Kobe Bryant vs. Michael Jordon – Is There Even A Comparison?
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
In a basketball scorboards feature, we look and compare the legend of the past Jordon, with the legend of the present Bryant. For starters, let us begin by acknowledging the fact that nobody can compare to Michael Jordon, more commonly known as His Airness, in terms of the boost he gave to the games popularity, and how he completely transformed how the game was played. However, that being said, someone someday had to become good enough to be worthy of comparison with Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant seems to have reached the point where we can all admit grudgingly that “Yes, there might just be a comparison!”
So, where do we even begin? First off, Kobe Bryan’s superb performance in the recent NBA Championships, in which he led the LA Lakers to a 5th win against their arch rivals the Boston Celtics, is where we can at least begin to contemplate such a comparison. The basketball scoreboards show that Kobe is now only one win away from matching His Airness’s 6 title milestone.
*Michael Jordan won 6 NBA titles over the span of just 8 years, and it probably would have been 8 out of 8 had he not decided to take a hiatus from basketball for a stint at minor league baseball. Kobe on the other hand won his 5th title this year at the age of 31, while Jordan won his 3rd when he was 34. Kobe won his first title when he was 22, while Jordan won his first title when he was 28.
*However, Jordon scored around 32,000 points in 15 seasons, while Kobe has only scored 25,000 in his 14. Jordan has a per game average of 30.1 points as compared to Kobe’s 25.3 points average.
*When it comes to defensive tactics, it’s very difficult to decide who is the best. Jordan has won 9 First Team All-NBA Defensive Awards, with Kobe right on his tail with 8. Kobe will probably make it to 9 in the next year, making him Jordan’s equal in this area.
*When it comes to game finishers, both Kobe and Jordan execut their clutch shots with finesse. We may have some reservations in declaring that Kobe is better than Jordan, but he certainly is his equal in this respect.
*The aspect where both the players are completely equal is the coaching factor. Both of them had the same coach Phil Jackson.
*To be a great player you need the support of the entire team, or at least have another player with whom you share impeccable on-court chemistry. In this instance, Kobe with Shaquille O’Neal had better luck than Jordan.
Looking at all the above areas of comparison we can see that Michael Jordan still reigns supreme, but if Kobe continues the way he’s going he might end up being just as big a legend as Michael Jordan is, if not bigger.
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There is no comparison between Michael Jordan and Kobe bryant. Except in Style, in which Kobe has learned to Mimic Michael. Michael Jordan retired after the 2003 season.It has only been 7 or 8 years since he left the game and there careers over lapped for 4 seasons. So the mention of the game changing is a mute point and only helps the shooters of today. Michael would score better than 45 points a game today, in his prime. The only reason lakers won was not because of Kobe, but it was pau gasol who was the leader and better player through out the last 2 championships. He should have been MVP. You could have put Dwayne Wade or Lebron, on the lakers, who by the way are far more efficient than Kobe and they too would be champions . Kobe defense is mediocre. kobe has 12 blocks this season. Are you kidding me!..What defense? Michael defense and his productivity is so far ahead of Kobe. in the history of basketbal,l kobe,,has the lowest shooting percentage of all, when you count all his high scoring games of 40, 50, 60 point games ,, and how many shots it takes for him to get that total. He just shoots and shoots and shoots until one goes in. This is why he is a 44 percent shooter and will end his career probably near 40 percent while jordan, wade , lebron, and a great many others are above him. Kobe is a good player but not great. He is not better than Derrick Rose. Why would anyone put his name in the same sentence with Michael. For all of you Kobe Fans, just look up how many games Kobe shot better than 50 percent. Then you will understand that there is a big difference between a good player and the greatest of all time. Good luck in the playoffs, the lakers will be out in the first or second round. See you next year.