How did those guys play without Jordan? Rodman, he was good, I'll give you that, but even Pippen is overrated by many people, he was a much worse player without Michael. Grant was good, but he, cartwright, Paxson were not near the level of Lamar Odom. Kerr, was not a very good player. A great shooter, and a clutch player yes, but as a whole, nothng more than an average bench player. What exactly did Kucok do without Jordan? Those were good role players and Michael made them much better than they already were
I am neither fan for Jordan or Kobe but I think Jordan is better. How many championship Kobe brought to the Laker compare to Jordan?
Until Kobe starts winning titles without a guy named Shaq, then MJ will always be better than Kobe. Whoever thinks Kobe is better, probably either too young or never got to watch MJ tear up the NBA aside from highlight reels and documentaries. Like Kobe, MJ started off selfish and just wanted to score a lot. Then Jordan matured, became addicted to winning and never looked back. Jordan's scoring ability might be matched, but his mentality will never be matched or duplicated. I wouldn't say Jordan won with scrubs, but he got it done with sub-par talent. Jordan made all those guys better. And once MJ left, those guys did nothing aside from Kerr hitting a big shot for the Spurs. That shows you just how great MJ really was at the time. It's just like Hakeem. I hate it when people say Hakeem won it with scrubs. Like Jordan, Hakeem was surrounded by very good role player who knew their job.
Is Kobe better than Jordan? HELL YES! ..that is, if we're talking about current Kobe vs 42 yr old Jordan
Scottie Pippen's post-Jordan misadventures have forever ruined his legacy. Say what you will about him personally (don't get me wrong, he is a douchebag), but before his back went out he was a hell of a player. 1993 Bulls 57-25 1994 Bulls 55-27 Sub-par teams do not win 50 games after losing their MVP. Kobe may have had Shaq, but Jordan always had Pippen, good-to-great rebounders (Grant/Rodman), world-class marksmen (Paxson/Kerr), and decent defensive and role players to cover for him.
Well... nothing except for: 2-time Olympic games silver medalist World ch'ship winner (and bronze medalist) 2-time Eurobasket winner (also 2-time bronze medalist) 3-time Euroleague winner Named Euroscar (European basketball's 'Oscar') 5 times. BTW it's spelled Kukoc. QFT
he is nowhere NEAR Jordan on the defensive end of the ball. i think they're so similar on the offensive end that it's a wash there. i'm no Jordan lover. i think he's vastly overrated because he was so marketable. but Kobe isn't close to being the kind of defensive player Jordan was.
did you even read the post you quoted? they won 55 games and made the second round and were a controversial call (not that they didn't deserve one after all the calls jordan got) from going to the conference finals. if we win every game for the rest of the year, we'll have 56 wins, and we may or may not make the second round, and we're pretty damn good. so the bulls w/o jordan were that good. i would say i just don't get how this is overlooked so much, but i do b/c it wouldn't look good for mj. you mean like that year he finished 2nd in the mvp voting? i guess that means he won the mvp every year he played with mj? no, not really. grant went to the ASG in 1994. odom has never been to one. guys who are absolute money from 3-land are very valuable, especially on a team that can get them open shots. look at luther head, he can't do anything but shoot and he shoots about 7 or 8% worse than kerr, and he's still valuable to us. i don't know, but he was a very versatile offensive player who could shoot 3's, take guys off the dribble, and was an excellent passer. and he was a 6th man on their teams. the biggest reason mj couldn't win in 95 wasn't rust, it was the fact that the bulls lost horace grant and hadn't yet replaced him w/ an all-nba defender and best rebounder of his generation power forward.
Exactly. I'd take the post father's death/baseball/retirement MJ over Kobe. That said,Kobe is a "special player" and is carving his own place in history. It's just not in the same stratosphere as MJ.
You obviously weren't old enough to watch Michael Jordan play. You probably think Shaq is better than Hakeem. Stick to your XBOX 360, but even on a video game, Jordan would thrash Kobe and pull up on him for a winning jumper after picking him clean on the defensive end.
i'm 32. i was alive. i think jordan was overhyped, as well. i think he is among the greatest to play...the hype suggests he's far and away the greatest player ever. that's overhyped in my book.
offensive skills wise...Kobe is def. in the same level as Jordan IMO...no other NBA player come close to jordan besides kobe...no lebron,wade... as an overall player, jordan still has the edge and as far as the impact of a player goes...jordan is way ahead of kobe.
To say that Kobe isn't nothing without Shaq...the same argument can be said that Jordan isn't nothing without Pippen. Of course, I'd like to make the broader argument that without Shaq and key role players with key shots (i.e. Ron Harper, Robert Horry, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox), Kobe wouldn't have anything JUST LIKE how Jordan wouldn't have anything without Pippen and key role players with key shots (i.e. Paxson, Rodman, Armstrong, Kerr). Jordan literally MADE the NBA into what it is today. Sure Larry and Magic brought it back from the dead, but Jordan gave the sport global appeal. He's the reason for the shoe endorsements, the massive contracts, and pretty much everything in the NBA. But if you take away all of the non-statistical accolades Kobe compares favorable to MJ. I don't even have to look it up that Jordan was a more superior defender than Kobe is right now. Jordan actually played hard on both sides of the court. Kobe, only when a challenge presents itself (like guarding McGrady last night), does he rise to the occasion. Offensively, Kobe is about the closest complete player you have to compare with against Jordan. Is Kobe better than Jordan overall? No because Jordan was also an intimidating on defense as well. Is Kobe on the level of Jordan in terms of offensive abilities? I think this is where you have to give credit where credit's due.
Jordan never won by himself...the notion that he carried the team single handedly is ridiculous. The talent around him was very good...and as shown, the Bulls, without Jordan, were still winning 55 games. Obviously, the team had very, very good talent to be able to pull that off. Take Kobe away from the Lakers and they win 25-30. Now, do I think Kobe is better than Jordan? No, but the gap is closing and Kobe deserves some props for doing what he's doing.
LOL, I am 25. Sorry for misspelling the guy's name, it seems like some of you take this message board thing a little too seriously. The debate on whether one player is better than an another is a subjective argument. Everyone will have a different opinion… By the way it's kinda difficult to compare Shaq and Hakeem, their skills were so different.
no prob, debate is good. but for those of us that are old enough to have seen MJ in the early years to his prime (an he had a long prime) and also to have seen Kobe and these other upstarts play, I feel that there isn't anyway that Kobe can be discussed in the MJ stratosphere yet. I don't think its difficult to compare 2 dominant centers like Hakeem and Shaq because of a difference in skills. But maybe you are right. No comparisons are needed since Shaq himself admitted Hakeem was the game's best center.
