MJ OR KOBE?

[Who is the greatest basketball player of all time??]

Who is the greatest basketball player of all time??

Michael Jordan

 35 (72.9%)

Kobe Bryant

 5 (10.4%)

Bill Russell

 2 (4.2%)

Magic Johnson

 5 (10.4%)

Larry Bird

 1 (2.1%)

Total Members Voted: 48

[I hate 20 dollar bills, I like 100's!!!]

How can a person be educated if they never went to college because they chose to play professional basketball? Your comparing teenagers to grown men.  It is more likely for them to act not as mature as grown men and make mistakes...Everyone of them isnt blessed with a good support system. Look at the Kevin Garnett story. He was his own parent and had to raise his sister. Sebastian Telefair was trying to get out the projects. The list goes on. Unfortunately I didnt phrase what I was trying to say right. What I mean is that these were teenagers coming into the NBA, versus grown men with college degrees. So you can expect the 80's players to have much more class. They are more mature and older....

[ChiJD]

Back to the original topic.....

This isn't even a question. MJ hands down.

Also, Luc Longley was never, is not, and shall never be considered a respectable player. He was pretty much just a big body in the paint. He didn't really "do" much of anything else.

[I hate 20 dollar bills, I like 100's!!!]

Back to the original topic.....

This isn't even a question. MJ hands down.

Also, Luc Longley was never, is not, and shall never be considered a respectable player. He was pretty much just a big body in the paint. He didn't really "do" much of anything else.

Luc Longley is by far better than Samaki Walker and Kwame Brown. Kwame Brown may be the biggest bust in the history of the nba. Luc Longley had Horace Grant to compliment him...Who was very respected, especially in his prime.

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

MJ without question.  Kobe is easily the best player in the NBA right now, but Kobe has admitedly imitated MJ since his high school days in Philly so it wouldn't make any sense for him to be better than the person who he is imitating.


And can we get an honorable mention for Bro. Wilt?  And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?  Wsup?

[I hate 20 dollar bills, I like 100's!!!]

MJ without question.  Kobe is easily the best player in the NBA right now, but Kobe has admitedly imitated MJ since his high school days in Philly so it wouldn't make any sense for him to be better than the person who he is imitating.


And can we get an honorable mention for Bro. Wilt?  And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?  Wsup?

Kobe is the closest thing to Jordan. In a sense, everyone imitates there games after Jordan. He is basketball. I see the similarities but they also have differences too. Kobe is a better pure shooter where as Jordan has more of the intangibles....

p.s Sorry about Wilt and Kareem..I didnt have enought spots. But they are definately greats!

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

They are greats indeed.

On the real though, and I've heard a lot of people say this, I really stopped watching the NBA after Jordan left. It just ain't the same anymore.

[Astro]

Hmm, let's see...

MJ beats Kobe in every major playoff statistical category.  Far ahead in points per game, more than a whole steal, rebound, and assist per game ahead of Kobe, and also beats him in blocks per game.  Basically tied for turnovers (Kobe has 0.1 fewer per game).

MJ had six championships with teams of varying make-ups.  Kobe has three, all with basically the same team.

MJ almost never missed a clutch shot.  Kobe's pretty clutch too, but he hasn't been quite as tested when the stakes were highest as MJ was.

MJ never had an inside presence.  Kobe did, and it was considerable: 4-time champion Shaq.

Both have had excellent defensive help on the floor.  MJ probably got a bit better assistance than Kobe.


All that said, my take is that Kobe writes his script over the next two or three years with this new Lakers team.  Not only does he need to show that he can win with this team while dominating games both offensively and defensively, but he has to be the clutch guy, time after time, without fail.  And he needs to win at least two more championships.

It's a tough ask, but he may be able to do it.  If he does, they'll probably be equal, and you can go with either one and not lose the argument.  Right now, though, it's MJ on reputation and performance, with Kobe having the potential to get there.

[UnbiasedObserver]

Jordan did have a good inside presence.  Horace grant, Rodman, Longley were all respectable players. Grant and Rodman were actually good players. Rodman was an all star player. While Jordan did not have a dominate big man, he had a world class supporting system. From pippen, to Kucoc, to Grant, to Armstrong, to Rodman, he has way more support than Kobe Bryant had.  And your right, Odom is a very poor man's version of Scottie Pippen. Pippen did carry them to the 2nd round without Jordan and even had a career year statistically.  Kobe has a supporting system now and we shall see. Kobe isnt blessed to have a pippen on his team. So whether he is playing iverson, lebron, wade, williams or tmac, Kobe takes on the defensive task of guarding them...Unlike Jordan who was also good defensively, but pippen was GREAT.

1) Horace Grant averaged 11.2 points per game for his career.  That's mediocre.

2) Rodman averaged 7.3 points per game.

3) Luc Longley averaged 7.2 points per game.  That's not good.

4) Let's look at who was on the Lakers' 1999-2000 squad:

   a) Ron Harper
   b) Glen Rice
   c) Robert Horry

While a) and b) were past their prime, they are much better players than the ones that the Bulls had for a supporting cast, in terms of skill.

[gatornation]

MJ was, far and away, the best player ever.  His career stats far outmatch Kobe, even when you consider that Jordan played way into his 40s which hurt his numbers. Kobe is an amazing player, and has been for many years, but he is highly overrated because people see an amazing 10 minute stretch (or occasionally 48 minute stretch, which leads to those 50+ point games) and forget about all the other times where he's launching and missing a ton of bad shots. He shoots a pretty low percentage for an all time great (much lower than Jordan).  He is only the third or fourth best player in the league right now, after LeBron, Chris Paul, and possibly Duncan or KG.  I should clarify that by best I mean most productive and useful, not most accomplished.. obviously Kobe is more accomplished than any of those guys other than Duncan.

[I hate 20 dollar bills, I like 100's!!!]

MJ was, far and away, the best player ever.  His career stats far outmatch Kobe, even when you consider that Jordan played way into his 40s which hurt his numbers. Kobe is an amazing player, and has been for many years, but he is highly overrated because people see an amazing 10 minute stretch (or occasionally 48 minute stretch, which leads to those 50+ point games) and forget about all the other times where he's launching and missing a ton of bad shots. He shoots a pretty low percentage for an all time great (much lower than Jordan).  He is only the third or fourth best player in the league right now, after LeBron, Chris Paul, and possibly Duncan or KG.  I should clarify that by best I mean most productive and useful, not most accomplished.. obviously Kobe is more accomplished than any of those guys other than Duncan.

Please dont even mention Lebron in the same sentence as Kobe. Kobe is hands down the best player in the league and has been for a few years now.  I agree, to solidify his name with Jordan, he would have to win with this team. Which I think he'll do. People forget that Bynum, who was one of the leagues best big man, is still hurt. But the Lakers are still dominating.The stats about Rodman are true, but it was his defensive and rebounding presence.Rodman won consectutive defense player of the year awards, along with a 6th man of the year award. I dont think Kobe ever had that....He led the league in rebounding while playing with the bulls.  Ron harper played on the bulls championship teams! He was in his prime than! Pippen was a three time nba all first team and 8 TIME nba defensive team. 7 TIME all star and NBA TOP 50 GREAT!Kucoc averaged 13 off of the bench! Kobe had a dominate inside force while Jordan had two of the best defenders, and the best rebounder in NBA history. Kobe definately has to win with this team...and a couple times at that!

If Kobe wanted to average 40 a night he could. But he's learning how to win. He is playing his role and is looking good while doing it. He still has another 8-10 years to play. People forgot that he came into the leage at age 17 and was winning rings by the age of 22.....