Can we agree that? MJ's defense > Kobe's defense MJ's offense > Kobe's offense MJ's hype > Kobe's rape charges
Of course not: Pippen never had to be benched in crunch time for being a liability on the free throw line. I'd argue that Pippen makes up for his offensive output vs Shaq with his court awareness and defense. Kobe may have never won anything without Shaq, but Jordan never won anything without Pippen either. Just because Pippen didn't average 30 and 10 doesn't mean Jordan didn't need him to get his rings.
As much as it hurts, probably only Rockets fans think Dream is better than Shaq. But at least Dream kicked his ass in the finals.
Shaq won a championship without Kobe. How many championships have Pippen won without Jordan? Comparing Pippen to Shaq is an insult to the best player in the game since Michael Jordan.
I love Scottie more than most people, but he was not a game-changer like Shaq was. Well, he was a game changer....but his impact wasn't as big as Shaq's. Sorry.....
I'm not a Kobe hater, in fact I've defended him many times on various boards. He's a truly stunning basketball player and is THE BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME right now. But to say he's better than MJ is pure stupidity, atleast at this point. The fact is MJ was a better player in nearly every facet of the game than Kobe... Post Up Game- MJ was a tremendous player down in the post.According to Tex Winter, he was actually the best post-up player on the Bulls during their title run. Kobe's post up game is very refined but he never got to use it much until Shaq left. Bottomline- Kobe's Post Up game is solid, but MJ's was on another level Mid-Range Game- This is very close. Kobe has a tremendous mid-range game. He can hit it from about anywhere and at anytime. He's probably got the best mid-range game in the NBA right now. But the MJ of the late 90's and 2nd Title Run had arguably the best mid-range game in NBA history. His fadeaway jumper is consistently placed among the Top 5 moves of All-Time. It was nearly impossible to block considering the fact that he elevated so high and he was falling back as he was shooting. Bottomline- Kobe's is tremendous here, but MJ had arguably the best Mid-Range Game Ever Long-Range (3Pt) Game- Kobe's a very good shooter, better than Jordan. This is where Kobe has his biggest edge. While MJ had a great jumpshot and mid-range game, he rarely shot from 3 and wasn't nearly as consistent as Kobe. Bottomline- Kobe shot more 3's than MJ, and is a much more consistent long range shooter Athleticism- I'm sorry but these analysts who say Kobe was/is just as athletic as MJ are on something. Maybe he was on the same level athletically as the late 90's Jordan during the 2nd title run, but the Jordan from the late 80's and early 90's was on a different level alltogether. If you've forgotten some of the things MJ could do then head over to Youtube and watch some videos. Young Jordan could do things that no one else has ever thought of. I'll admit that Kobe's the more creative dunker, but Jordan was on another level athletically. Bottomline-Kobe's got a nice vert but Jordan had UPS (not the delivery service) Defense- Jemele Hill is a r****d if she thinks Kobe's defense is even remotely in the vicinity of MJ's. MJ was a deadly defender who won the DPOY one year and was a consistent 1st team defender. Kobe is one of the more overrated defenders in the game today. According to some of the stats on 82games.com he's actually a below average defender. Sure Kobe's been on the 1st team defense a handful of times, but how much of that was because of his name? If the stats from 82games are right, Kobe is extremely overrated on D. Bottomline: MJ is EASILY a better defender than Kobe. Not even close... Leadership- MJ takes this easy, it isn't even worth much discussion. Everyone who played with him said that he was the best leader they've ever played with. Kobe's gotten nowhere as the leader of his team. If he wins another title as the main option, then it will become a discussion. Bottomline- MJ takes this with ease Kobe's playing absolutely stunning basketball lately. We just saw the other day how good he could be. He might not win the MVP this year, but he has clearly established himself as the best player in the game. Personally, I don't even think it's close. Sure some people might say a healthy D-Wade or a motivated LeBron are better, but I don't think either of them have the complete game that Kobe possesses. With all this being said I still don't think it's a valid discussion to compare Kobe to MJ. First of all, Kobe's still got a long way to go to finish up his career. Maybe 5 years from now it'll be a good discussion, but as of right now it's not. MJ was the best player of All-Time and was a better player than Kobe.
