Hoops

The Facts: MJ vs Kobe

Jordan is so far ahead of Kobe it isn't funny.
Firstly the skills he learnt in college at NC set him appart from Kobe, who averaged just 10ppg as a rookie without the fundamentals Jordan had in his first season in the NBA.
Throughout his career Jordan also won the defensive player of the year award and was a multiple all-defensive selection.
Jordan also never played with a centre who averaged more than 11ppg.
He had the likes of Dave Corzine, Bill Cartwright, Will Perdue, Stacey King, Luc Longley and Bill Wennington.
These players knew their roles, but could you imagine what Jordan might have done if he had a David Robinson, Olajuwon or Ewing next to him?
Kobe got better while he had Shaq as a teammate and was never the number one option on the team until the big fella was traded to the Heat - which Kobe demanded.
Jordan was also a superior scorer and has to be considered the most effective low post scorer from the guard position the game has ever seen.
And remember Jordan went up against the Joe D, Laimbeer, Thomas and the rest of the Bad Boys who smashed him for three consecutive seasons, Patrick Ewing and the Knicks who always had a no lay up rule, Karl Malone, Magic, Bird and the Celtics, Barkley, he schooled Clyde Drexler in the finals, broke the hearts of the Cavs many times when they had Price and Brad Daugherty, always put on a show in MSG, beat very good Indiana teams in the late 90s and had to guard point guards a lot of the time.
Kobe is very good, but will never be considered on the same level as Jordan.

Kobe's favourite song...



? ? ?
Sometimes I dream
That he is me
You've got to see that's how I dream to be
I dream I move, I dream I groove
like Mike, if i could be like Mike

What some people forget is that MJ was a complete player, played both ends of the court, could shoot, drive, dish, and then get the stop on the defensive end, and on top of this he was a great team player, motivating the team - Kobe is really only a shooter, he defense is pretty ordinary in comparision, and if he doesn't like a team mate, he gets them traded.


One of my favourite memories of Jordan (and someone more clever will point out which game), during a game towards the end, MJ realised the scoretable had the scores wrong as he always kept a mental tally of the scores - when MJ questioned it and the umpires and bench did a count back and found MJ was right - this story highlights how in tune MJ was to the game - can't see Kobe ever doing anything like that, he would be lucky to be able to count to ten ... lol

No brainer. MJ by a mile.
Not only for the stats etc he put up, but look at who he won with...Wennington, Longley, Perdue (ba ha ha) 40+ Parish and Salley.

How many rings could MJ have ended up with had he played the first seven years of his career with a great center, who was also the most dominant force in the league?

How many titles could MJ have won if he had not taken 18 months off (in between 3-peats) to play baseball?

Could Kobe retire in his prime and then come back, arguably a better player after 18 months out?

Could Kobe retire, then come back as a 39 year old and nearly take a team of misfits to the playoffs?

I don't think he is mentally strong enough to even be considered close to Jordan.

Kobe is good, a great player even.
Mike was/is the greatest.

Ah, now the good debate starts =D

Rather than compare Kobe's stats to Jordan's stats and try and mirror them; why not ask the question,

"Does Kobe Bryant have the same impact in the modern era of the game as Jordan did during his era?"

You can compare some basic stuff like their clutch shooting and streaky scoring; but as Bizzy said, the defensive game was more physical than today's game. I can certainly say that Kobe would need to take at least 1.5 times as many shots as he does now to score 30ppg against the likes of the Robinsons, Ewings, Barkleys, Hakeems etc.

I actaully think this thread just paints Jordan in an even better light...

*sigh* another pointless thread of people trying to put Kobe over MJ.