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Kobe Bryant is Better than Michael Jordan? Please…
By Drew Meyers | March 26, 2007
ESPN Page 2 has an interesting column by Jemele Hill titled “Putting Kobe in Perspective.”
Is Kobe better than Jordan? Maybe, maybe not. The thing is — I don’t really care who people think is the better player. I don’t respect Kobe Bryant as a person, so I’ll always think higher of Jordan. Kobe is selfish. Enough said. No one can sway my opinion — I watched the 4th quarter of the Lakers vs Sonics, which, if my memory serves me correctly, ended up being his 8th straight game with 40 points in 2003. I don’t have a problem with Kobe scoring 40 against my hometown Sonics — I have a problem with the way he got there.
Bryant was stuck at 39 points with about 3 minutes to go with the Lakers ahead by more than enough to not worry about winning. However, every possession, the Lakers gave him the ball and he attempted to score by taking forced shots. It was obvious all he cared about was reaching his 40-point milestone. Rashard Lewis a stellar job at defending him into missing about 7 shots. With less than 30 seconds to go, Kobe finally drew a foul and reached his 40 point mark with a free throw. Truthfully, if I was defending Kobe in that game, I probably would have shoved Kobe head-first into the stands. Since when is it acceptable to taunt a team by attempting to reach a point milestone when the game is clearly already in hand? Truthfully, Kobe shouldn’t have even been on the floor. In case Kobe missed the memo — basketball is a team sport. Since when is WINNING NOT ENOUGH? I don’t think Michael Jordan ever would have sacrificed his integrity by forcing shots to reach a record point milestone with a game already in the bag.
One quote really irks me as a reason Kobe is better than Jordan: “The NBA is tougher now” — meaning Kobe has tougher competition. Are you f**king kidding me? Nowadays, players may be stronger and taller, but it is absurd they are tougher. I’d argue exactly the opposite. Do you not remember how the Pistons, Bulls, and Knicks used to play? Easy lay-ups and dunks didn’t happen. If you went inside, there was a good chance you’d get a elbow by the likes of Charles Oakley, Bill Laimbeer, or Anthony Mason. NBA players play for the money now — there’s no comparison as to what generation of players was more passionate about the GAME. I think it’s a given that more passionate players will fight harder to win, meaning Jordan had tougher competition.
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March 29th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Kobe may not be better than Jordan, but it isn’t for the reasons you stated. Isolate a few incidents in any player’s career and you can make them look selfish or self-less. Both men are great athletes, and less than stellar people in their personal lives.
Scoring a lot of points doesn’t make one selfish.
What Kobe and Michael both need to worry about is LeBron and Dwayne.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Mike-
You make a good point. However, seriously, after watching that sonics-lakers game, it’ll be very hard to change my opinion about Kobe. It was one of the MOST selfish individual performances I have EVER seen.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Yesterday’s NBA player certainly was more fundamentally sound, but there’s no question that today’s player is bigger, stronger and faster. When Jordan played, he was a singular force that could not be equaled. Jordan was guarded by the likes of John Starks and Joe Dumars, who were fine players but weren’t nearly as skilled or physically imposing as LeBron, D-Wade, Tracy McGrady or even Vince Carter.
The NBA is tougher now.
Kobe, like Michael, is surrounded with mediocre to below-average talent, and Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio are all better than the Utah, Portland and the Charles Barkley-led Phoenix team that Michael met in the NBA Finals.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Nice of you to show up PK. I’m not arguing that today’s NBA is bigger, stronger, faster. I’m saying there is a difference between today’s NBA being tougher vs more talented. When I hear tougher, I think of more physical. I 100% agree the NBA is more talented now, but I don’t agree that the game is more physical than it used to be. Quite honestly, all the money has started to ruin the game in my opinion. Too many “paycheck” players.
April 4th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Michael Jordan , is still to this day considered the greatest because of not only his accomplishments and vast array of skills, but Jordan set the tone for NBA greatness. His Bulls were the only other NBA team to three peat other than the Celtics of Russell. Every night, Jordan went out to play like Jordan, his passion and dedication bought the NBA to heights that only we today can dream of !
April 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Do you understand how much an idiot you are???
Playing for money is 10x the compition people kill themselves out there for money its not fairytale land kobe bryants competition is 10x harder then jordans was every single team has an all star back then there was olny 20 all stars in the nba, they didnt know what double teaming was never put a hand in the players face at all times really MJ cant compare to kobe you have no idea what your talking about kobe shoots alot because his team cant shoot for there life.
April 5th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Toma-
I think you are mistaken to say that no one in the 80’s knew what double teaming was, but obviously you’re entitled to your opinion.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
HEY TAMA
The players today do not even compare to the players back then. The Dream Team was the best team ever assembled. MJ had to play with those guys, Barkley, Bird, Magic, Drexler, Ewing, Robinson, etc…. You just never watched any old games. Just because you have never heard of the players in the 80’s and 90’s does not mean they were bad. Most teams were allot better than teams today. Do some research.
Who is good this year James, and most of the rest were injured on and off all year except for Kobe. Wade is the best in the NBA hands down. Kobe is right behind him. Let talk about Kobe’s 81 points. Did everyone watch the game? It was the sloppiest game I have ever seen! Get the ball to Kobe and let him shoot it. I guarentee if I went out there and shot the ball 50 times I could score 81 points, I think anyone that can shoot could, especially against the raptors that year. The worst team in the NBA. There was no defense what so ever. It was similar to David robinson’s 71 point game against the Clippers wich by the way scored without shooting three’s. Thats only a five field goal difference. Hmmmmmmmmm. Mj scored 69 against a playoff team. He scored 63 on the Celtics in the playoffs! He put Phoenix to shame in 93, they had a deep team that year thunder Dan, Barkley, KJ . I think the people shouldn’t have an opinion if they were not around to see MJ play. Ten years from now we will be comparing Kobe to the new guy, it will always be that way. Stitistic show Wilt was better than everyone. He scored 100 points in a game! he had 55 rebounds in a game! He averaged 50 points a game for an entire season. And if they tallied blocks then he would have averaged 10+ a game! So why are we camparing stitistics of Kobe and Jordan. A good player is a player that can win. The Bulls were (72-10) in 1996. MJ created Pippen, Rodman just rebounded. Shaq was the leader for LA! When Shaq left the team fell apart. Thats obvious! I have seen MJ score 54 points on stackhouse in 3 quarters in 96. He sat out the rest of the game. That was just because stack said he was not that good. MJ was not evan trying he could have easily had 70 plus. I have watched a ton of games he went and sat out like that, and lots of them he would have 48 or 49 points! When he was a Wizard he scored 51 on Charolette, and the next game had 48 and sat late in the forth with time still on the clock. How old was he then? Look at how many times he scored 50+ on good teams and then compare that to Kobe. Michael never tried to break records he just played to win.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:05 am
I wrote Jemele about her article and I think we need to do a statsicial analysis to make this all fair. I think we can all agree when it comes to character, ability in the clutch, and general offensive awareness and prowess these two are about equal. Both can, and have, hit big shots; albeit Jordan more often and with more opportunities to do so. Both have serious character flaws, but according to her article this judgment is based purely on skill. So let’s take a trip down memory lane and compare these players purely on stats. And to be fair to Jordan and Kobe, this comparison will be based solely on the data available, their first 10 seasons.
In terms of scoring, Jordan averaged over 30pts per game for 7 of his first 10 seasons; including 6 in a row. In two of those seasons he was injured and played no more than 18 games respectively. Kobe has accomplished this feat only twice in his first 10 seasons; including 3 seasons where he averaged below 20pts. (Note Jordan never averaged below 20 in a season, ever.) In those first 10 seasons Jordan average 33+ pts per game to Kobe’s 23+; a difference of 10 pts per game. Jordan is in a league of his own when it comes to scoring consistency. Kobe falls way short in this category and will never surpass Jordan’s career 30.1 pts per game average.
In terms of shooting percentage- Jordan shot over 50% from the field in 6 of his first 10 seasons, including 5 in a row. And remember- in two of the seasons he shot below 50% he was injured and played less than 18 games. Kobe has never shot over 50%. Let me repeat this- Mr. Bryant has never shot over 50% in a season, in his career. In fact- he has never shot over 47%, ever. Here is an amazing fact- between 87’ and 92’- Jordan averaged over 30 pts per game and shot over 50% in 5 consecutive seasons, and won the scoring title in every single one of those years. Plus, in 92-93 the following season, he accomplished the same feat shooting 49%. Kobe, again, falls way short in this category.
In terms of injury- Jordan played in all 82 regular season games 5 of his first 10 seasons- and played in over 80 games 7 of those 10 seasons. Kobe has played in all 82 games only once and over 80 games only 3 times. Kobe falls short again.
Steals/Assists- in his first 10 seasons, Jordan led the league in steals 3 times. Kobe has never accomplished this feat. Jordan also averaged more assists than Kobe over the first 10 seasons.