Kobe is not as good defensively, and his all round game is not as good as Jordans. Kobe is almost one dimensional. He is a better scorer than Jordan, but certainly he is not a better all around player. The biggest difference is Jordans ability to lead far surpasses Kobes. Besides scoring 53 on 44 shots is not that impressive.
This whole "is Kobe better than MJ" bull**** is really getting old. anyone who has seen either of them play knows that Jordan was a thousand times better than Bryant. Jordan was not only one of the best offensive players every year, he was also one of the best defensive players every year; something that Kobe Bryant has never been. Jordan also made his team mates better; he had a lot of guys on the Bulls championship teams which were not very good but he made them look good. Kobe isn't even close to being able to do that, with him the guys who suck all still look like they suck. Jordan at least made Jud Buchler look good.
I actually think a better comparison is to Bernard King.....with better D. Bernard Kings best year: Pts 32.9 53% Ast 3.7 Reb 5.8 Kobe Bryants best year: Pts 31.2 46% Ast 5.3 Reb 5.7 Think Bernard had a better team? Hardly! Pat Cummings, Darrel Walker, Louis Orr, and Rory Sparrow.....haven't heard of em?!? Shock! I hate Jordan....HATE him, but he was so much better than Kobe is that its laughable to argue it.
GO ahead and compare their scoring averages and tell me that Kobe is a better scorer. Then just for kicks, go look up the career playoff ppg averages and tell me Kobe is a better scorer. For all his faults as a person, Jordan was unstopable on the court and he was even more crazy about winning then Kobe, who is yet to win a playoff series without Shaq.
Even if you forget how much better Jordan was then Bryant is, and you just look at the stats. Has Bryant ever averaged: 32 points 8 rebounds 8 assists 2.9 steals Fg% .538
I'm only gonna post once in this thread... To put it in perspective, lets use PER. Jordan averaged an amazing 27.9 PER throughout his career. Kobe is currently averaging 23.2. Jordan, in his best year, had a PER of 31.7 and had over 31 for consecutive years. Kobe has surpassed Jordan's career PER exactly once...this year. For those doubting Jordan's scoring prowess...if Kobe played for 5 more years (assuming a career as long as Jordan's), he would need to average 42.5 ppg to match Jordan's ppg for his career...and he would need to shoot at 58.9% from the field to match Jordan's career FG%.
Not that I'm defending Kobe here, but he did come in right after HS. If you throw out the stats from a couple of those early years, it would look a little different. OK, I'll go ahead and do the math... if you take out his first three seasons (7.6, 15.4, and 19.9), that moves his ppg from 23.9 to 27.6. A big difference, but still not close to Jordan's 33.4. Also, Jordan had 11 seasons where he averaged over 28 ppg and so far Kobe has 4 (counting this year). Jordan averaged above 30 for 12 of his 13 years in the playoffs while Kobe has averaged above 30 once in 9 tries.
Kobe *may* be the scorer Jordan was. Kobe is not the leader Jordan was. Kobe is not the defender Jordan was. Kobe is not as good a team player as Jordan ended up. In a fight Jordan would kick Kobe's ass... and that's all that matters!
funny.... reading all the post... I am still waiting for a guy to come out and say… “yes I watched Jordan play” but Kobe is a better all around player… I have been blessed to be able to watch both players from the beginning of their careers… I hated Jordan…mainly because he was between the teams I cheered for and their Championship hopes… I also hate Kobe because he is part of the show time Lakers… and the Lakers jugernaught But like most have said… Kobe may have a better offensive package…if scoring points… with out taking into account FG% is the only criteria… But Jordan had a better overall package… better defensively… his ability to impose his will onto a game was 2nd to none….
