But that’s exactly the point. Jordan became everything his team needed. His ablity to dominate so completely and so efficiently from the shooting guard position is completely unparalleled.

“Without Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, and Scottie Pippen, Jordan doesn’t win a championship. I don’t care if he averaged 50 points a game on 50% from the field, he doesn’t go down as greater than Magic Johnson if he fails to win championships. That’s my point, and it’s more than valid.”

There’s not a single championship team you can’t say that about. Nobody wins games without help. My point is that Jordan carried a load like no other single star has, and he won in a way that no other team has been able to win. The Bulls defied conventional knowledge that you have to have a good big man to win, and the only reason they did so is because Jordan was far and away the greatest player of all time.

“No one is denying that Jordan is the greatest.”

And yet year after year we continually get articles talking about Kobe vs. Jordan of one form or another. I’m not just saying that Jordan is the best ever, I’m saying that Jordan and Kobe are not even remotely close, and it’s completely ridiculous that people keep bringing this up. To this day I’ve never seen any legitimate argument that the two players should be mentioned in the same breath. Frankly, if people would stop comparing Kobe with a standard he can’t possibly live up to, we’d all be a lot happier.

But if you watch ESPN, or FoxSports, or whatever, you’d think Kobe was just being Kobe (god) again. It’s just surreal the way this guy can practically sabotage wins with his shot-forcing and his 5-year old emotions, and yet his reputation is still at an all-time high.

Lol. Cleveland looks good. I’m looking forward to watching them matchup with the Celtics this season. Boston is their only obstacle in the East.

No one is denying that Jordan is the greatest.

You can try and dismiss Jordan’s Hall of Fame teammates by arguing that Jordan won without an All-Star caliber big man, but he did so because he became the best low-post scorer of his era. It’s not as if he accomplished things through traditional guard means. I’m not saying that makes his accomplishments less impressive, but it’s worth noting.

Without Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, and Scottie Pippen, Jordan doesn’t win a championship. I don’t care if he averaged 50 points a game on 50% from the field, he doesn’t go down as greater than Magic Johnson if he fails to win championships. That’s my point, and it’s more than valid.

As far as comparing Kobe to Jordan, I think I’ll go with Tex Winters and Phil Jackson on this one. Tex and Phil have coached both players. If they feel it’s a valid comparison, I’ll take their word for it.

I never said the Cavs were “pretenders.” In fact, I don’t think I wrote one disparaging word about the Cavs. I said the Lakers are more talented and in better position to contend over the next couple seasons.

I said the Cavs were contenders, but they don’t have as much talent as LA. That could change before the trade deadline.

I like what I’ve seen from the Cavs. They’re playing very well right now. But they’re schedule has been pretty weak. I’m not being biased when I say that, I said the same thing when the Rockets won 22 straight last season.

The only “quality” win on Cleveland’s schedule thus far is Denver. They lost to Boston, New Orleans, and Detroit. They’re contenders, no doubt about it. But I don’t think we’ll know how good they are until February.

You said, “There is no reason for me to believe that the Lakers will be a contender for as long as the Cavs (if lebron stays).”

The Lakers are my squad. But they’re going to be contenders as long as Bryant, Gasol, Bynum, Ariza, and Odom are in uniform. There’s a chance that LA could lose Odom over the off-season. But they just locked up Bynum, Ariza will be extended next year, and Gasol is locked up. Kobe’s contract is a foregone conclusion.

The Lakers are a lot younger than the Cavs too. Kobe and Fisher are the only two Lakers who are over 30. Bryant is past his athletic prime, but his game has never been predicated upon athleticism.

Cleveland’s frontcourt is over the hill. The Cavs aren’t that dependent upon Z and Big Ben but those are two pieces that will need to be replaced soon.

–hamlet

yeah, or

d.fisher
gasol
odom
radman

who cares about accuracy when speaking on the greatest player on the planet?

it’s KOBE!! bryant blog day!!!!!!!!!!

2nd largest blowout in finals history.

biggest lead blown in finals history.

lakers in 5.

wet the bed

walk the walk

ship his ass out

championship caliber talent

kobe bryant blog day

blown 3 games to 1 playoff series lead

shaq dips, p.j. dips. lakers miss playoffs.