To recap- Jordan leads Kobe in every statistically significant category over their first 10 seasons: scoring average, shooting percentage, games played, steals and assists. Jemele- how is Kobe better? Sure, maybe he can score more on a given night. But can he be as consistent in every phase of the game over an entire season? Desire is what makes a player consistent and that is what made Jordan so amazing. Jordan’s best “stat” was his desire to win, a by-product of which was consistent numbers.
Kobe drops in 50 for the praise and glory. Jordan dropped in 50 because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing to Starks and Ewing. Jordan willed to win. Kobe wills to be the best. That is what makes Kobe the best looking and Jordan the best player. There is a huge difference.
One more note- Jordan scored 50 or more points on 37 occasions. The combined shooting percentage for those 37 games… 60%. Holy Jesus. When Jorden scored 50- he raised his shooting percentage 10 points. Yea…Kobe’s better my ass.
Anyone have the stats on Kobe’s 50 point games? I’d be real curious if he broke 40% combined.
AMR
April 15th, 2007 at 4:40 am
So you just now decided to write about a 2003 incident when Kobe stayed in to get 40?
What about the fact that the Lakers won 106 - 101? How is a 5 point margin “in hand”? Kobe stayed in and got his team a win. Winning by 5 en route to 40 is not taunting and you are clearly jaded to think so.
Why don’t you write about the more recent streak of of 4 straight 50 point games that all ended in wins for the Lakers. Kobe and Wilt Chamberlin are the only players to ever accomplish that.
The degree of difficulty in Kobe’s shots versus Michael Jordan’s is higher. Kobe puts up with hard double and triple teams, being held while trying to get open, and fouled on or before nearly every shot attempt. I have tape of both Kobe and Jordan and I can tell you that Jordan never had to deal with that kind of harrasment and he was surrounded by better players which makes the defense more leniant on him.
When its all said and done Kobe will be the best player in NBA history.
April 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
The reason I wrote about the 2003 incident is because it was against the sonics and I watched it. And you mention the score was close - if my memory serves me correctly, it’s because Kobe was shooting (& missing) every shot for the last 5 minutes of the game. I think he almost blew the game.
Degree of shot difficulty? Are you honestly saying jordan didn’t deal with double and triple teams and get held - you clearly need to watch some more Jordan footage.
April 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
It’s hard to argue with Andrew’s analysis.
April 17th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
There are so many different ways of comparing players and none are perfect but my favorite is to imagine, since it is a team game, 5 of one player against 5 of the other. 5 Jordans would destroy 5 Kobes. 1 on 1 I think it might actually have been a contest. Kobe, because of his ability to hit contested shots might even pull it out (probably not though) but I can’t imagine 5 Kobes beating 5 Jordans and I don’t think it would even be close. Anytime the Jordans needed a score, they could work it to one of them in the post where Jordan’s strength would overwhelm Bryant’s. In his prime, Jordan was not only a great perimeter player but probably one of the top 3 or 4 weapons in the league in the post. As a matter of fact, with the combination of skills Jordan had, I think 5 of him take 5 of any other player in the league past or present. Any doubters?
April 18th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
I completly disagree.Jordan’s defenders were terrible. The two guards in the league while he was playing were nothing compared to him he was ahead of the game. Reggie Miller,Clyde Drexler,Joe Dumars,Jeff H.,Brian Russell guarding him in the finals. None of these players could defend well. Brian Russell was greatly over rated as a defender. When he scored over 60 against the Celtics in the playoffs as great a team they were. They played him one on one. Bird was guarding him a lot and he is a horrible slow defender. Great offensive but terrible defensive. It says a lot when Jordan says that his number one defender in his career was Joe Dumars who was a great defender but was 6′4 and that’s giving him an inch! Lol he couldn’t guard Jordan. The percentage of Kobe’s 50 point games is over 50%. For all his accomplishments people crown him the best ever they say the championship rings is what make him the best. It can’t be just rings cause Bill has more in that thinking he would be the greatest. It isn’t his Mvp’s because Kareem has more. It isn’t all time scoring cause Kareem holds that too. The Bulls didn’t define Greatness the Celtics and the Lakers defined that long before him. 81 points is 81 points and I guarentee the idiot who said he could go out there and score 81 points wouldn’t get 10. He shot 60% from the feild over 50 from three! Doubles triples everything he couldn’t be stopped. D wade can’t be compared to Micheal because Micheal was a dynamic scorer. D wade has never even had 50 point game in his career yet he is not on that level. Give him time before you crown him. This season without Shaq his team was below 500 not 500 but below. When d wade got hurt and Shaq came and wade was out and they won 9 straight games. He is the true Mvp on every team just because of his presence he doesn’t have to score to dominate the game. What d wade did was an illusion of greatness in the finals. Shooting the most ever free throws in a final series ever with well over 80 free throws in just 6 games. He shot more free throws than the entire Maverick team in one game with 21. He great but not good enough to get to the line over 80 times in just 6 games that makes no sense! He got well over half his points from the line. That’s not impressive.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:31 am
blake: And Kobe scored 62 vs. the Mavs, sitting for the last quarter. You think Kobe doesn’t play to win? Why do you think he scores so many points? Simple. In order to put the Lakers in a position to win. You think his teammates could win games without him…GOOD LUCK. You’d probably be 1 of 3 people that think that.
You guys talk about “selfish” yet you fail to realize that MJ defined “selfish” back in his day. Only when the Bulls started to win was when he shed those labels. MJ is a gambler, an adulterer, a cheater, etc. etc. etc. etc. Funny how people forget those things when they deify him and shit on Kobe. If you want to make comparisons, don’t just conveniently leave out the negatives of who you’re comparing against.
Oh yeah, MJ shoved all of his defenders to create space. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bryon Russell. That was the most blatant offensive foul I’ve EVER seen not called. MJ was protected by the officials much like the treatment that D.Wade received in the Finals last year (I guess paying dues in the league doesn’t exist anymore if the commish handpicks his stars).
April 20th, 2007 at 8:47 am
All I have to say is look at the stats. Kobe has never shot above 50% in a season? How can you guys reconcile that? How is that “best ever” status? Fifth graders are more conscious of shot selection and team dynamics.
Plays to win? Anyone who has ever played basketball knows that the best teams are those that play as a unit. Kobe sent Shaq packing…how is that a winning attitude? Kobe is the definition of selfish. He will never win another championship. Guaranteed.
I’m not saying he doesn’t have skills, I’m not saying he’s not great- but he single handedly as taken the Lakers from championship contenders every year- to struggle to make the playoffs. Btw…Shaq won another title last year. uuhhhhmmmm…isn’t professional sports about winning? Not for Kobe. For him, it’s all about me, me, me. Woody Harrelson said it best, “Would you rather look bad and win. Or look good and lose.” We all know where Kobe stands on this point.
I don’t know if you guys ever watched those Bulls teams- for all of Jordan’s selfishness…it was still about winning. If Pippen was hot- MJ would give the ball up and let him take the final shot. I’ve seen it many times. Jesus- I’ve seen him give the ball up to Kukoc for the final shot. Can you honestly say that Kobe would give the ball up for a guy like Kukoc? hahahahaha….
And for anyone who thinks the defense in the NBA is better now- you are crazy. Even veteran players will admit that. Basketball has become more of a finesse game in recent years. More European. 7 footers are shooting 3s for Christ’s sake.
Do the stat anaylsis- Jordan was statsically better. Everyone who has responded to this blog in favor of Kobe has not mentioned stats. I did the anaylsis…please show me statiscally how Kobe is better? Please? I challenge you. Please show me? Give any single career or full season stat. I dare you!
April 20th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Let us not forget the other players Jordan had to guard and vice versa!
Latrell Sprewell 6′5, Mitch Richmond 6′5, Kendall Gill 6′5, Reggie Lewis 6′7, Reggie Miller 6′7, Stacey Augmon 6′8, Rolando blackman 6′6, Jerry Stackhouse 6′6, Grant Hill 6′8, Penny Hardaway 6′7, Jim Jackson 6′6, Dominique Wilkins 6′8, Clyde Drexler 6′7, Derek Harper 6′5, Nick Anderson 6′6, Gary Payton 6′4, Dan Majerle 6′6( made all defensive second team a few times), Nate McMillan 6′5, Eddie Jones 6′6, Ron Harper 6′6, Glen Rice 6′8, Steve Smith 6′7, Sean Elliot 6′8, J.R. Rider 6′5, Allen Houston 6′6, etc., etc., the list goes on.
Then you have the defenders Jordan faced when he was 40 years old, he still averaged a respectable 20 ppg in 2003, just ask Richard Jefferson. Anyway there are too many players to name.
April 21st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Totally agree with flight23 - jordan’s defenders weren’t terrible as ken suggests.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:18 am
yeah jordan was selfish/a ball hog in his early years(though some of you might disagree lets just put it that way). He scored 30s game after game, scored 50s even 60s, but still he hasn’t wont any championships. Remember the Piston’s Jordan Rules? he barely made it into the finals, after that though he soon realized, that hes doing it the wrong way.
