If Jordans team would have lost the game...damn right. Earlier in the season, Kobe took 47 shots against the Celtics and they lost. That tied him for the 4th most shots in a game. Jordan was not one of the 4 other players with 47+ shots. I don't have the time or inclination to look up Jordans career per game shot numbers but did observe that A) he has a higher career FG% and B) Jordan has nearly 1.5 more assists per game and C) he played more mpg in his prime. Kobe is on pace to shoot over 1,900 shots this season. In the 11 seasons with the Bulls where Jordan played major minutes, he surpassed 1,900 shots only 4 times. And I won't even get into the fact that Jordan didn't have a low post presence like Shaq to share the shots with.
Yes. Jordon didn't win championships and MVP until he involved his teammates. Before he was just another talented 30 ppg shooting guard.
Good point. MJ didn't win an MVP until like 1988, when he started deferring to teammates a little more. Of course, back then, there were a few guys named Magic and Bird who grabbed some of those MVP's.
Great, I'm glad you use ESPN as a reference for your knowledge. Try actually watching a game or two. See how pathetic his teammates are on defense.....Magic could come out of retirement and drive the lane like Jason Kidd on that team. It's the same as having a bunch of Steve Francis's playing defense...there is no positional defense being played which leads to an unlimited amount of penetration. Reason why Doc Rivers will never try to play man-to-man and tries to implement a 1-3-1 zone with one of the middle 3 occaisonally moving back. Tmac can play Defense, his team can't. Out of all the MVP candidates, his squad of Miller, Vaughn, Declerq, Kemp, Burke, Sasser, and Garrity is the MOST INCONSISTENT and probably next to worse of defense. Again, I don't think Tmac is a MVP candidate...just realize he has one of the worse supporting casts, if not the worse. Still, the MVP is a season long award, that means from November all the way to April. As of now, the only two elite players that have shown consistency and have lead their teams are KG and Duncan.
In 1991, Jordan won MVP. He shot 2005 times (25.7 per game) while dishing out 6.1 apg. In 2002, Kobe is on pace for 1902 shots (23.2 per game) while dishing out 6.5 apg. It seems as if Kobe is getting his teammates more involved than Jordan did in 1991. Defensively, its a tie. And Kobe gets more rpg. There is no reason why Kobe couldnt win MVP. He should get it.
I will admit that I don't watch a lot of Laker games, but the game vs the Rockets was enough to show me that Kobe is not on the same level defensively as MJ (did you see how Francis ABUSED him, with Shaq back there).
Kobe probably will get it, just because Duncan got it last year. Otherwise, Duncan would be the obvious choice. KG has an small chance, but the whole "not stepping up" from last year will haunt him in this year's MVP vote.
TIM DUNCAN IS MVP. LORD. HE IS. IF NOT HIM, Kevin Garnett. If not him, Kobe Bryant. If not him, Jason Kidd. If not him, Chris Webber. If not him,.....Stevie Franchise!!! Whoooo. I know...I just wanted put him on the list.
I don't think Kobe is as good a defender as 23, but he's still a top 5 defensive player...EASY. Besides, Stevie just had one of "those" games that night.
For anyone who thinks Kobe is comparable to MJ or even better than MJ at the same age, please read this (http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/smith_sam/1509913.html). Especially the following: 9. Magic who? March 25, 1989. Getting tired of being told he's just a scorer and Magic Johnson is a winner, Mike led the Bulls to a sweep of a Western Conference trip with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. It is a period of 14 games in which he averaged 32.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 11.9 assists and recorded 11 triple-doubles in the 14 games, twice also while scoring more than 40 points. That's what I would call a real "get people involved" MVP.
Garnett and Duncan lead the pack, while Kidd and Kobe not far behind. If Garnett could carry his team up to the fourth seed while being consistent with his current game, i believe he could get the Honor. TD just has a bad start to the season , and his team have give him better support recently, especially in the scoring dept. Only if he could take us to the best record in the league, while upped his stats, atleast to the same scoring level of last season, his chance for the MVP thropy is a bit slim IMO
why do people even discus if kobe is like Jordan was, Jordan was a far better player than kobe is. Jordan isn't called the best of all-time for nothing. Kobe is a great player, but he may not even be the best SG in the nba today, t-mac is close. Jordan was the best ever. but do not forget kobe is young. time wil tel how good he wil be. But for now he is not like Jordan was. i still think it should be either Duncan or garnett. Kobe didn't win without Shaq
What about the time when Kobe injured his hand and was out for eight weeks? That was about two or three years ago, but the Lakers were doing great with just Shaq. When Shaq gets injured the Lakers do not do as a well as when Kobe gets injured.
Hey, Kobe hasn't been giving Shaq the damn ball. Phil Jackson should be fired. And Phil didn't make the defensive adjustment to stop Allan Houston from scoring 53 points to beat the Lakers on their own turf. Fire Phil.
Surprised more people haven't mentioned the game in New York. LA is supposed to be back on its game right? New York isn't exactly a powerhouse nowadays. Bryant poured in 40. But lost. If you're leading a team to losses, something isn't right. How can he be MVP of the league when he isn't the most important player on his own team? And, I didn't watch the game so someone please tell me his defensive assignment was Sprewell and not Houston.
