Kobe Bryant Isn't Michael Jordan, but He's At Least Clyde Drexler

Well, they both played SG. Yes, their numbers are similar. Besides that, it is really hard to compare the two... they have different physical gifts and different styles of play. Not to mention quite different personalities. You can speculate about where one belongs on the list of all-time SGs, but to say one is like the other seems ridiculous to me. It's sort of like comparing Moses to Dream or Stockton to Zeke.

 

really how about better overall athletes and zone defenses?

 

Clyde's jumper is ugly.

Kobe has the better J.

 

I'll tell you who Kobe really is....



....or....



...or....

 

Uh, may you rot in heck if that happens and they also ship WALTON this way, sir.

 

Because he is a faker or underachiever.

 

Drexler never played with anyone close to as good as Gasol until he got to the Rockets.

 

great points.. kobe is kobe.. clyde was one of the greats... both are HOF.. both have different styles of play

 

Kobe likes it. So we are just doing him a service.

The two guys have very little in common other than both play SG and both are tremendous athletes.

Shooting: Kobe >>> Clyde
Scoring: Kobe >> Clyde
Finishing: Kobe = Clyde
Defense: Kobe = Clyde (in different ways)
Running/open court game: Kobe << Clyde (Kobe is kind of like T-Mac in this regard. He just doesn't run. Clyde, however, ran in every opportunity)
Court vision/passing: Kobe << Clyde
Rebounding: Kobe < Clyde
Leadership: Kobe << Clyde
Color commentating: Okay, Kobe hasn't tried it yet. But I am pretty sure Clyde would beat Kobe hands down, just like clubbing baby seals.

 

Clyde was big and certainly much stronger than Kobe. He didn't defend like Kobe does at times (Kobe is not a consistently good defender) but he was more like Lebron in that if he didn't get you buckets he got you a ton of rebounds and assists. Kobe has a tendency of leaving every column in the stat sheet but scoring very bare. I don't think there is any argument that Kobe is the better offensive player but Clyde was the better all-around player. At least people have learned to stop comparing Kobe to MJ and lowered the bar a little for him.

What should be very interesting is how Kobe's game changes as he loses more athleticism. Sure, that jump shot will always be deadly but he has already lost a lot of quickness and explosiveness. When this happened to Clyde he became Mr. Everything for the Rockets. I don't see Kobe having that mentality. I expect him, as he ages, to become a very inconsistent gunner who is either hot one night and helps his team or is ice cold but keeps shooting away. He doesn't seem to understand how to win except by shooting his way to a victory. Clyde learned other ways to help his team win and it got him a ring.

 

i think people are comparing drexler to kobe in the wrong way, that is comparing them in absolute terms. Everything in sports is relative. A star athlete 20 years ago might not even be a benchwarmer on the team now. Babe Ruth probably wouldn't be as dominant in baseball now as he was in his own era. Athletic performance constantly improves as time passes. I would say in relative terms, Clyde was definitely on par to Kobe. That is he was just as better than the average swingman of that era as Kobe is to the average swingman of this era.

 

It's a funny thing you brought up this Jordan/ Drexler thing.

I know people are talking about the Kobe/Lebron commercials and how they wanted to see that happen in the finals.

Well Drexler vs Jordan did happen and at that time, there were considered equals.

 

That's true. A lot of people believe that Drexler would have been the best SG in his time if he did not play in the same era with Jordan.

 

this was back in the day when players got their nickname based on their skills and talent...

not an abbreviation of their name

 

Walton=Tracy Murray ???

 

This is a hell of a comparison, and I can't believe I never considered it.

Drexler on a fast break was a blur. It'd be hilarious to team him up with an Aaron Brooks now and watch the vapor trails. I'd give the huge edge to Drexler. He needed no one else to run the break - he was the break. Clyde wasn't the explosive scorer that Kobe was, but part of this can be attributed to the fact that he was a better team player than Kobe and had others around him on his teams that were considered good players in his day (Terry Porter, Rod Strickland, Cliff Robinson, Jerome Kersey, Kiki Vandeweghe, Mychal Thompson, and, hell, even Kevin Duckworth). Even if Drexler needed to score more, I don't think he was as great a scorer as Kobe - Kobe's on another level. Drexler on defense was a better player than Kobe, IMO. At worst, they were equals on defense. Drexler was the better rebounder. Kobe has turned into a great team player and leader later in his career. I think he has the edge in leadership (at least outwardly) - he's almost another coach out on the floor for the Lakers.

And oh yeah... Drexler was the better dunker...

 

Same could be said about today's flopping.

 

That's because Kobe wants the comparisons. He wants to be regarded as one of the best players ever to step on the cour. Ever since he was a rookie he has imitated his game exactly like Jordan to mainly show that he is better, but is not.

 

20 years ago....1989, you're kidding right. You don't think MJ, Karl Malone, or Dominique could come in and average the same 30 ppg. Would Karl Malone somehow be bested by a player, like Dirk, Gasol, or Boozer. When he in fact, outplay some of these players, while being in his late 30s.

I disagree...even with the improvement of athletic performance, it has improved the skill of players. Wilt, Larry, and Magic in their primes could totally come in and still be very dominant players. I doubt there is center in the NBA right now, who could slow down Wilt Chamberlain one bit. Maybe Dwight or Yao, but they certain wouldn't win matchups against him. Both are certainly not going to overpower him, and are most likely inferior athletes.

Even being in his late 40s, the man was such a freak of nature and workout hound that he was working over much younger members of the LA Lakers team that included Magic Johnson.

Larry Bird's shooting touch alone would make him at least 20 ppg player, while he was very smart and wily with great awareness and court vision (things you can't really teach). If Carmelo Anthony can average 27 to 30 ppg, I'm pretty sure Larry Bird could as well in the present NBA.

Magic, in his twilight years, is still a better point guard right now than 99% of the players in the NBA. I find it hard to believe he wouldn't cut it, today.

I have to admit, I do agree to a point for some players, especially in football. But, not for the greatest one and most likely players in basketball, baseball, and few other sports. Skill, heart, and intelligence is more important than athleticism a great deal of the time. In fact, if you put more of these all-time greats in the present day scenarios...I'm pretty sure after 1st season or so, they'd become very beastly and possibly better than what they were.