In a video aired on ESPN, analyst Bill Simmons claims that Duncan is the best player of his generation—better than “Kobe Bryant, [Kevin] Garnett, Shaq—greater than anyone,” Simmons says.
Stop it.
Duncan is arguably the greatest power forward of all time and is, without a shadow of a doubt, a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Sure, he probably was better than Garnett and won more than Shaquille O'Neal, so I’m going to leave those two alone. But Bryant’s legacy I will touch on because, to be frank, it's greatness is far superior to Duncan’s.
Statistically, Bryant has been better—there is no getting around that. He's averaged 25.5 points per game over the course of his 17-year career while appearing in the Finals seven times. He's been on 12 NBA All-Defensive teams and has twice won the scoring title. Probably the most impressive thing about Bryant's career is that he is the fourth-leading scorer in the history of the NBA (via Basketball Reference).
The argument most people make for Duncan is that he has accumulated more accolades than the Black Mamba, but even that isn’t entirely true.
The Big Fundamental has won two MVPs, four rings and three Finals MVP awards in comparison to Bryant’s one MVP, five rings and two Finals MVPs.
Again, I’m not taking anything away from Duncan—Bryant has better career averages in points per game, but Duncan has him beat in shooting percentage. While Bryant is superior in assists (barely), Duncan bests him in rebounding. They play different positions, so stats like assists and rebounds can’t be given too much emphasis.
Duncan is a great player—but to say that he is better than Bryant is outrageous.
