Kobe is a great player but he will never be as great as Michael Jordan, who agrees?
489590
I agree.  \n\nBusiness stand point:\nFor one thing, MJ is an icon and innovator.  He is a living legend.  He changed basketball.  That cannot be quantified in statistics.  He made basketball a money maker in endorsements and marketing.  People wanted to be "Like Mike".  I rarely hear pple coin the phrase I want to be "Like Kobe".\n\nPlayer standpoint:\nOkay, he was an outstanding player.  He made every teammate around him better.  Kobe can sometimes, but is too inconsistent.  Sometimes, he forces his individual game too much.  Kobe can make it in the clutch sometimes..but seriously...Jordan is the CLUTCH player.  And, he took retirement..came back and brought Chicago to championships again.  I mean how many players can retire..not play and then come back again?\n\nMedia standpoint:\nKobe has the Colorado scandal and is known to be somewhat selfish and arrogant from media and public.  He also dissed Shaq.  Jordan did not diss Pippen.  You gotta respect your teammates when they help take you to championships.\n\nConclusion: Jordan is the best basketball player and is better than Kobe by far.
356069
come on now that shouldn't even be a question. Jordan is the best basketball player there ever was and ever be. There will NEVER i repeat NEVER be another Jordan. The best player EVER!
198120
LeBron James definately as a team player and overall skills. Kobe's better on defense, in game-winning situations, and in pure scoring.
1129122
you guys dont know your basketball..\nkobe bryant is the best basketball player ever\nthat isnt an opinion\n\nif the question is "who is the best player in the nba?" its kobe bryant without a doubt\n\ni think he overcame more than anyone in this league and loves this sport more than anyone\n\nhe practices far more than a normal human should and i think that shows\n\nstat wise .. "oh hes a ball hogger" haha .. or the fact that he wont get a mvp award \n\nis because of his team\ndont even start with me\n\nkobe bryant overcame jordans accomplishments \n\nkobe is a better player than micheal \nwanna argue? i dare you\n\nkobe is #1\n\nlebron doesnt know a thing about defensive switches and weak offensive help\nhe isnt #1 now he is way too young \nbeing #1 doesnt look upon their stats .. rookies..\n\nwade is going to hurt himself he is skillful in SOME ways but in others he is ignorant and immature \nhe'll get hurt in no time as a.i experienced\nquote me on that\n\noverall\nkobe is #1 as of now\n\ndirk nowitski is getting there\n\n#1 - kobe bryant\n#2 - steve nash\n#3 - dirk nowitski
285101
I gotta say that Kobe will easily be in the top 10 by the end of his career.  He's already setting records and people don't even think he's peaked yet.  Comparing him to Shaq is unfair...  Shaq = most dominant player in the NBA, Kobe = best player in the NBA.  The only legit person I'd compare him to is Jordan (not that I think he's as good as Jordan).  Just compare the size of both guys and their game.  Kobe's still leading the league in points per game and most of the time he's double (or even triple) teamed.  He has already been nominated in the "next top 10" list during the all-star break, ahead of players like Wilkins or Iverson.  I'd bank on him even breaking top 5.\n\nMatt
70031
While glances at Kobe's moves every now and then might give one a passing thought at a Jordan comparison, my personal answer to this question is a resounding no.\n\nGenerally speaking, I don't think it's fair to compare a player to Michael Jordan, easily one of the top athletes in modern history, while Bryant is still in the middle of his career. Simply put, Kobe does not have comparable numbers to Jordan--he hasn't had the time. Yes, at the rate he's going, it's possible that Kobe could rack up some Jordan-esque numbers down the line, but we don't know that yet. There is no need to make premature assumptions.\n\nThat said, even now, Kobe should not be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan simply because of team success. Michael Jordan won six NBA titles with the Bulls. Yes, Kobe's won three champonships with his Lakers--but he has not almost singlularly contributed to them as Jordan did to his Bulls. Yes, Jordan had his Pippen, but Kobe had his Shaq--a future Hall of Famer. Now with Shaq off to the Miami Heat, the Lakers have been struggling, and Kobe cannot singularly handle other teams--like Jordan often did.\n\nWhile it's far to soon to make this comparison, I think Jordan is by far and away above Kobe, and the order will remain that way for a long, long time.
544251
Michael Jordan, and it's not even close! Kobe is a selfish pr*ck and a ball-hog. He doesn't make his teammates better, and he doesn't care about winning, as long as his numbers look good.\n\nJordan learned to be a teammate, to get his team involved, he made himself a better defensive player, and improved his overall game every year.\n\nDon't even TRY to compare the two.
561234
Nobody will EVER be the next Jordan, he totally changed the  game and he was always getting better, trying to become a better player. Nobody will ever get up to his standard!!
683919
they prob. are retarded, the only reason why people dont wanna say kobe is the best is cuzz of all the scandal around him. Jordan was the embodiment of an athlete
471406
At this point, Kobe Bryant is the best player for me because he plays in a completely different level compared to other players, but I believe LeBron's gonna be better than him in the future. He's still young but look at what he can do already.