_______________

you might wanna jump on the cavs band wagon hoffman. they got a look about them that i have NEVER seen. these games are over before the 4th quarter even starts.

legone james hasn’t been on the floor in the 4th quarter THE LAST 4 GAMES.

don’t let your bias and hatred for all things cleveland ruin what could be a historical season for the cavs.

you and your media buddies better hurry up with the push for legone to NYC before it’s too late.

I actually get angry when someone compares these guys. Kobe isn’t even remotely close to Jordan in any one facet of the game. Compared to Jordan, Kobe is a scrub.

Please, let’s get off this. The people who bring this stuff up are Kobe lovers who have forgotten how good Jordan was.

This isn’t a knock on Kobe… it’s just an unfair comparison. Comparing Kobe to Jordan is like comparing, say, Patrick Ewing to Bill Russell.

And someone made this comment: “I don’t think Barkley would start in the NBA today, much less be an all-star.”

That wins the dumbest comment of 2008 award, hands-down. Barkley wouldn’t start in today’s NBA but meanwhile someone like Kevin Love would, right? Moronic comment, really. Sorry for being harsh, but you need to hear it. Truth is, Barkley would destroy people today. He’d average 30 and 15 EASILY.

Michael Jordan is the greatest player ever to play the game. Period. If you want to look at stats, it isn’t even remotely close. If you want to look at “clutch” moments (if you believe in that kind of thing), I don’t think I need to remind you of Jordan’s resume in that area. If you want to talk about longevity, we can talk about a guy who played 15 seasons, and even collected a few MVP votes at the age of 38. You want to talk titles? There’s been no greater winner in the modern era of basketball, and one can reasonably argue that Jordan’s titles are every bit as impressive as those of the Russell Celtics, given the improved parity in the game and the advent of free agency. You want to talk about supporting cast? Talk all you want about how Jordan had two other HoFers, but the Bulls are only the second team in history (along with the 75 Warriors) to win an NBA title without an all-star caliber big man who could score or block shots. Run down the entire list. Every other team out there had a big man who could intimidate at the rim or who you could dump the ball into for a score, most teams had both. The Bulls are unique in basketball history in that Jordan was so good that they didn’t have to fit the traditional mold. Nobody else did that. Talk about Pippen all you want, but there was never any question who was top dog in Chicago, Scottie was a complementary player from day one, Jordan was the driving force. You want to talk about the era they played in? Jordan regularly had to go through two of the league’s greatest historical defenses (Knicks and Pistons) who very famously made is their sole purpose to make his life a living hell (The “Jordan Rules”). He also played before the league cut down on hand-checking like they have today. No way MJ doesn’t average 40+ with today’s rules.

Why do we insist on talking about this. Kobe isn’t in the same stratosphere as Jordan. I don’t care what Phil Jackson says about him. I don’t give a crap who is more “skilled” (which means what anyway?), what matters is what they did with that skill, and what Kobe has done isn’t close to what Jordan did. That’s not a knock on Kobe. No one is in the same stratosphere as Jordan. This season, through 21 games, we’re seeing LeBron put up the kind of numbers that no one has done since Jordan. Come back to me once he does that for 8 straight years, then maybe we’ll talk about challenging the real King.

They are for real dude. They are blowing out teams on a regular basis without breaking a sweat. That just doesn’t happen.

you don’t get lucky and win 9 games in a row by an average of 21 points. Everyone is contributing. It’s not like LeBron is dropping 50 a night and you could say “well, they’re relying so much on lebron, he’s going to be tired or injured come june and the Celtics will make others beat them”. No, it’s not like that at all. For the 3rd time this season, every single player on the cavs 12 man roster scored. Do you realize how remarkable that is? Stuff like that doesn’t happen in the NBA. It’s happened 3 times already for the Cavs. And they are doing all this without a lot of what I think of as the “luck factors”. Their 3 point shooting has been pretty bad overall – Gibson, Szczerbiak, Lebron, and Mo Williams are all having like their worst 3pt shooting seasons ever – and opposing teams are shooting like 80% from the ft line – which is just bad luck.

there is one weakness the cavs have – and trust me it’s not Lebron – I’ll write about it in my cavs writeup that i will submit to you tonight.