MJ involved his team more, the once called “ballhog”(as if!!) matured into a better team player. His leadership created a DRIVE among his teamates. 6 rings came in. A dynasty was created. The Bulls played to win, remember that 72-10 record back in 96? 69-13 in 97? (Then again some might say the teams in the 90s suck, whatever?!@#)
Don’t get me wrong I’m not totally dissing Dobe aww sorry, Kobe, it’s just he’s doing it all by himself. He’s still young though, very talented, explosive, and what you have. Better than MJ? RLOROXOR!!
April 26th, 2007 at 1:25 am
MJ had the BULLS.
Kobe has Kobe
April 26th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Hater- who’s fault is that?
April 26th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
fault? who knows?
April 26th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I find it silly to hate Kobe, he’s not that great anyway. I kinda pity him, ya know after 10-15 from now, he retires. then someone asks, Dad who’s kobe? Ow him, well he’s not your average ballhog.
MJ said that there will always be players greater than him. Sorry your AIRNESS you sort of miscalculated.
April 27th, 2007 at 3:07 am
A ballhog? I thought the coach is the one giving orders to give the ball to kobe or MJ? just a question… I mean seriously… if the coach knows that he has a player that is a ballhog.. he would surely try to balance the team.. right? by not passing him the ball… but he doesn’t order them so.. it’s because they’re too damn good to not have the ball in they’re hands.
April 28th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
yeah have to agree with Erwin on this one
April 28th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
yeah me too
April 29th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
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April 29th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
ok, suns lead 3-1
May 7th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
lakers eliminated
May 9th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
WHAT PEOPLE DONT KNOW IS THAT KOBE GOES THROUGH A LOT DURING GAMES.JORDAN HAD IT HARD FOR HIM ALSO BUT THE NBA WAS DIFFERENT. NOWADAYS IN THE FIRST OR SECOND HALF KOBE IS GETTING DOUBLE AND TRIPLE IF HES HOT. OTHER TEAMS NOW IF THERE GOING TO STOP KOBE THEN THE OTHER PLAYERS ARENT GOING TO STEP UP TO TAKE THE HIT.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
okay, first of all. jordan is better. im a kobe lover. and jordan is better. but some of you are just talking out of your ass. i agree with someone up there that jordan had the bulls,kobe has kobe. when teams went to play the bulls they thought…okay..stop jordan, but get out on paxson, get out on kerr, oh and watch out for scottie cuz hes really good as well. where as when teams come to la, the focus in practice, the focus in the locker room, is single handedly on stopping 24. no one else. oh no you better watch out for smush! and kwame! haha rigggght. if kobe is stopped the lakers are stopped,bottom line. and yeah kobe is going to have a lower percentage by three percent or so, he takes more shots cuz he has to. i bet if he took the same amount of shots that jordan did it would be relatively the same. and for the person who said whose fault is it that kobe only has kobe, you havent seen “top five reasons you cant blame the breakup of the lakers on kobe” that would shut you up. and yeah the first years of jordans carreer was better than kobes..lets see..maybe because kobe came out of highschool and only played 10-15 minutes a night his first season, his second season he only averaged around 15 points. that brings down your averages alot, especially when your 19 compared to jordan who was around 23 and had already been through ncaa tournament games. another thing, kobes shot is definitly money in the bank. its seirously rediculous how good of a shot he has. and for those of you who say dwayne wade and lebron are better than kobe. stop commenting. lebron is the shit, dont get me wrong, but you gotta make your freethrows to be considered up there with kobe and jordan. and you have to shoot better. d wade is amazing no doubt. and his fourth quarter performances are only topped by kobe. jordan is better, i mean he defined the game of basketball for the new generation. he had his own theme song(lebrons for sprite commercial doesnt count in my opinion.) he had the swagger, the skill, the desire…i mean he had it all. but kobe is definitly the closest thing weve seen to jordan. and i thought one of you might of said this..but i was reading and didnt see it. michael jordan was quoted during this year to saying kobe is the best basketball player hes seen. so please. if your going to argue with me. then your arguing with mj himself. period.
May 12th, 2007 at 1:29 am
wow, now I understand… if only you had the proof on what Jordan had said or if only you posted the links to where Jordan said that. I would’ve believe that Kobe was a little more superior than Jordan in offense. But now Jordan is a little more superior because he’s kinda balanced.. than kobe
May 13th, 2007 at 12:38 am
im not quite sure where to find it cuz i heard it on tnt during the season. ej said jordan was in china or something and someone asked him about it and he replied that hes the best basketball player he has seen to date. it was when they were discussing the best players in the nba and stuff, and you know how ej always throws out comments like that to kenny and charles to see what their take on it is. i mean even now you wont find any analyst or coach or any respective sports writer that doesnt think kobe is the best in the game today. charles says it out loud everytime they talk about kobe on the show, and for you charles haters(cuz i know your out there) i think he knows a lil more than you. and like i said. jordan is surperior. no question about it. in my opinion jordan is “the best there ever was and best there ever will be” just like what it says on his statue outside of chicagos arena. im not trying to justify kobe being better. im just throwing out things to make the arguement even. i mean to say that kobe was better than jordan means either your a jordan hater, which there arent too many,you are too young to remember, or you didnt get into basketball until the late 90’s. i still havent heard one coach when asked about kobe say that he isnt the best player in the game. and if they mention a few names, his is always first.
May 16th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Jordan is a better baller than Kobe Bryant. It is not even close. Just look at the film and the stats. What trips me out is when people say Kobe is better, but didn’t see MJ’s career. If you didn’t get a chance to see the NBA back in the Jordan’s era, that is too bad. If you are too young to know, there is nothing wrong with that. It was a great era of basketball. But you shouldn’t even make a comment if you didn’t see Jordan play his entire career.
Air Jordan is one of the best basketball player to lace em’ up. He transcended basketball and the sports world too. He is the main reason you have all of these foreign players in the league. The NBA is known world wide because of His Airness. Kobe wants to be Mike so bad.
I’m a Laker fan, and I recognize Kobe’s talents. I’ve witnessed it in person, but MJ was a better all around player. The main difference is MJ was more efficient. He took good quality shots within the offense. He moved better without the ball. He was quicker than Kobe. He had bigger hands. He could jump higher. And he was a lot stronger. There was hand checking back in Jordan’s era. There were harder fouls and back then you didn’t get suspended for a hard foul. Hell in the 80’s you didn’t get kicked out of the game. Kobe has never shot over 46% from the field even with no hand checking. MJ was a much better defender too. Not to mention he was clutch on offense and defense. The dude was flippin’ amazing.
People say well MJ had Pippen. Well Kobe had Shaq. He had Shaq in his prime and Kobe wasn’t double teamed as much. He still didn’t put up the numbers Jordan put up. How can you shoot less than 48% from the field when Shaq is drawing most of the attention? D-wade did it. How come Kobe never could. Because he is a dumb, selfish ball player. Kobe was taking the same stupid shots when he played with Shaq. But the difference between now and then is back then, he had Shaq or Horry to get a key offensive rebound when he would miss those shots. Now he doesn’t have that. That is why Shaq and Kobe had problems. Shaq new he wasn’t ready. It caught up with the lakers however as shaq started to age. Look at that Detroit series in 2004. Kobe was trying to be the man, but he just missed shot after shot. He didn’t give that team a chance to exibit it’s full potential.
Look at MJ’s stats before Pippen and Grant. His stats blew Kobe’s out of the water. This was without help. If Kobe wants to be half as good as MJ he needs to swallow his pride and realize he can improve in a lot of areas. He needs to be called out. Behind closed doors he probably has. That is why he went public with wanting some new players. Kobe shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan. Just look at the 2004 nba finals, Game 7 against Phoenix in 2006. And games 1,2,4, and 5 of the Phoenix series this year. Kobe is just not as consistent as MJ. In the 4th quarter Kobe will hold the ball or try to driibble around a double team while wasting about 8 to ten seconds off the shot clock. Most of the time he will shoot over a double team. In game 2 of the Phoenix series I saw Kobe take a 26 foot 3 pointer with a lot of time on the shot clock and the lakers down by 5. They had the momentum, but Kobe ruined that and Phoenix got the rebound and scored on a layup and 1. Kobe is sad!!!!!
