Kobe Bryant: a 5 time NBA champion, 2 time Finals MVP, 1 time regular season MVP, and Olympic gold medalist. Tim Duncan: a 5 time NBA champion, 3 time Finals MVP winner, and 2 time regular season MVP. Both were great players in their respective positions. Both stayed with one team throughout their entire career (although Kobe was technically drafted by Charlotte). They both retired at the end of this past season. 
There are a lot of similarities between the two, and a lot of differences. Kobe was all about the spotlight, and the city he played for, Los Angeles, was all about that too. Duncan was all about avoiding the spotlight, and the city he played for San Antonio, helped him to do so. Kobe was more outspoken and intense in games, while Duncan was more reserved and laid back. 

Who was the better player? One could argue for Kobe because he won the Olympics, scored more points, and went to one more NBA finals than Duncan did. Another could argue for Duncan because he won more Finals MVPs, regular season MVPs, and he was a much better defensive player than Kobe was. Although I'm a huge Spurs fan and I hate Kobe as a player, I have to be objective and acknowledge that Kobe was a slightly better overall player because he could single handedly take over games when he was in his prime. Not that Duncan couldn't do that, but Kobe was just better. If the question is who had the better career, I'd say Duncan though. He made it to the playoffs every year he was in the NBA, unlike Kobe, who basically played on garbage teams in his last few years in the league. 


Who was the better player? Who had the better career? Who would you pick if you were starting a team? Duncan or Kobe? Either way, they're both first ballot Hall of Famers and both top 10 players of all time. 

There's really no straight, solid answer to this......if I had to pick, though, I would go with Tim Duncan.

I'm only saying this because he was more well-rounded than Kobe. Sure, Kobe had more points but what about everything else? How many rebounds did he average in his career? 5.2. With Timmy D the highest is 10.8. Of course shooting guards have never been in the business of getting rebounds (Michael Jordan averaged 6.2 for his career), but this helps prove Tim's reliability.

Moreover, you could always count on Duncan showing up to the playoffs and playing his best, even if the Spurs weren't great collectively. I know it must have sucked to lose Shaq in 2004, but that's no excuse to not to get your team to the playoffs, especially in a season where you average 35.4 POINTS PER GAME.

And that's the really important part here- teammates. When Kobe came onto the Lakers they had Shaq, Derek Fisher, and Byron Scott, each among some of the best players at their respective positions at that time (except Scott, but he was still a good presence). Tim Duncan had....David Robinson. He won a championship with just Robinson. Sure, he did even better with Parker and Ginobli but when this was all he had, he still did great.

There's a lot of cases to make for Kobe, like you said, but I'm gonna go with Tim.