Cheers!

Kobe a better ball-handler than Jordan? Are you serious? No way dude. No way at all.

And arguing who is the better passer Jordan or Kobe is like arguing who was the better rebounder, Steve Nash or Mark Price. Neither player was a skilled passer – most of their assists came because defenses focused so much on them.

look, Jordan was much faster than Kobe. MUCH faster. He was also quicker laterally. He had better hops, was a better finisher, and on a whole different plane in terms of efficiency. He was also a better rebounder.

I know you like to bring up the part about Kobe choosing to guard the other teams best player and Jordan letting Pippen do that. Kobe’s got a great nose for the ball – if there was a scramble for a ball I’d definitely want him out there. But he is not some generation-defining defender either.

Lebron’s weaknesses are becoming less and less apparent with the current makeup of the cavs. He’s improved his free throw shooting, he is getting chances to catch-and-shoot for once in his career (and he’s been pretty solid) – and while his off the dribble deep jumpers have been about the same (spotty) – he’s taking less of them.

His defensive improvements over the last 3 years have been remarkable, and he continues to improve upon his legendary efficiency.

There is no reason for me to believe that the Lakers will be a contender for as long as the Cavs (if lebron stays). Kobe is not the Kobe of 2006Iin fact every time I watch him I am less and less impressed), Bynum is not the next Bill Russel, and once teams stop crapping their pants every time the Lakers press the ball, they aren’t going to be leading a defensive juggernaut.

I agree that Kobe receives a lot of hype.

That comes with the territory of playing for the Lakers. They’re a storied franchise and they reside in the league’s second largest media market.

But Kobe’s “greatness” isn’t manufactured by the media.

Ninety-five percent of his peers regard him as the greatest player in the game — LeBron James (as recently as last season) included.

I agree that you can make an argument for a few players as being the best in the game. But there are a few reasons for that.

The “greatest player in the game” mantle tends to stick with the NBA champion. Dwyane Wade was thought of as the best player in the game in 2006. Before that it alternated between Duncan and Shaq.

Look, Jordan is the greatest ever. There’s no disputing that. But he played on a great team. A team that won 55 games in his absence. If he loses a championship or two, there would have been people questioning his place in the game. But that never happened, partly because of who he was, and partly because of who he was surrounded by. That’s why there was never any room for debate, you can’t argue against rings.

Kobe and LeBron are getting to that point now. Kobe has a more talented team, but Cleveland could enter that conversation by making a big move before the trade deadline.

Even still, the Celtics are the class of the NBA. Boston has 3 future Hall of Famers. Jordan’s Bulls had 3 Hall of Famers. Kobe is the only Hall of Famer on the Lakers. LeBron is the only Hall of Famer on the Cavs.

It will be interesting to see if LeBron or Kobe put a stranglehold on the league over the next few seasons. Both players are on championship-caliber teams. Whichever player leads their team to more rings will probably be regarded as the greater player. That’s just how it goes.

Train said, “In my opinion, basketball in the late 80’s/early 90’s was superior to today’s basketball. Jordan faced better competition. I think a healthy Wade is just as good as Kobe. I think LeBron is the best player in the game.”

I agree that Jordan faced better competition. That’s why it’s important to consider the competition when comparing players. I don’t care what LeBron, Wade, or Kobe do against the Bobcats. I think it’s more telling to see what they’re capable of against the league’s stingiest defenses. Watch how they perform against the Spurs, or Celtics, and tell me who’s greater. LeBron shot 36% against the Celtics last season. Wade shot like 19% versus the C’s during the regular season. Kobe struggled too, but not as much as LeBron or Wade. Why? Because Kobe doesn’t have as many weaknesses. He’s a better all-around player.

Jordan never won a thing without Pippen.

Also, you’re trying to compare two individuals in a team sport. You can never really know the answer to this. There’s too many variables. Jordan’s supporting cast was different than Kobe’s. Kobe took a team that started smush parker, luke walton, and kwame brown to the finals. The opposition was different. More players today use high-tech training techniques than they did in the 80’s. I don’t think Barkley would start in the NBA today, much less be an all-star.

But yes, Jordan was better. Though Kobe still has a few more years to define his legacy.