May 18th, 2007 at 2:10 am
you can make an arguement that kobe taking a 26 foot 3 pointer is better than giving the ball to kwame or smush. im a die hard lakers fan, and i have been to many games sense kobe has been around. and if your gunna bring up kobe in game seven last year vs pheonix, please dont forget to bring up how kobe single handedly got them to a 3-1 lead, with that incredible shot to win a couple games before. and also, kobe is known for being one of if not the hardest working player in the off season. each year he works on something different. a few years back it was his three, that improved. then a year later it was his defense…that year he made his first appearance on the 1st defensive team. kobe is a work aholic. and shaq took offense to that. cuz shaq couldnt lose 30 pounds, but kobe could get stonger and improve his game each year. it makes the veterans look bad. and that is info from coach phil jackson on top five reasons you cant blame kobe for the break up of the lakers. kobe is never satisfied with himself as a player. and to say kobe shouldnt even be mentioned in the same breath as jordan…well i think he should and so does tex winter, phil jackson, and michael jordan himself. oh and by the way…might i add that the whole time shaq was here in LA all the staff wanted him to do was drop a few pounds..thats it. get in better shape. he didnt the whole time. then…he gets traded to the heat and that summer he drops 30 pounds. that alone is the reason why i will never respect shaq. hes dominant, but hes lazy and only lost the weight to annoy the lakers staff. oh and also, about games 1,2,3,4,and 5 of this year against the suns. the suns had a good,complexed game plan-stop kobe. let smush shoot, let kwame fumble the ball, and its okay if lamar gets his 20 and 15 its not enough. i mean for gods sake, we had a rookie point gaurd in jordan farmar starting in the nba playoffs going against steve nash. one of the best pgs to ever play the game. that alone should completely allow kobe to shoot a bunch of shots. next year, with whoever we get, artest, bibby, kidd, jermaine oneal. kobes amount of shots will drop. just like it did in the begining of this year. people dont remember that do they? how he was passing more, and all his stats and percenteges were up besides points per game. then lamar, kwame, and luke went down and he started taking over. then when they came back it wasnt the same, they were a wounded animal, so he continued shooting.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
You know what, all I hear is excuses when it comes to Kobe. It is like a lot of Laker fans don’t live in reality. But I’m a realist. And the bottom line is that Kobe is not a good leader. I agree about Kwame and Smush. Kwame has no heart and Smush was a cancer to the team. However, Kobe disappeared in all of those games except 1. There is no excuse for it. I’m not saying they should of won, but Kobe disappeared and made so many horrible decisions. The leader of a group of men has to make good decisions period. Especially when comparing him to MJ. If we were comparing him to clyde drexler maybe. But he is being compared to Michael Jordan.
In game 1 of the Phoenix series, you can’t tell me that the lakers role players didn’t come to play. But for what ever reason in the 4th quarter, Kobe went away from the game plain. The triangle!!!! His team would pass him the ball and he would take and miss shot after shot. It was one pass and Kobe shoots. It wasn’t pass to Kobe, and Kobe makes a cut to get the ball back. It wasn’t Kobe passes back to a teammate and goes to post up to get the ball back. It wasn’t Kobe pass to a teammate and curl around a screen for a closer shot. Look, ball movement and player movement is the key. There was none of that down the stretch. The laker players do depend on Kobe. They want him to lead them down the stretch. How many times in the 4th quarter did Kobe have his TEAM huddle up during the game to discuss what they wanted to do? Teams usually will do this on free throws really quick. But not Kobe’s team. Can you ever remember Kobe intiating a huddle. He is the leader which means he should be the coach on the floor. His teammates passed him the ball. He just wouldn’t pass it back to any of them. It was sad to watch. I don’t care what you say, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR IT!!!!! You win and lose as team.
I agree that last year he had some big games against the Suns. But he didn’t and never will do it by himself. Don’t forget Smush had to steal the ball for Kobe to make that shot. And someone had to pass the ball to him. Kobe is not out their alone, so whether you are playing with ballers or scrubs, play as a team.
As for Shaq being out of shape that is true and Shaq would make me mad because he took so many games off. I’m not questioning Kobe’s work ethic. that is not even the topic of this blog. I’m talking about his decision making and his lack of production in big games. And if you watched the Lakers all year you would have to say Kobe’s D was horrible. We have seen him play a lot better in previous years. He gambles to much and he let’s his man get by him to easily. Just like all the Lakers. You can’t say that Kobe played great D and the other lakers didn’t. they all played horrible Defense. That falls on the coaching staff and the leader of the team. For whatever reason Kobe is not communicating very well during the games.
If you read the article by tex winter you would know that he said Kobe’s style of D hurts the team. he also said that Kobe gets pushed off the post too much, so he has to take harder shots.
Look!! Kobe is talented, but he is not close to MJ. If he was I would say it. He is not even better than Magic. He’s more talented and can do more on the court, but he is not better. I’m a Laker fan, so why would I want Kobe or the lakers to play bad. Reality is reality. pay close attention to the games. Watch them twice if you have too. Kobe has a long way to go. No more excuses.
The best example is in game 5. Lamar played his butt off and Kobe didn’t play that well(once again). But Kobe hit 2 threes in the 4th quarter. They cut the lead to 5 points with about 2:30 to play. Now with the momentum on the Lakers side, what does Kobe do. The lakers come down make ONE pass to Kobe. He has a defender right in his face. Kobe didn’t make any type of move. And with 14+ seconds on the shot clock, he just shoots a long 3 pointer with a guy right in his face. You know what!!! He missed and Phoenix got the rebound on that LONG, BAD SHOT, went on a fast break and Marion was able to get a 3 point play. Well there went the momentum and now instead of possibly cutting the lead to 3 points with momentum, the Lakers went down by 8 with a little less than 2 minutes to play. Kobe is not very smart. He is talented and has good work ethic though. Who cares!!! A.I. is talented too, but he is no MJ.
How the heck can you argue that taking a 26 3 pointer is better than taking a 15 footer or a layup. I didn’t say he had to pass it to kwame or smush. But he could of gotten a better shot!!!!!! That was crucial part of the game.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
okay, if your saying kobe doesnt step up to the challenge, and folds under pressure, you my dear friend are mistaken. and anyone in the sports buisness will agree with me on that. he is the number one 4th quarter performer in the league. and here is another stat for you. when nash goes out the suns lose their lead by two, when dirk goes out the mavs lose there lead by 4, and when kobe goes out the lakers lose their lead by 9. so you tell me who leads there team? boom. and also, excuses make them selves when he is seeing triple teams and no one can knock down an open shot. i dont get how players make it to the nba and cant make a 15 footer. im perplexed.and your right lamar did play his ass off.and i did read what tex said, all i said was that tex did say he reminded him alot of jordan, except for those facts. granted, he still reminds him of jordan which was my point. kobe goes for the kill. bottom line. and you can say that laker fans dont live in reality, but you can also say kobe haters dont either. i never said kobe was close to as good as jordan, if you look at my first post i make that clear. i came on here just to get the point across that kobe is the best player in the league. the only person that can have an arguement is nash. but quite frankly, it looks like kobe can handle bowen a little better than nash after tonights game, and the series. and oh yeah so many nba teams huddle in the middle of a freethrow, your mistaken for college. and you dont have to tell me that movement is key, i know that, ive played my whole life. but when kobe is averaging 35,7,5, there isnt much more you can ask. and when the glue of the triangle in luke walton is playing on a bad ankle, and wouldnt of even returned if it wasnt for the playoffs coming up, and a dislocated finger so he couldnt even handle the ball. haha i cant believe you said all laker fans make is excuses, excuses have another name… a counter arguement. without excuses there would be no argueing…what, would you want me to just sit there and not try and prove you wrong? whats the fun in that. hahaha. i mean how is me saying we have a rookie point gaurd starting against nash a bad excuse? i think thats the most legitimet excuse ever. a pg that came out of college too early playing against a two time mvp and top three pgs to ever play. bottom line….here it is, when you are triple teamed, the only way to beat that…the only fricken way is to pass the ball around and hit the open shot. there…there is the offensive play to beat the triple team. there is only one way.oh and maybe cut to the basket. but, when you got lamar sitting out at three waiting, and kwame cant catch a damn ball underneath. the play is done. you`cant beat triple team when you cant knock down an open shot. bottom line. and if you call that an excuse, ill call it an arguement.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
oh and another thing i thought i would add just out of the blue… is it just me or is the nba referees ruining the beautiful game of basketball as we know it? it wasnt too long ago i can remember charges hardly ever being called. now you cant even go to the rack, among other things of course, the reffs have gone downhill.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:31 am
yo dude, I’m now a big fan of yours… yo inspire me in every way. You make light dude.. you make light… I agree in every statement you make.. except for some of course.. SPOK is just a hater.. I dont need to escalate things on that.. he’s the one who does not look on reality.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:45 pm
nafijunNBA-
I’m far from a Kobe hater. I’ve been a die hard fan since I was 10 yrs old. I grew up watching the Showtime Lakers. I’ve said that Kobe has a ton of talent. But what disappoints me is after 11 years in the NBA, he still doesn’t play the right way consistently.
I appreciate the contributions he has made to the Laker’s organization. If it weren’t for Kobe Bryant’s play, the lakers wouldn’t have won those 3 championships. But you can say the same thing about Shaq, Horry, Fisher, Glen Rice, Fox, Ho Grant, Ron Harper, AC Green, D George and every other Laker that were on those teams. Each guy contributed to 3 championships. Basketball is not an individual sport.
Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t care if Kobe makes every shot he takes, but I want him to take good shots, especially when the game is on the line. He didn’t do that in the Phoenix series, and I really don’t think there is an excuse for it. Because he doesn’t take quality shots, his FG% suffers and the lakers suffer. I expect more out of him because he has won at the highest level. He should no what it takes. He wanted to be the leader of this team. It doesn’t make me a hater at all. It just means that I’m stating the facts. Being a laker fan, I would rather Kobe use his teammates more and lose than him play selfish and lose. And I believe if he would take more quality shots and play better D, the Lakers would of won more. I say this because he his the leader of the team, and players tend to follow a great leader. Kobe has 3 or 4 games in a row were he shoots the ball poorly. The Lakers usually loses these games, because they don’t have a lot of talent. So because he doesn’t have a lot of talent, he has to make great decisions on the court. He hasn’t done it in 3 years. Consistently of course. Do you think when Phil Jackson said that his team had the mind of a worm, he was talking about everyone except Kobe? I don’t think so. He was saying all of the Lakers exhibited dumb play. He was talking about Kobe too.
Granted he has had about 10 unbelievable games this year. That is great, but he needs to become a better leader and a more consistent, fundamentally sound player. This will give the lakers the best chance to win in the future with the guys we have and the guys coming in the future. Maybe he is better as a second leader. I don’t know. All I do know is that since Shaq left the lakers don’t have good direction on the basketball court. It is clear. I’m not a Kobe hater, just a disappointed laker fan.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:43 pm
nbajunkie-
I guess we disagree about Kobe being the best player in the league. I think Tim Duncan is the best player in the league. I would put Steve Nash and also D-Wade ahead of Kobe too. That is just my opinion, because he makes too many bad decisions and disappears too much in the 4th quarter for me. Nash was shut down by Bruce Bowen, that was beautiful to watch, but Kobe has been shut down by Prince from Detroit and Bell from Phoenix.
You said that he is the number one 4th quarter scorer in the league. But you didn’t give me his FG% for the 4th quarter. Kobe takes the most shots anyway, but is he making most of them is the question. So what you are saying is not really a stat at all. If you can get his 4th quarter FG% that would be a good stat. I couldn’t find it. I bet you it is well below 50%.
It sounds like you listen to the media a lot. Carmelo has hit more game winners than anybody in the league the last couple years. That is a fact. Kobe goes for the kill, but the problem is that he hasn’t been doing the killing in the 4th. He reminds you of Jordan, because he tries too hard to be like Jordan. He has patterned his game after Jordan. so you see the fadaway, the fist pump after a game winner, or his tongue wagging at times. It is like he thinks he is MJ. It is really weird.
As for the huddling…You never saw the lakers come together and discuss anything during the game this year. I’m talking about all 5 guys. It is funny because I was watching the lakers and the Kings game 7 in 2002 and I saw Shaq bring the lakers to a huddle a couple of times. Shaq would do this quite often during the year too. I’m sorry I don’t really watch the college game like I do the NBA.
And I can’t believe you said that Luke Walton is the glue of the triangle. If Luke Walton is the glue then maybe he should be the leader. Kobe is the glue of the triangle. He should be directing these guys where they need to be in the triangle because he has the most skill, he is the leader, and most importantly he has played in the triangle the longest. I understand Luke Walton is a good passer, but so is Kobe.
The lakers have been running the triangle with the same team for 3 years now. You are telling me that these guys don’t know what to do. If that is the case why did they play so well as a team late last season and 5 games of the playoffs. What about when Lamar has the ball and Kobe is just standing at the 3 pt line. The team knows how to run the triangle, they just don’t know what Kobe is going to do.
If you read that article by tex he also mentioned that he has been pleading for Kobe to change the way he plays defense because it is hurting the team. But he says Kobe is set in his ways. Why not be willing to change if a coach is telling you it is hurting the team. I’ll tell you why…because Kobe only thinks about himself and his game. I hoping that one day he will change his attitude. I hope it is next year, FOR THE WHOLE YEAR!!!!!!! I also hope the lakers get some better players, but if not the lakers has to play as a team and Kobe has to play smart. No more excuses.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:52 pm
No offense but I believe Spok… that what you said was based on your opinions and some were facts to build up your own opinions. Let me say mine too.. for Kobe’s defense.. (my own opinion) he doesn’t do defense well because it makes him tired.. driving every time.. he focuses on offense.. I did wonder what made him in the 1st defensive team selections though.. was it his blocks? steals? because I haven’t seen any good blocks or steals from Kobe.. ~_~ just wondering.. I agree with you he doesn’t play defense though ^_^
May 21st, 2007 at 10:17 pm
MJ always played both offense and defense. He did it when he had talent around him and when he didn’t. There is no excuse why Kobe isn’t playing good individual and team D. He will play D sometimes, but not consistently throughout the whole year. Kobe Bryant is what he is. He is definitely a great player. But he shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as MJ, until he starts playing more consistently on offense and defense. jordan did it and Kobe hasn’t shown for 3 years that he can do it, but laker fans keep making excuses. what does it say about Kobe? It tells me that he is not as competitive as MJ. I’m not saying he is not competitive, just not as much as MJ. What MJ did for a career probably will never happen again. Let’s not put Kobe somewhere where he is not. It is not fair to him or Air Jordan. Kobe is not worthy. It is very hard to win without a dominant big man. MJ was the only one to lead his team to multiple titles as a guard. Now that is impressive!!
That should be appreciated and we shouldn’t crown Kobe until he is able come close to what MJ has done. Look at the stats. I hope he starts soon.
I think Kobe needs to lose some weight and maintain his strength. He has never been as quick as MJ. but now he is not that quick. He was a lot quicker when he came into the league. Maybe if it loss some weight and get back to were he was in 2002, then he can get some more endurance and quickness back. It definitely will help his D. That is just my opinion.
May 21st, 2007 at 10:44 pm
haha - how long are you two going to debate this? Don’t take this to mean I’m discouraging the debate, it’s entertaining
I respect Kobe as a player, but he’s not better than jordan.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Ever wondered what made him in the 1st defensive team? Its not sarcasm… its a question..
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Mainly reputation. The coaches who vote don’t watch all 82 Laker games. Also there are not a lot of great defensive guards in the league. His defensive numbers look better than his actual defense was.
May 27th, 2007 at 12:25 am
yeah but he can block and steal if he wants to.. right? It’s a shame he doesn’t do D
May 28th, 2007 at 8:54 am
The bottom line is that Kobe doesn’t have the drive and determination that Michael Jordan had. When things don’t go Kobe’s way, he tends to give up or blame others. I know that the Lakers don’t have the best talent in the league, but not once did Kobe but blame on himself. He had a horrible playoff series against Phoenix, but he never said “I’m the leader of this team and I should of played better. I have to be on top of my game for us to win. I really shot the ball poorly down the stretch.” Kobe never put blame on himself.
Now he is forcing the Lakers to get players or he wants to leave. Kobe is so selfish. He is the reason why the roster is so poor, because of the Shaq trade. Kobe wasn’t begging Shaq to stay. As soon as Shaq got traded and the other players were gone is when he made his decision to stay with the Lakers. He had to know that trading Shaq and getting rid of Fisher, Horry, Payton and Malone would set the team back a number of years.
A humble leader would of mentioned their piss poor play. Kobe had like 51 games were he shot under 50% this year. There is 82 games in a NBA season. He had a lot of bad shooting games this year. As a matter of fact, Kobe Bryant shot worse than the entire team this year. What does that tell you? Who couldn’t put the ball in the basket, Kobe or the Team? The stats say that Kobe couldn’t put the ball in the basket at a better percentage than his team. The team as whole shot better than Kobe Bryant. Wow!!! All I can say to quote Charles Barkley: “HE AIN’T NO MICHAEL JORDAN.” It is a sad time in Laker land.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 am
Everyone that isnt mature doesn’t put the blame on him/her self. Kobe’s a young guy. He needs to take responsibility or his actions and all. But don’t you think he’s playing his ass off? I mean when he passes the ball.. It’s like the lakers become garbage. I mean, really just look at it. And it wasn’t kobe’s decision that shaq had to leave or the other rosters. It was that damn guy Dr. Buss. he didnt want to pay shaq his 30$ million a year cuz he thinks shaq is declining because of his weight and age. The media has been killing kobe. Fans do nothing but shoots bullets at him. He takes the bullets. It was all the lakers organization’s fault. They promised kobe a good contender because they wanted kobe to re-sign with them. They failed to make good trades. There was the Jermaine o neal, the Carlos Boozer, the baron davis, and the jason kidd. But none, kobe was furious because of the lakers insider thing. Try to reasearch on it. I think it was sam cassel what he meant by the quote “he ain’t jordan” is that he isn’t in reality. Another quote from the TNT overtime “but he’s the closest one we’ve got”. If he shot that worse why did they make it to the playoffs with 42 wins at 7th seat. I mean a championship team needs great players and great players need to play in a great team. I mean its a team game. there isn’t any leader… well maybe the point guard but.. look at smush parker lol. BBall does not have a leader if you analyze it. We only say he’s the leader because he makes good passes and shoots very well or he’s the more talented so he’s the leader and all. The true leader of the team is the coach. What does phil jackson do. He uses kobe for thier offense. Phil jackson said ” If we have to play kobe ball, so be it”. This means phil doesn’t want the other players to have the ball.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
nafjunNBA-
Man!! That is the one of the most idiotic things I have heard in my life. Stop fallen into all the media hype and look at what is in front of your face. Basketball does have leaders on the court. The coach only can do so much. The lakers are suppose to run the triangle. Ok!! If the coach is telling them to run the offense and Kobe is doing his own thing, what does that say? Kobe thinks he is above the game and his coaches. Kobe is the best player on his team. So his teammates expect him to make the right decisions. I think we both agree that Kobe tries to take over in down the stretch. Whether it is scoring, playing defense, reb, or passing. His job as the leader and the best player on the floor is to make the best play. Kobe made a lot of wrong plays. A lot of selfish plays. Your team feels that man. These guys are professionals too man.
