Michael Jordan thinks only Kobe Bryant deserves comparisons
by Tony1975 on Jan 18, 2012 11:47 AM CST
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There have been far too many “the next Jordan” guys to come through the league, an unfair burden put on a lot of players. Kobe is the only guy with the will and the skill to even come close. Kobe and Jordan are cut from the same cloth, both driven to compete, to win, to do whatever it takes to get there. Their will and drive stood out in the ultra-competitive NBA. There will not be many more like them.
Sometimes, we should sit back and enjoy what we have. Savor it. Enjoy watching Kobe for being Kobe, not argue about what he is or is not. A player like Kobe we will not see maybe again...
check out this article its a great one to read and appreciate as an nba fan.
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I guess MJ doesn't even know how good he was.
by diedaily23 on Jan 18, 2012 12:48 PM CST reply actions 8 recs
ha
it’s been so long now…
Anyway, I bet he – like Kobe – is just making LeBron look bad
by JustAnotherFan on Jan 18, 2012 1:27 PM CST up reply actions
I think MJ is commenting on Kobe's work habits, and indirectly on everyone
else’s work habits, which fall short. That may have been what Kobe was referring to as well, when he mentioned Rose and Paul. It’s about what they do in practice, during training, and between seasons — how serious are they about maximizing their abilities over a long career? In short, are they workaholics, or competition-aholics, as well as naturally gifted.
And yes, MJ and Kobe are indirectly commenting on Howard and James, two of the best players in the league, but players who do tend to clown around both on and off the court, and may not be as single-minded about winning as Jordan or Kobe or Rose or Paul, even though Howard and James arguably were gifted with greater natural basketball abilities than Jordan or Kobe or Rose or Paul — certainly they are taller.
Actually, Kobe may be more intense about winning than MJ. Remember that MJ took time off in the prime of his career to pursue baseball. Kobe has taken no time off. MJ is the greater player, but maybe Kobe has been an even more intense competitor, at least over the long run.
by Tim S. on Jan 18, 2012 1:42 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
a little unfair, though
i mean his father was murdered. without that, he might have stayed.
Look
I didn’t want to offend anyone by saying the "f" word or generalizing my statement to any particular sex by saying "gays" or lesbians" or "bi’s" so "homos" is the most "politically correct" term. I’m just trying to be more tact in a tactless blog.
by Hindut Patrol on Feb 15, 2011 2:51 PM EST
by Jaina on Jan 18, 2012 1:49 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Hey, I didn't say making basketball the center of your life was a rational choice.
Maybe there are more important goals in life than being the greatest player in the game, especially after your father is murdered. And ultimately it worked out for MJ, as he came back rested and ready and is now generally considered the G.O.A.T. despite taking a break.
But for whatever reasons, Kobe has chosen to maintain a grueling schedule over a longer time span than Jordan. Note that Kobe also started at a younger age. And Kobe did have to deal with his own personal problems, such as a rape charge. Kobe has also had to deal with lengthy playoffs almost as often as Jordan.
if you saw the ESPN 30 for 30 about MJ playing baseball
I think the retirement is an evidence of his commitment to winning a competition more than just winning.
What I mean is, MJ stopped viewing basketball as a challenge before his father died, and then when his Dad died, it was no longer fun.
He went to baseball to see if he could become great at something else. He showed up before everyone else and showed up after everyone else, and many people – Terry Francona comes to mind – said MJ would’ve been a fine major leaguer given another year.
But why would a 30 something give himself another year to reach OK-dom when he could go back to basketball and be the greatest of all time?
And I think watching the Bulls brought him back.
Point is, leaving basketball can be used as evidence that basketball is not his one true love and destiny or something.
But I don’t think it can show that MJ was “less about winning.”
He just wanted to win at something else.
