The Battle of The Lakers Guards: Kobe Or Jerry?

The dazzling Lakers is one of the most successful team in sports history. It has garnered 15 championships and has produced all time greats to ever play the game of basketball.

From the original BIG THREE, Wilt, Jerry and Elgin, to the showtime Lakers with Magic, Kareem, Cooper,Worthy,and McAdoo,to the Shaq/Kobe Duo, and to its more recent years the Gasol/Kobe duo. As you can see the Lakers were and are blessed with great players, but who is the best guard in Lakers franchise history?

The two that stands-out from the rest for me are Kobe Bryant and Jerry West.

Jerry West played in the 60/70's and had made a total of nine trips to the NBA Finals winning one finals MVP becoming the only player in NBA history to win one in a losing effort and one Championship. He is already a Hall of Famer and is one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

At the end of his 14 year career he has had a total of 25,192 points, 5,366 rebounds and 6,238 assists. West also was awarded with numerous awards including 14 all-star selection, 10+ all nba first teams,three+ nba all defensive teams, and named 1972 NBA all-star MVP.

Kobe Bryant didn't go to college and went directly to the NBA. He was criticized for that transition, but proved his critics wrong time and time again. Kobe has had a total of 6 trips to the finals winning four out of the six times. He was named finals MVP in the recent win he had where the Lakers beat the Orlando Magics in five games.

He has had a regular season MVP, and three all-star MVP's during his 13 year career. Kobe has also been in the all NBA first team 7 straight times the same with all NBA defensive team. Also, Kobe is only 30 years old turning 31 next season and has a championship caliber team that has the potential to produce a repeat.

Reading this you could argue for both Jerry and Kobe to who has had the a better career thus far. But for me,I would take Kobe over Jerry. Kobe is just more skilled athletically and in my opinion a better shooter and ball-handler. Kobe winning 4 times in the NBA finals as to Jerry's one out of nine attempts was also a big factor into choosing Kobe over Jerry.

So if you had a chance to choose Kobe or Jerry in your team,which one would you want? Tell me your reasoning if you agree or disagree with this article.