As for this year. Kobe 1st two months were absolutely great. I even told my dad that I loved the way Kobe was playing. I had been waiting for it for 3 years. He was getting his team involved. His three pointers were way down. He was shooting over 50% and his assist were up. He was playing more of a mid range game. Kobe wasn’t as predictable. Then the injuries. He fell into the trap of playing DUMB after the injuries. Every team has injuries and that is unfortunate, but if you are the best player on the planet, then I expect you to step up CONSISTENTLY and ball. no 9-22, 8-22, 6-15, 11-28, 13-30, or 6-19 from the field. Kobe had a lot of horrible shooting games. There were a lot more that I didn’t mention. You can’t even compare him to MJ. There is a reason that Kobe has never shot over 47% from the field. Even Clyde Drexler has done it.
All I’m saying is that a truely great player, like MJ would of stepped up big time after the injuries. Kobe did have a great 4 games in a row where he score 50+, but when the lakers had that 7 game losing streak, Kobe didn’t play well. When the lakers had that 6 game losing streak in Feb., Kobe had 4 horrible games out of the 6. Kobe ended up the year shooting worse than the team. Kobe didn’t step up his game after the injuries. And when the guys game back for the playoff run, Kobe didn’t put trust in them consistently, yet he was so inconsistent himself. Watch the games. You are missing the point. this is not about excuses, or shaq, or injuries. this is about Kobe being a man and STEPPING UP when needed. If you can’t step up by scoring do other things like playing defense or rebounding. Kobe became one dimensional and quite predictable. And in the end he gave up on the team. How would you feel if you were in the NBA and your leader didn’t give you a chance and gave up on you. I know I would tell Kobe where to go.
Kobe is quick to send text messages instead of talking person to person. Kobe is quick to blame everybody else except himself. Kobe is a cancer. I see through the dude. Kobe is quick to go on individual work outs but when it comes to team practice, he can’t figure out how to take advantage of his team strengths. The offense runs thru him. So he has to let these guys know where there shot is going to come and to practice on the shots there will get in the game. It is not going to happen over night. He’d better start now, he is wasting time. He should of been building up the confidence level of his team 3 years ago. Instead it took Phil Jackson to convince him at the end of last year that the team was ready. Kobe is so selfish and if you can’t see it you are in denial. He needs to refine his game, play harder, and adjust his attitude. He is not a winner. He was just lucky to be around winners his first 8 years.
By Phil saying “Kobe Ball” is an insult to Kobe and this great game. Phil knows Kobe is uncoachable. He’s already said it. Nothing has changed, except the lakers are paying Phil 10 Million a year and he is not expressing his true feelings about BEEF Bryant.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
As for Jerry Buss not wanting to pay Shaq. It is old news. I heard buss say this a couple of times. He said it wasn’t personal. It was just business. He didn’t think that shaq deserved the money he was asking for. But if Kobe wanted to win he would of demanded that Buss keep shaq. Buss didn’t want to loose both of them. so Kobe held all the cards. I know he and shaq had beef, but he should of demanded that shaq stay if he wanted to win right away. Kobe didn’t want shaq there anymore. That is why He signed his contract after shaq got traded.
Believe me if Kobe would of told Buss that if he didn’t keep shaq that he was leaving. buss would of had to bite the bullet, because he didn’t want to lose both players. But Kobe is all about Kobe. He don’t want to win. He is feeling the pressure. He is acting like a scared little girl. The team had injuries. It was a bad year. They do need some more players, but there team is not horrible when healthy. Kobe is in panic mode because things are not going his way.
June 13th, 2007 at 12:19 am
I think it is impossible to compare two players unless they are playing in the same era. MJ said himself that he still doesn’t believe he is the best because of players like Oscar Robertson, who averaged a triple double in a season. Oscar dominated the game just as much as anyone else.
As for the comparison of Jordan and Kobe, I think it is quite evident that if Jordan was the leader of the present day Lakers, he would be missing Scottie Pippens defense and offense, Steve Kerr’s shooting, and Dennis Rodman’s rebounding. There is no way that team can be a legitimate championship caliber team without a great big man. Even though we cannot say Kobe would have won 6 championships if he was on the Bulls with Pippen, but they would still have the potential to win a few. This cannot be said if Jordan had the Lakers.
I think the question of who is better will never be answered because of the different situations both were in (Lamar Odom is nothing like Pippen), unless Kobe somehow gets a championship with his Lakers squad. Kobe’s future success will answer the question of who is better, because i honestly doubt MJ can win a championship with Farmar, Walton, Kwame, and Odom. To be able to trust your teammates, they have to be able to catch, shoot, and make….some players (kwame) can’t even CATCH!!
June 17th, 2007 at 1:09 am
I think its a given that Kobe can score. Its a given Kobe is forced to take tougher shots then Jordan. Ill give everyone that is pro Bryant that also. The reason for that is the Jordan unlike Kobe made everyone around him better. Jordan never played with a center the likes of Shaq. The Bulls didnt start to show signs of greatness until players like Pippen, Kerr, and Kukoch started knocking down open shots. How were there created you might ask. Well by Jordan being double and triple teamed. The NBA is different now. Its a much faster paced high scoring game where your scorers take 40 to 50 shots on some nights. When Jordan played it was a whole lot more physical. In Jordan’s time teams played better defense you were not going to go out and average 100 points a night. Kobe is good. Hell I will go as far as saying Kobe is great. But there is no way that Kobe ever could hold a flame to what Jordan did over an entire career. The reason why. Kobe lacks heart. If Kobe wants to show he has heart and can play on Jordan’s level. I suggest he takes a pay cut and goes to a team that was a number 8 seed or just made the playoffs and prove it. Until that time. Sir Air Jordan Reigns Surpreme.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:20 am
micheal jordan is da’ god of basketball…
ask kobe when jordan shot a fade-away jumper
in the all-star game in kobe’s face!!
June 21st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Kobe is a classic case of psychological and pathological primma donna syndrome. Undoubtedly the most talented and most capable to reach greatness in this era (except for his small hands) but undisciplined and unwilling to work on his faults and temper.
I whole heartedly agree with some very accurate observations mentioned above… sure he looks like he has heart and is determined, but that is only when he is WINNING and on a roll. But once things aren’t going his way, he’ll just blank out and stare at the stars (I have a friend who does this while playing, talks trash and gets motivated, but once he plays with somebody better, he for some reason gets tired, is quiet and in his own little word)
July 5th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Lets get one thing straight. Michael Jordan before he ever won a title, was an efficient scorer, not a ball hog. Jordan before he won a title had at least a 50% shooting percentage combined, where as Kobe has never shot 50% for even one season. Strange how some people want to label Jordan a ball hog before he won his rings in a similar fashion because Kobe is being labeled a ball hog. How we soon forget that Jordan prior to winning a title had already been named NBA MVP, Defensive player of the year, lead the league in steals in two seasons, only guard and first player in the history of the NBA with at least 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season, rookie of the year, 4 scoring titles to Kobe’s 2. So you see accolades which have eluded Kobe through his entire career. Simply put even before winning a title Jordan’s talents were far superior to Kobe as illustrated by numerous accoladed which have eluded Kobe throughout his entire career!
July 5th, 2007 at 10:15 am
What Kobe Bryant fans need to realize, as great a scorer Kobe is in the regular season, to this day Kobe does not have a single scoring record in the playoffs.
Most 50 point playoff games
Player No.
Michael Jordan 8
Wilt Chamberlain 4
Allen Iverson 3
Most points in an NBA playoff game
No. Player Team Vs. Year
63 Michael Jordan Chi Bos 1986
61 Elgin Baylor LAL Bos 1962
56 Wilt Chamberlain Phi Syr 1962
56 Michael Jordan Chi Mia 1992
56 Charles Barkley Phx GS 1994
55 Allen Iverson Phi NO 2003
55 Rick Barry SF Phi 1967
55 Michael Jordan Chi Cle 1988
55 Michael Jordan Chi Phx 1993
55 Michael Jordan Chi Was 1997
Highest Scoring Averages, NBA Playoffs
Jerry West, LAL vs BAL, 1965, 46.3
Michael Jordan, CHI vs CLE, 1988, 45.2
Michael Jordan, CHI vs MIA, 1992, 45.0
Highest Scoring Averages, NBA Finals
Michael Jordan, CHI vs PHO, 1993, 41.0
Rick Barry, SFW vs PHI, 1965, 40.8
Elgin Baylor, LAL vs BOS, 1962, 40.6
Like Jerry West said, Kobe is not Michael Jordan, Kobe will never be Michael Jordan!
