Shaq vs. Kobe - You thought the debate was over? Think again.

Shaq or Kobe? The debate’s not dead just yet.

Really? It’s not? You’re saying to yourself, this guy is a complete and utter moron, how can he be asking this still now? I was so tired of hearing about this five years ago, and you’re asking this now?

Ok, back to reality, yes, Kobe is by far the superior player now. But think about this one, I’m not going to go as far as to say the NBA is fixed, but out of all the major professional sports, it’s the one that I’ve questioned the integrity of most, even before the whole Tim Donaghy debacle.

I am a Cavs fan and now I’ll probably be called a conspiracy theorist, which I’m not, but I think this is definitely food for thought. If you’re David Stern, not only would the Lakers winning be ok with you because Los Angeles is a major market, arguably a top three star in your league in Kobe Bryant would get another ring, and Kobe would get his first ring without Shaq. Of course this has been talked about over and over, Kobe has gotten all three of his rings with Shaq, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But if this happens, it opens up a whole other Pandora’s Box. This doesn’t mean that Kobe has equaled Shaq, and it doesn’t mean Shaq is better than Kobe in terms of who’s had the better career, and who was more of a contributing factor to each other’s rings. It will open up the great debate again. Ok, they each got four (assuming the Lakers win it all of course), but since Shaq had D-Wade back in ’06, does that mean the one Kobe got without Shaq is greater than the one Shaq got without Kobe? Did Kobe have an easier path along to his Shaq-less ring because half of the Rockets roster was out by the end of the Western Conference semifinals and because the Nuggets weren’t quite ready for primetime yet?

Although it wouldn’t be the sole basis used to compare Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, or any two players for that matter, I thought it would be interesting to look at the stats from when everything was on the line: The NBA Finals. I feel that this is where the most stock should be put in when comparing great player to great player.

Hit me with the digits! During the 2006 NBA Finals, it would be a safe bet without looking to guess that Shaquille O‘Neal was the second leading scorer for the Heat, right? You would have been really close, but wrong nonetheless. Antoine Walker averaged 13.8 points per game, while Shaquille O’Neal averaged 13.7. Dwyane Wade’s points per game in the 2006 NBA Finals? 34.7! This would make it a no-brainer to say Kobe‘s legacy is now superior right? To quote Alf look-alike Lee Corso, “not so fast my friends!”

Let’s look at some numbers from the three NBA Finals Kobe and Shaq won together in Los Angeles. In 2000 vs. the Indiana Pacers, the Lakers prevailed in six games. Now Kobe Bryant was dealing with an ankle injury at the time, and even missed a game in the Finals. So it’s a little un-fair to compare the two during this particular year, but to not mention Shaq’s video game-like numbers would be a crime. In six games of the 2000 NBA Finals, Shaq averaged 38 points per game and 16.6 rebounds per game. He also had three games of 40 points or more, and two games grabbing over 20 boards. Kobe Bryant in that same series, averaged 15.6 ppg and 4.6 rebounds per game.

Now let’s take a look at the 2001 NBA Finals. The Lakers won in five games over the Philadelphia 76ers. Here are the numbers plain and simple, in five games Shaq averaged 33 ppg and 15 rpg while Kobe averaged 24 ppg and 7 rpg in those same five games. Kobe definitely contributed significantly more compared to the 2000 Finals, but once again the edge goes to Shaq.

Onto the 2002 NBA Finals. The Lakers (yawning) swept the New Jersey Nets, four games to nothing. Notice a pattern here? The Lakers got stronger each year, allowing their opponents two, then one, then zero wins in the finals in that order. Here is the big guy from LSU’s contribution that year in the Finals: 36 ppg, 12 rpg. Here is the player that used to wear #8’s stamp on the 2002 Finals: 26 ppg, 5 rpg. Not too shabby, but not quite Shaqqy.

Fast forward to the 2004 NBA Finals. If you saw this one playing out the way it did, then you are the winning lottery ticket and everyone else is the odds you’d get that ticket. The upstart Detroit Pistons knocked off the Lakers in only five games. Despite the Laker dominance coming to a quick, lethal injection like death (they did win one game), let’s look at the numbers: in five games Shaq averaged 26 points and 10 boards, while Kobe contributed 22 and 2 in the ‘04 Finals. Shaq’s scoring dropped this series, but Kobe’s did too compared to ‘02, but their scoring was obviously similar. Shaq still has a slight edge, but Kobe’s rebounding was way down. Two rebounds a game for Kobe this series? That sounds like he wasn’t even trying to get them. Finals production scoreboard, Shaq 4, Kobe 0.

One last comparison. I’m going to look at each players Finals stats when they no longer were on the same team, which would be Shaq’s Heat in the ‘06 Finals, as I touched on briefly earlier in the column, and the ‘08 Finals where the Lakers lost to the Celtics. As mentioned earlier, Shaq, in six games of the ‘06 NBA Finals averaged 13.7 points per game, but also grabbed 10.2 boards a game. In the 2008 NBA Finals, which the Lakers lost in six games, Kobe Bryant averaged 25.6 points a game and 4.6 rebounds per game. Advantage Kobe, but at the time of the ‘08 Finals, Kobe was 29, and in the ‘06 Finals, Shaq was 34.

If you just looked at these numbers it would seem clear that Shaq was the bigger contributor to his championship teams, thus also the better player of the two. If you took Kobe off of the Lakers, they probably still win all three titles that they did with him, if you take Shaq off the Lakers, they probably don’t beat Indiana, but you could argue they would still beat Philadelphia and New Jersey. But you also have to ask yourself this…who would you rather have taking a last second shot to win a game? Would you lob it into Shaq with just a few seconds left knowing he’s probably going to be fouled and go to the line with a career 52.8 free throw percentage?

The answer is Kobe, and hell no. But that’s what makes this debate still relevant, there really isn’t a clear choice. In my opinion Shaq has had the better career and will leave the greater legacy up to this day. Shaq helped to mold the Kobe Bryant hype machine, Shaq was the MJ and Kobe was the Pippen of the Lakers, which still drives Kobe today. Shaq was possibly the most intimidating physical specimen there has ever been in the NBA. At the same time, I would want the ball in Kobe’s hands (now) at the end of the game, even if Shaq was in his prime at the same time, but chances are without Shaq’s aggressive and physical play in the trenches the game probably wouldn’t be close at the end giving Kobe that chance for that highlight reel game winning J.

But that’s the thing, this creates an endless debate and brings more attention to the NBA, to one of it’s most popular franchise’s that happens to be in a huge market, to two of the NBA’s arguably most popular players of the last twenty years, and any extra attention is a good thing if you’re David Stern. He loves him some Lakers, don’t kid yourself if you think he doesn’t care who wins, and who‘s getting the most publicity. It was a week and a half long orgasm for him last year when the Celtics and Lakers matched up in the Finals, and a debate like this could last just as long, if not longer. What could be better in the heart of the Major League Baseball season then a little extra pub for the NBA?

It would be like implementing a new worldwide marketing campaign for the NBA without having to do any work. One thing that can’t be debated though if this happened, David Stern would be a happy man.