Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 at 2:51 pm  |  71 responses

Kobe Bryant: Roy over Durant

by Ryne Nelson

While many of you have been discussing (with utmost civility, of course) the No. 1 and 2 rankings in this year’s SLAMonline Top 50, another debate has been started.

Kobe Bryant was asked who the toughest player for him to guard in the Western Conference on the John Thompson Show the other day. This was Kobe’s response:

“Roy 365 days, seven days a week. Roy has no weaknesses in his game.”

Is this a diss on the 2010 scoring champion? No. While casual fans see Durant as a face of the League and Roy as an oft-injured, not-quite-elite player, NBA players clearly have enormous respect for him and his game.

Kobe clearly values ‘complete’ players. Looking solely at weak points, Roy would have an upper hand. And it’s true Roy has had his success one-on-one with Kobe, which certainly is another highly valued offensive talent in Kobe’s mind.

Kobe’s displayed some serious Brandon Roy man-love for some time. And, in this writer’s eyes, this was not a slight toward Durant. Roy may not have weaknesses, but surely 21-year-old Kevin Durant is cut from a different cloth.

But game does recognize game.

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  • hendry

    i say roy’s weakness is that he’s cant really play without the ball in his hands (ask andre miller). if he can learn to play off the ball more he would be impossible to guard.

  • dfortruth

    Kobe was asked, who is the toughest player for him to guard in the western conference. Kobe answered B. Roy. What’s the problem? Shouldn’t Kobe be the only one to tell us who is the toughest player for him to guard?

    Damn Kobe haters here.

  • http://kb24.com DreXnaW21

    Kobe = SG
    Durant = SF
    of course Kobe would mention BRoy cuz DWade is East, Artest is the one guarding Durant smh

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    COSIGN 100%

  • dma

    in today’s NBA, is there really that much of a difference btwn a SG and a SF? ?

  • dc

    i personally hate how a player gets big and suddenly everyone hates him…
    everybody hates on kobe cuz he dominates now theyre moving on to durant because hes the future star of the league
    just enjoy the game guys u dont need to diss on evry player

  • rich

    ??kobe is at least above average on defense. he uses a lot of energy on offense so he cant sustain it for a whole game but when hes locked in he plays angles well and may not have the lebron style of ” im gonna cut u off everywhere” but he makes u go where u dont want to go like bruce bowen used to do to him.

  • JD

    Kinda understand that Kobe as a great defender finds it easier to guard Durant cos Durant does have a weaknessish for his standard whilst Roy is good at everything

  • Ryan Knox

    Kobe is just mad cuz Durant has took his spot.Kobe is not a top 3 player no more he is a top 10 player.Id take Durant any day over Roy

  • http://www.glidehoyas.blogspot.com Kent

    Roy is a better fit with the Lakers i’m sure this is what Kobe mean, please know the game!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    I seen KD pull some pretty nice passes lately, hopefully this is him expanding his game. But yea, the ONLY knock I have on Roy is that he never gets to play a full season.

  • http://gregoden.com roybot

    People just look at the stats and say Roy is exactly like Joe Johnson rate him as a player by his stats, but if you actually watch Blazer games you will see all the intangibles that make Roy so unique as a player.

  • bradley

    KD is the youngest scoring champ ever, younger than KOBE, WILT, MIKE. Yall are hating,
    btw you have to be on the court to be a tough matchup something ROY cant do, maybe if he took better care of himself hed be on the court more. Great players yall are hatting on KD to hard

  • bradley

    LOL at the DONNEL” -first of all kobe doesn’t guard the lbj’s, wades, and durants (or, at least, until the closing minutes of the 4th when they are tired and then he will ‘take over’ from ron)- whats your point? i dnt think you play much basketball. During a game sometimes you gotta switch on the play for whatever reason, I no this is hard for you to take in but just something to think about. LOL to you portland fans who think injuries are all about luck

  • jwood

    Brandon Roy > Kevin Durrant… NOT A QUESTION AT ALL.

  • http://google c_cantrell

    uhh he doesnt guard KD so y is are yal makin it sound like he is dissin him? he guards roy

  • marc

    I find what Kobe is saying agreeable but can someone please explain to me how kevin durant is hyped if he is a proven scorer?

  • boomagoo

    i believe ron artest said the same thing about Brandon Roy after the rockets played the blazers in the playoffs. it is a shame that the media doesn’t bother with anything on the west coast that isn’t laker related.

  • Rojo85

    First Ron Artest said it, not Kobe Bryant is saying it; Brandon Roy is the toughest guy in the league for either one of them to guard. Nobody said that Durant was a bad player… in fact, nobody even mentioned his name. For the haters to say that Durant is way better than Roy is just an uninformed opinion. If the Blazers had as much media exposure as OKC then people would see what a great player Roy is. Roy would average 30 on the Thunder too if Durant weren’t there. They don’t have much else to work with after Durant.

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » A Million and One Questions

  • Pingback: ClipperBlog.com Blog for the Los Angeles NBA Clippers Fans » Blog Archive » What about Brandon Roy?

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