You gotta ask yourself how many signature playoff moments does Kobe have against REAL teams and how many does MJ have? All those regular season stats and moments are cool but no REAL superstar vanishes during the REAL crunch time

HoLLA

I think if you take away all the rings and all the scoring stuff and just look at their skill sets, I think is it very close. The thing that links Kobe and Jordan is their killer instinct. They don’t want to win, they want to step on your throat and rip your heart out. LBJ doesn’t have that, Wade doesn’t have that, Duncan doesn’t have that. You guys all watched the Gold Medal game. Its the fourth quarter, the US has squandered all but a 2 point lead, and Kobe just took over…bucket, bucket, assist, assist, assist, bucket…much like MJ would have done, if put in the same spot.

Kobe has been by far the best player in the league for about the last 8 years. Every player and coach in the league will tell you that. Phil Jackson, having coached them both in their primes, has stated publicly Kobe is the best player he has ever coached, on more than one occasion. Perhaps that is a motivator for Kobe, and Phil is the “Zen-master”, but it is a matter of public record.

Comparing him and Jordan is almost a push. Both devastating late. Both want the ball. Both excellent inside or outside, especially late. Both fiercely competitive. The one area where Kobe could be considered truly better is that everything trick MJ had in his arsenal in a career, Kobe had perfected by age 22-23. The first time I saw him start dropping turn around fadeaway jumpers, I thought, WOW, this kid is 22?!? We never saw that out of Jordan until his 30s. However, you could argue this is because Kobe had the benefit of someone to pattern moves after. To me this doesn’t discredit Kobe, it is simply a product of history.

On the MJ side, you can argue that he was the right person at the right time in the NBA. With the global marketing of “Air Jordan” of course there won’t ever be another like him, because he was the right guy at the right time. Fortunately, he had the game and the looks to make it so. Does this lessen MJ’s on court talent, I don’t think so. The only person you could compare MJ to in this regard is Tiger Woods, and there is no question who is more dominant in his sport. Tiger is the best golfer ever, period, and is a global icon. But this takes us away from the question. Getting back to MJ/Kobe…

I will say this, i have had the priviledge of seeing them both in their primes, and they are very close. Some of the things MJ did on the court still electrify me at the thought. On the Kobe side, can anyone argue that watching him drop 60+ in 3 quarters against Dallas or 81 against Toronto were the greatest displays of offense you have ever witnessed. I enjoy watching both of them.

The one area that doesn’t get talked about, except in regard to Kobe is the whole personality side of things. Ball hog, arrogant, a-hole…all words dumped on Kobe, but I recall all those same things said about MJ too. Personally, I think it has no bearing on their skill set, so I have chosen to ignore it, but mention it here simply because some people have mentioned it. It is a mute point to me.

To compare the greatest of all-time, I think it would only be fair to compare when both guys are finished with their careers. That said, not sure you can compare players from different eras with different rules and a vastly different NBA game. Time will tell, and the debate will rage, and that is the beauty of sport.

Kobe tries way too hard – you can’t respect someone whose highest goal is to be an imitation.