July 5th, 2007 at 10:55 am
And for crying out loud this whole thing about the they played in different eras and that today’s players are stronger is exaggerated. Go look at highlights of the 97 version of MJ, I have a hard time trying to come up with a guard now in the NBA who is as physcially strong as the 97 version of MJ. Also Shaq and Kobe won their first ring in 2000 only two years after MJ retired as a Bull in 1998. Use some common sense, many of the teams Shaq and Kobe schooled had players Jordan was schooling when they were younger and faster. A 40 year old Jordan in 2003, only four years ago was averaging 20ppg against the players today. Imagine what a prime Jordan would do?
July 16th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I could talk all night about reasons Kobe’s NOwhere near the level Michael Jordan achieved, but I’m going to focus on what you hear a lot of coaches and former players say now, two things in particular.
Kobe is better than Michael was at the same point in their careers? How? Kobe wouldn’t even have a championship if it weren’t for Shaq. Jordan probably wouldn’t have any if it weren’t for Pippen, but I look at it this way….Shaq was more the focal point with Kobe being second in line and the one that closed out the game. Jordan was always the focal point…Shaq’s won one since leaving…unless Kobe gets another superstar around he’ll never win anymore, and then perhaps we’ll see how he does being in the driver seat and THEN we can compare the two.
Kobe is a better scorer than Jordan? This is what I’ve heard more ‘experts’ say than anything, including Mark Jackson, Kenny Smith, and Skip Bayliss, the latter two often saying MJ’s the greatest ever and Kobe’s not even close, that he’s just a better scorer. I can see where someone would see this in one way, I suppose. Kobe makes scoring look easier because he’s mainly just doing jump shots and jacking lots of 3’s. He even had that 81 pt. game and that streak of 40-pt. games, and averaged 40+ ppg for a month, all of which MJ never did.
Ok, but I see two major differences that make me lean heavily toward saying Jordan is EASILY the better scorer. For one, Jordan usually seemed to have his highest scoring games against the hardest teams, such as the Knicks, Celtics (the all-time biggest scoring game in playoff history, MJ’s 63 in ‘86, was against Bird, Mchale, Parish, etc., the team that won the championship that year!), etc. Most of Kobe’s are against the no-name teams….Raptors with the 81-pt. game….wow, tough competition, eh?
The other thing comes from just watching the game. Look at the difference in the degree of difficulty in Jordan’s and Kobe’s shots. Jordan constantly performed all those exciting fakes, double pumping and hanging in midair and finishing with touch, and other difficult moves that most can only dream of doing. And he made his competition look like high schoolers, like they were puppets on strings. You don’t see that from Kobe nearly as much. Jordan even beats Kobe in STATS! MJ averaged 37.1 one season and even averaged 28.2 his rookie season, and has the all-time highest career playoff scoring average, and all-time highest scoring average for a career altogether. Sorry folks, Kobe’s awesome, but better than Jordan? I just don’t see it, not even in one aspect.
July 21st, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Normally I dont get involved with online battles.
I would never take away credit from the great one, however when you break down whos better, then lets be honest. I have heard numerous retarded fact about how Kobe is a ball hog, and Jordan was the hot damn truth. Honestly do you think Jordan was even challenged in his career. Fact 1 - Jordan has had Sub Par Shooting gaurds defending him in any clutch situation ( kevin johnson, john starks, sorry ass Brian Russell, you tell me who was his challenge)
Fact 2- Jordan biggest rivalry was with a group of retiring aging legends ( IE Aging celtics, maybe an old ass lakers team with balding kareem)
Fact 3- Tell me if you where to trade places with Kobe and Jordan in the 80’s do you not think the Bulls would still get their rings.
Fact 4 - I do not believe Jordan and the bulls would have it that easy in todays NBA, I think SA would beat them, I believe the shooting gaurds today ( Lebron, Wade, KOBE, McGrady, Carters) I mean real shooting gaurds, could really trade off with Mike, and are capable of averaging 30 plus 3/5 have.
_________________________________________________
Traits shared by both players
Both Clutch
Both scored at will
Both deemed to be team leader
Both considered Ball hogs
MJ better Y?
6 time champion
Multiple MVP
Rookie of the Year ( KOBE didnt get a full yr start until his 4th Season)
Both ALL-Stars
Great Mid range, and decent 3 pt shooter
Legend before his time
Y Kobe
-Attacks 3pts range more the jordan ever did
-Longer range
-3 time champ( with shaq I agree but Jordan needed pippin)
-Plays in a much more aggressive league then jordan ever did
-Multiple record setter
Can do anything Mike did as a player but more.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST MICHEAL JORDAN SAID HIMSELF ” Kobe is the best player in the league”
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:07 pm
There’s a big difference between being “the best player in the league” and being the greatest of all time. Kobe probably IS the best player in the league right now, but that doesn’t make him the best of all time or better than MJ. And the league is much more aggressive now than when MJ played? Shows what you know….not nearly as many major stars now as there was when MJ played (no player right now has nearly the stature that Bird and Magic had), and there were many more dominant teams when MJ played, and much greater centers to go up against.
July 27th, 2007 at 5:12 am
of course the teams now is better.. HAHAHA.. anyone who says the 80’s team can beat the spurs or suns is dreaming. C’mon man its Evolution Theory hahahaha. Was the 80’s better than the 60’s? yes.. was the 80’s better than the league right now? OF course not.. you must be dreaming hahahaha
July 27th, 2007 at 5:13 am
but I have to say michael jordan was waay past those guys… if he played in the league right now.. he wouldn’t get those kind of stats.. but still he was waay past his era… of course somebody will still stick to his own opinion no matter how stupid it is..
July 28th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Some of these youngsters just amuse me. The game right now is more physical and the defense is better? Are you kidding? The NBA right now is centered on offense and marketting the exciting perimeter player. Currently, you can’t so much as touch a player on the perimeter without being whistled for a foul. It’s virtually IMPOSSIBlE to guard a quick, athletic guard on the perimeter. Just ask Dwayne Wade, those 17 free throw attempts per game in last year’s finals had NEVER been met before. Even Shaq, in the 2000 finals, when he was hacked INTENTIONALLY, did not average as many free throw attempts.
In Jordan’s era, players were allowed to hand check and push a driving player to prevent his impediment. Jordan was practically fouled on nearly all his shot attempts. Just watch some footage of how John Starks guarded Jordan in the 92-93 Knicks-Bulls series - if Starks had played the same kind of defense in today’s game he would literally foul out 5 times in one game. Back then, there was also no flagrant fouls whiched allowed teams like New York and Detroit to be as physical as they liked. Now this is just talking about defense and the physicality of the NBA of course.
If you really want to compare Kobe and Jordan, the biggest discrepancy would probably be how the two performed in the play-offs. I won’t even get to Kobe’s performance in the Suns series. He showed up in exactly one game of the 5-game series and shot his whole team out of the game in the other four games. I remember distinctly in game 5, Odom was taking over for the Lakers and managed to pull them back in the game. Kobe re-enters, takes 3 bad long jumpers on the next possessions for the Lakers, and thus killing his team’s chances. Odom hardly even touched the ball once Kobe checked back in. I’m tired of hearing excuses that Kobe has a shit team especially since Lamar Odom could be an all-star on ANY other team in the NBA. As far as Jordan is concerned, his play-off performances were probably the main thing that seperates himself from every other player that has played this game.
And now Kobe has voiced his intentions of wanting to be traded despite the fact that the Lakers gave away SHAQ two years ago to ensure that he stays. To me, he is a cop out.
July 29th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Honestly, Kobe and Michaels’ careers are exact opposites. But, when it’s all said and done I think Kobe will win 7 championships. Why, I think we all agree that Kobe’s a little more athletic than Michael, and right now Kobe is 28, a year younger than Michael when he won his first championship. Kobe’s career up until this age milestone has already given him numerous All star appearances (two time all star mvp), 3 championships, 2 scoring titles, 81 point game, 5 straight 50 point games, numerous defensive first and second team honors, all by age 28. The last 4 years for kobe are comparison to the years jordan’s performance suffered because he came back after retirement both times, like I said they’re careers are like reverse parallel. kobe’s never going to retire twice and come back. he’s going to play until he can’t play anymore which might be another ten years if we use jordan as a model. Out of ten seasons, if he gets the right help like Jordan got with Rodman and Pippen. He could easily win four more championships, even another 3-peat. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP SAYING THAT KOBE RAN SHAQ OUT OF LA, THE LAKERS ORGANIZATION TRADED SHAQ BECAUSE THEY FELT HE WAS A LIABILITY, HE WAS GETING OLDER AND SUFFERING FROM KNEE TROUBLES AND THEY TRADED HIM WHILE THEY COULD GET VALUE FOR HIM, AND AS YOU SEE NOW MIAMI IS DEALING WITH THE VERY PROBLEMS OUT OF SHAQ THE LAKERS ORGANIZATION WAS TRYING TO AVOID, BUT MIAMI WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A GREAT COACH IN PAT RILEY ASSEMBLE A GREAT TEAM AROUND SHAQ AND GOT ONE RUN OUT OF THEM. SHAQ DIDN’T MAKE KOBE, THEY WERE A GREAT TEAM LIKE JORDAN AND PIPPEN, KAREEM AND MAGIC, STOCTON AND MALONE. BUT, FOR SOME REASON THE KOBE-HATERS REFUSE TO SEE THAT PHIL JACKSON WANTED SHAQ TO BE DOMINANT THE FIRST HALF, AND BECAUSE SHAQ WAS A FREE THROW LIABILITY SIT HIM DOWN IN THE FOURTH AND LET KOBE TAKE OVER. KOBE HAS CONSISTENTLY GOTTEN BETTER EVERY YEAR. IT IS CALLED EVOLUTION. I THINK BOTH KOBE AND lEBRON WILL SURPASS THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND LEGACY OF MJ, AND I THINK THESE TWO WILL HAVE A GREAT RIVALRY FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS, IT’S GOING TO BE GREAT AND I CAN’T WAIT.
