Old vs. New

Got my first follower! Woohoo! Even if it is my brother (thanks Chad!) doesn't everything start small? I don't know how long I'll keep this up or if I'll always have something worth talking about, but I just want to have fun with it. And with that said onto the sports! With the NBA, PGA, NCAA BB, and even NASCAR on today if you're watching What Chilli Wants on VH1 then you need to be shot. I was trying to determine where I actually wanted to go with this blog today when it came to me while watching the Lakers vs. the Thunder. The NBA is always really good at scheduling which games to put on TV, and one of the themes this year seems to be the young guns vs. the old guard.  Kobe vs. Durant. The Celtics big 3 vs. Miami's big 3. So with all of these match-ups it begs the question of who is better? If you want to judge by just pure athleticism then it would be the younger generation of stars. There is no way Kobe or Paul Pierce could keep up with the younger legs of Durant and LeBron. So how is that both of the old guy's teams happen to have better records than the young ones? I think to answer this we need look no further than Kobe's career. When Shaq was traded from the Lakers the team effectively became Kobe's. Kobe was still young, athletic, and had done a good job of avoiding the injury bug for the good part of his career. Bryant became the most feared scorer in the league. He could drill a shot from anywhere on the court and then dunk on your head at a moments notice. During this span of ridiculous scoring (Anyone who watched Kobe's 81 point game will never forgot how amazing it was. For both the large number of points and the extreme ball hogging which will probably never be matched unless we can clone a young Wilt Chamberlain.) Kobe's team had some of the worst records of his career. It took him years to learn that it is not about averaging 30 points a game. In order to win you have to be unselfish, make your teammates better, and manage your body. While Kobe only slightly did the first two he probably is the best at the third. He has completely changed his game in order to prolong his career. He added a whole new repertoire of skills in order to not have to exert his body as much. When the playoffs role around Kobe will probably have fresher legs than any of the younger guys and that is how the playing field becomes evened. If there was a one game for my life and I had to pick a player I would pick LeBron, but if there was one game for my life after an 82 game season I would pick Bryant. With the original big 3 it is simple. They are better than Miami's big 3 because they follow the first two rules of how to win. They are unselfish and they all make each other better. Miami tries to be unselfish, but anyone who has watched them this season can get a feel that it just isn't natural. They are trying to force it. With Boston there is no forcing it. With a last second shot Boston will simply draw up a play and whoever ends up with the best percentages will take the shot.  With Miami there is no one who wants to take the shot. LeBron has passed away wide open 3's at the end of the game. If Miami can stop caring about what people will think about them they will be an unstoppable force. Until then Boston will continue to be the only big 3 in my book.