Maybe you are just basing your opinion on his last few years in the NBA when he was not fully healthy anymore, when he was still young I love to watch him play with Gasol, Odom, and Fisher and this 3 are just an average player but they reach the NBA finals many times.
He deserved the credit, he was able to market the Lakers due to his popularity and one of the best player in the NBA, in terms of being clutch, I guess you cannot question him in that area.
Obviously Kobe has more rings that Lebron so in overall it was Kobe who is better than Lebron but now that Lebron is still playing, he still have a chance to surpass the accomplishment of Kobe Bryant. Anyway, here's a good site that tells the comparison of the two
http://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/kobe_bryant_vs_lebron_james.htm
The ring argument is the worst argument of all time. Don't bring that here please. Kobe has more rings because he has had shaq on his team(who was by far the better laker than Kobe). Look at Kobe's stats, they are just average, thats it. He is still a good player, probably around 45th-50th overall in NBA History. Lebron is probably a top 10 player, they aren't equal.