July 30th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
His Royal Airness, Michael Jordan is “the best there ever was, the best there ever will be”. Who ever placed that on the statue outside the United Center didn’t do it just to fill up space, he said it because he had to put out there they way everyone felt about Jordan. Kobe will never be considered that way at the end of his career for the following powerful reasons. Get ready to go to skool.Jordan scored 2,313 points in his rookie year. Kobe didn’t even score 800(Wow, a rookie scoring 2000 points, that’s big). As a sophomore he scored 3,041 points. No one other than Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain scored more 3,000 points in a season and he was only a sophomore. Unbelievable considering Kobe had games in which he scored 81 and 62 points and averaged 35 ppg; still not good enough to at least score 3,000! Jordan’s 3,000 points outshadow Kobe’s 81 point game, in which he shamelessly only had a miserable 1 assist! Back to some more reason. Jordan also is a way better dunker, being the first to ever win back to back crowns. Something that sets him aside of all other dunker is that he was the first one to do all those crazy rock the cradle under the basket free throw line reverse windmill dunks! Jordan also won the defensive player of the year award. He is only a guard and he won that award. It could of gone to Olojuwon, Ewing, Barkley, Robinson but yet it went to a gaurd. Simply amazing! There is just so much stuff Jordan did that Kobe will never do like earn 5MVP’s and 6 Finals MVP’s. And for that argument that the NBA is better now than it was before and that Jordan had no competition, it makes no sense as much as this following word doesn’t make sense to me:; nboilw;hb! I mean, is Wilt Chamberlain not physicall enough for you and are the teams such as the Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz(who’s team contains two current record holding players who’s records will not be broken for a long time)Seattle Sonics, Portland TrailBlazers, Pheonix Suns, New York Knicks, Detriot Pistons, Indiana Pacers, and also the Lakers and Spurs and Shaq came in 93, well within Jordan’s glory time. Come on, I mean all these teams won at least more than fifty games a season. Just take five players from the eighties in their respective positions such as Jordan, Thomas, Olajuwon vs. the current NBA. Be honest now, you know the eighties wouldn’t just win they would tear up their competition. And for that dork who said they didn’t even have double teams, have you not heard of Detriot’s Jordan Rules. They had to commit flagruent fouls against him to stop him from scoreing and it worked for 3 years but in the end it was Jordan’s teamwork that made the Pistons walk out of the stadium in game four of theie series against the Bulls with more than a minute left in the game in a four game sweep. And for that other dork that said that Joe Dumars couldn’t defend Jordan because of an inch, I am sure that if you were five nine and I am five eight I could gaurd the heck out of you and shut you down baby! Now imagine a profesional b ball player who specializes in defense! So write your argument and see if I will not beat your point like I have just done and I didn’t even talk that much about Kobe so bring it on. Until then Michael Jeffrey Jordan is the greatest player to ever play the game!
August 1st, 2007 at 6:15 am
the point is…. you cannot debate on this unless kobe ends his career… that’s all thank you…
August 1st, 2007 at 6:16 am
the point is…. you cannot debate on this unless kobe ends his career… that’s all thank you… because you cant say a book is good without finishing it and only reading it halfway there… right? well if you can, then you’re an idiot.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Well, what you say is not completely true. We are all comparing Jordan and Kobe on Jordan’s accomplishments with the Bulls. Now, Jordan played twelve seasons with the Bulls and Kobe has played elleven with the Lakers. This means if you want to compare Jordan and Kobe fairly on what they did Kobe only has one more season to prove he is better than Jordan which I seriously doubt he will unless he can win 5MVP’s, 3 more titles, 8 more scoring titles, defensive player of the year, another dunk crown, another All Star MVP, rookie of the year, and Time Magazine’ second most influential athlete in the century next to Babe Ruth, all in the next year! If he can then by all means Kobe is better than Jordan, but I doubt he will so your point has been beat!
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
One can argue that kobe bryant is not even the best player in the NBA today. Saying kobe is better than MJ is just idiotic. It is disrespectful also. When kobe played with shaq, kobe wasn’t even the best player on his team. Shaq was the dominant force on that team.
In 11 seasons kobe has not MVP’s finals MVP’s, steal titles, DPOY award, and he has never scored over 50 pts in the playoffs. MJ was on another level and every 2 guard that comes along gets compared to MJ, because MJ is the standard of excellence. Kobe doesn’t have the mental strength or fire to be even mentioned with MJ. When MJ lost he accepted it and it made him stronger. When kobe loses, he starts crying and pointing the fingers at every one but himself. Kobe is just a carbon copy of the original(Jordan).
MJ holds 69 NBA records. Kobe holds 5 NBA records(no playoff records either). The playoffs are where legends are made. What records have kobe broken in the playoffs? This topic is too easy. MJ is way better than kobe.
In 13 seasons with the bulls MJ’s career was cemented. MJ in 13 seasons had 5 MVP’s 6 finals MVP’s, and DPOY, 6 championships, and he also had averaged more pts, rebs, assists, steals, blocks, and shot a higher fg%. Kobe has 2 more seasons to do what MJ did. It is impossible. AIR JORDAN AS A SHOOTING GUARD IS IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF. KOBE JUST CAN’T HANG. PERIOD.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Spok you are an idiot… you are totally a kobe hater fanatic.. even in youtube.. even in blogs.. even in other websites I see your name everywhere spreading the bad news about kobe… spokgam… hahahaha… idiot
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:12 pm
plus kobe started from highschool… man you cant compare the 2… whhy would someone want to compare someone with totally different careers.. if jordan would have started from highschool…. he would not have achieved what he had achieved god damnit… kobe haters.. everybody starts comparing them.. what idiots.. nobody can compare them(then somebody will still say they can be compared are idiots.. if he disagrees with me I’m the idiot now… that makes him even more idiotic) tsk tsk…. hahahaha I’ll only laugh at all of your replies
August 4th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
This Michael Jordan is getting fucking annoying. I have to say it somewhere, I read it all the time. Jordan is better than Kobe, ok. But the way some fans talk about Jordan is borderline god worshiping. He whined like a baby after calls. Mr. Respect the game was paid 30.1 million dollars for one season in 1996. Jordan set the standard for these assholes who now care about the money. Jordan also made 40 million dollars in one season from ENDORSEMENTS. I mean, how selfish ist that? All he cares about is the money! Did you know he was also fined for conduct detrimental to the team in 1987? Gosh, he has lost all my respect. Michael Jordan is an greedy, selfish, asshole of a person. You can personally thank him for this era of paycheck players.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
This Michael Jordan is getting fucking annoying. I have to say it somewhere, I read it all the time. Jordan is better than Kobe, ok. But the way some fans talk about Jordan is borderline god worshiping. He whined like a baby after calls. Mr. Respect the game was paid 30.1 million dollars for one season in 1996. Jordan set the standard for these assholes who now care about the money. Jordan also made 40 million dollars in one season from ENDORSEMENTS. I mean, how selfish ist that? All he cares about is the money! Did you know he was also fined for conduct detrimental to the team in 1987? Gosh, he has lost all my respect. Michael Jordan is an greedy, selfish, asshole of a person. You can personally thank him for this era of paycheck players.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Kobe is a great player. Nobody in the league plays with the determination that Kobe plays. That’s something that his opponents admire about the guy. I honestly feel that he gets bashed more than ever because of his skill level. I am a Jordan fan also, but I understand that records are meant to be broken and there is always someone who will challenge greatness. I think people are not ready to see Kobe do that. Still living in that past.
August 8th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I can say Mike hasn’t matured into a great player he was molded that way. He was a selfish ballhog and hasn’t won a championship in his first six seasons. Phil Jackson had to come and make him a team player and what happened they won championships…and the same with shaq and kobe they were dry until phil came and said CHILL OUT…but i think Kobe put more effort into winning his games than MJ not taking credit away from Mike but he didn