From yahoo sports Ever since Michael Jordan retired — all three times, really — the NBA has searched for the heir to his throne. Many players have popped up as pretenders to the throne, from Harold Miner to Jerry Stackhouse to Vince Carter. In recent years, people have stopped trying to find a clone and just searched for a similarly dominant great player. If you ever wondered why LeBron James is seen as such a failure, a lot of it has to do with his inability to meet the example set by Jordan. There are many great players in the NBA these days, most of whom have never been directly compared to Jordan. Nevertheless, His Airness says only one player comes close enough to his greatness to merit the comparison. Not surprisingly, that player is Kobe Bryant. Here's what Roland Lazenby, a great writer currently working on a Jordan book, tweeted on Sunday (via PBT): Kobe's ultimate competition is MJ. That's why MJ watches him. MJ made people think what he was doing wasn't human. Ditto the Kobester. I never said Kobe was better than MJ. MJ just told me Kobe's the only one to have done the work, to deserve comparison.
Michael Jordan is superior in dribbling compared to Kevin Martin and Justin Beiber. There I just compared MJ to KM and Bleeper. What do I get?
2011 playoff PER Wade 26.3 LBJ 23.7 That's a healthy 10% margin when it counts for two players playing interchangable position, are you going to deny that?
kobe's string of 40 point games reminds me of MJ's 40 point games (and at least one 50 pt game) when he was in his late 30s with the wizards. BUT kobes 33 right now
I am not a Kobe supporter but I do respect his work ethic. If His Airness really said that then kudos really to Kobe. Michael Jordan is still the best basketball player on the planet
what the hell are you talking about? Dream took the Rockets to the Finals in his second year and demolished the frontline of the defending champion Lakers. You need to go back to Dream 101. Dream killed every center from Day 1, he started to regress in the late 90s.
I think they are the same in the sense that they can single handedly carry a team season after season. Sure they had help but in the end its Jordan and Kobe that wins games during playoffs. Not too many can do it. Shaq couldnt do it, Malone, Barkley, Ewing, Miller, Pierce, TMAC, Carter, Just look at James. But still Jordan was way way better at carrying a team single handed and winning games then Kobe is.
What the hell is TMac's name here? He wasn't won a freaking playoff series and you lump him with Malone, Barkley, Shaq, Miller, and Ewing? Tough durable and dependable players? People that have been to the Finals, NBA MVPs and hall of famers? That name doesn't belong in a thread that says Michael Jordan. Ever.
To be honest, I agree with Jordan. LBJ should be cmpared only to a SF. Kobe is a SG so he gets an advantage when comparing against the greatest, Michael Jordan!
Let me do my best tinman impression by posting a video response. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vFgXF0a_Yw4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Kobe is a mid range shooter just like Jordan. Go take a look back at most of Jordan's big moments and they will be mid range jump shots (Ehlo, Russell, college shot etc.). Jordan went to the hole more than Kobe does but at the end of the day it was both players unstoppable mid range game that made them great.
Jordan was better at getting himself easier shots than Kobe. The degree of difficulty on Kobe's shots is insane.
If you watch some of Jordan's games you see he made tons of points coming off screens shooting it from midrange, that was one of the most essential parts of his game. Don't let yourself be fooled by dunking highlights.
