9 years. Since in the NBA, LeBron has played for two teams and Kobe only one. Nevertheless if these two great athletes played a game against each other, the stats at the end of the game would determine who might be the better player for just that game. People may say LeBron was better because he has more power, better vision, bigger, faster, stronger, and he over powers people.