291023
There are different things that make basketball players great.  When you look at a player like Jordan, he was a great scorer and a great defender.  He also made players around him better.  With a player like Shaq, he gets a bad rep because of his free throws, but in reality there has never been a big man of his size that was so good with the ball.  He is a great passer, he is very quick for his size(he has slowed down with age), he runs the court very well, and he has great hands.  He is the most dominating player in the league right now.  Most people that big can't walk and chew gum at the same time.  Shaq is also very unselfish.  If you ever listen to him speak, he always praises his teammates and coaches and not himself.  Kobe Bryant on the other hand still has to learn how to become great.  He needs to improve his defense and learn how to pass the ball a little better.  You are right that scoring 81 points does not make you great, but he did do it against an NBA team.
1053902
no one jorden is one of the best like the best in like #1 to like #1 million.  and micheal jorden is better then kobe so don't get them compared like there as good as each other but i have to say kobe is good though
270017
No. Kobe is better. No matter how selfsh he is, he's still the best. And who can blame him, I mean he's on the Lakers. Their 2nd best player is Lamar Odom and after that there's no one.
256366
I would like to see Kobe be more of a team  player like Nash who passes to his teammates.I know he is the best player on the Lakers,but win a few games more with Kobe as a team player.
144728
MJ, i don't mean Michael Jordan who I believe is the greatest player of all time but not the most all around\n\nMagic Johnson is the most versatile player I've ever seen.\nHe can play center, which he did as well as point guard.  He can score and dish and post up.  Wow.
1180324
Can we handle the truth??\n       \n      Towards the end of the 2005-2006 NBA regular season\nall time assist great and current ABC Analyst Marc Jackson \nremarked that, "Kobe Bryant will go down as the greatest \nbasketball player of all times". Perhaps the biggest credit to \nKobe's talents is that there was not as big of an uproar as one \nmight expected when ranking a current player above the legacies \nof Magic, Kareem, Wilt and of course the man that is currently\nwidely regarded as the 'greatest'. Michael Jordan. The truth is\nas human beings we all like to look at the past and gasp in awe\nbecause the past is brought to us in clips and articles\nand commentaries. Most of the younger generation of basketball\nfans don't truly know how good of a perimeter player Jordan was\nat age 26 or what Jordan did during the 88 season. They only\nsee clips of a magestic Michael flying high with that now patented\ntongue hanging out. They don't see Michael's struggles during the\n89 playoffs against Detroit, they don't see Michael's inability or \nunwillingness to pass during his mid twenties as he threw up 26-30\nshots a game nightly. Perhaps because they don't see these things\nthey also failed to see the obvious. Kobe\nBryant will surpass Michael Jordan at the rate that he is going. It is \nnot 'perspective' or 'opinion' from a Kobe Bryant fan, it is simple\nbasketball common sense. At age 27 Kobe Bryant is greater then\na 27 year old Michael ever was. Kobe is the better shooter, he has\nmore endurance and is the more fluid dribbler. Yes, the similarities\nare eerie. Kobe and Michael will bring the ball down the court the same\nway, they will elevate to same heights as they leave defenders looking up\nin dismay, and of course in the clutch they will prove ADIDAS's marketing\nslogan, 'Impossible Is Nothing'. Of course if people took the time to dissect\nand anaylze they will suddenly realize that Kobe do dribble the ball down\ncourt in the same fasion as Jordan, except Bryant does it with a little bit more\ngrace. More like a running cheetah as oppose to a running lion. Yes, Bryant\ndoes shoot that beautiful jumper in similar ways to Jordan except that Bryant\ndoes it a few feet further out, and yes Bryant does elevate and drive to the rim in\nsimilar fashion as Jordan except that Bryant finishes with that tiny bit more of \ngrace and style. Bryant will also 'mimic' Jordan in another sense in that he will\nmake bounds and leaps of improvement year to year that only Michael had done.\nA 27 year old Michael compared to a 33 year old Michael is no comparison at all.\nThe 33 year old Michael was a true master of the game. We will see the same \ntrend from Bryant. At age 33 Bryant will so elevate above his current status that\nwe will see a mockery of his former self. \n        What's the reason for this predication?\nWhat is to say Kobe will not go down the roads of Carter and Mcgrady? The \nroads of false contentment and injuries? When it comes to physical perfection\nBryant is the model of that for basketball. The words 'for basketball' should be\nemphasized in that no Kobe does not have the best 'body' in the league or the\nbiggest muscles. Yes Ben Wallace make Kobe Bryant look like a high school kid\nagain and yes Lebron James is probably the fittest 21 year old in the history of this\nleague. Neither of the two have that basketball body in which only so very few had\nachieved. A basketball player perfectly designed is not ripping with biceps or with\nchests of Hercules.  Shaquille Oneal might be the perfect example of that. Oneal\nis considered the greatest force to play this game in terms of sheer size and strength.\nIn his prime that size and strength render him almost unstoppable, yet at age 34( a age\nin which Jordan was still winning championships while scoring 30+ a night with ease)\nShaq is clearly running out of gas and s
131858
No, because scoring is only one part of playing basketball.  Kobe is weak on assists, rebounding, and blocking.  He is a dementional player.  Fans like scoring the best, but other players have proven they are a better overall player.  I personally like Billups.  He has a lot of assists and is a good scorer.  He is leading the best team in the NBA, another quality overlooked -- leadership.