Kyrie Irving has admitted that he has a “Mamba Mentality” before, and LeBron James is just as dominant in today’s game as Shaquille O’Neal was in his day. Could you compare LeBron and Kyrie to Shaq and Kobe? Recently, Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coach Tyronn Lue made this comparison.
From Kevin Ding of BleacherReport:
“It’s like it’s the same,” Lue said. “Shaq was already established and was older than Kobe, and he was the most dominant player in the league. And Kobe was always striving to be better—to be the best player ever. That was his goal.
“After winning the championship last year, Kyrie had the chance to go win the gold medal. Coming back this year, you can tell he’s really worked on his game—and he’s worked on his body. He wants to take that next step. He’s very capable of doing it.”
It is also worth mentioning that Tyronn Lue played with Shaq and Kobe, and now he coaches LeBron and Kyrie. If he can see the comparison, it is likely there. Kyrie is like Kobe in that he wants to be the best player in the league, and LeBron and Shaq are comparable because they are both extremely dominant forces.