A true friend stabs you in the front - Oscar Wilde
by dantheman3k on Jan 18, 2012 2:46 PM CST up reply actions 3 recs
agreed
Kobe might have more of an appetite to win (and thus a competetive nature) because he hasnt dominated the way jordan did. Because he didnt have the same winning streak, because people constantly hesitate to consider him the greatest of his time. Jordan dominated the league, he had no equal and it wasnt even much of a debate AT THAT TIME. There were plenty of factors of him leaving basketball, but one of the ones he constantly brings up was the fact that he began to become bored of the game. I consider that to be pretty amazing. I mean the man knew he dominated, and it got to an extent that he felt he wasnt even giving it his all, and this coming off a 3rd champions.
Kobe has tons of bullets for motivation, the biggest being somehow catching up to MJ, just getting close enough, the championships, the mvps, to have that same dominance, to be better than lebron…there are plenty of reasons to keep kobe in the game. Jordan simply ran out of bullets once he won his 3rd championship, by that time he was already being called the greatest….
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
by piccolomair on Jan 18, 2012 2:59 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
All that being said, and I don't dispute any of it,
the fact remains that Kobe has put in an incredible amount of work over a very long span of time. He isn’t as good as Jordan, and in any particular season he may not have worked any harder than Jordan, but for whatever reason Jordan took a break and Kobe didn’t.
ill agree with that assumption
but i also think, in terms of comparing the two players, its kinda pointless, mainly because i think it compares more of the circumstance as opposed to the players (and their mentality/drive/intangibles) themselves.
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
by piccolomair on Jan 18, 2012 3:52 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Maybe he would have
if he was ever the best player in the league for at least one season (he never was) or ever won a title without someone saying “well Shaq won the first 3 and he needed Gasol for the next 2” which he can’t. No matter how much help Jordan may have had, he was the undisputed best player on his team and best player in the league for years. Mike stood at the top of the mountain longer than anyone of his era while Kobe has not.
Just Married...
by Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. on Jan 18, 2012 7:03 PM CST up reply actions
I think another difference in mindset is that Kobe
can get focused on other things on the court, to the detriment of winning, in a way Jordan never did. Jordan never became so upset with his teammates that he quit during a game (Kobe infamous Phoenix). I also don’t think Jordan would run a good teammate out of town if he thought that guy would help his team win.
Kobe’s sort of egomania has always dwarfed even MJ’s ego and made it much more difficult for Kobe to relate to teammates and coaches. Where Kobe seems to be perpetual combat with teammates, coaches and the media, MJ seemed much more assured of himself – especially towards the end of his career.
I think it has a lot to do with Kobe’s focus on matching MJ to prove his greatness where as MJ was more focused on winning to prove he’s the best.
by Basketball Smurf on Jan 18, 2012 4:36 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Jordan ran some people out of town.
Whether they were good teammates might be questionable, but Jordan could totally demoralize players in practice.
Apples and oranges
I think there is a difference between demoralizing Jud Bucheler or anyone in practice and going to management and demanding that Shaq be traded or publicly requesting a trade yourself or going public demanding that a teammate get traded.
by Basketball Smurf on Jan 18, 2012 4:55 PM CST up reply actions
I looked, but I couldn't find a link to back that assertion up
by Basketball Smurf on Jan 18, 2012 4:53 PM CST up reply actions
I don't have a source,
but I heard it from several old beat guys on the radio and many other times. I think there was an post here from a guy who had dinner with one of the Bulls’ old assistant coaches where he confirmed the story too.
Was that in the interest of his ego and personal dislike
or in the interest of what he thought was the best way to win? We all had early glimpses into the kind of lousy GM he would be (and alas, it has all come to fruition!)
Just Married...
by Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. on Jan 18, 2012 7:04 PM CST up reply actions
What the hell else did you want Krause to do?
He drafted Horace, traded for Scottie, drafted BJ, traded for Cartwright, took a huge risk and hired Phil Jackson, drafted Toni Kukoc, took another gamble on Rodman, acquired Harper and Kerr.
He had a bunch of misses but he also built one of the most dominant teams in sports. If that gets no respect then no GM in the history of the game should get any.
by Ozzie Montana on Jan 18, 2012 8:36 PM CST up reply actions
Unless you're talking about Jordan.
In which case I say, oops.
by Ozzie Montana on Jan 18, 2012 8:37 PM CST up reply actions
Haha, yes. I was talking about MJ.
Just Married...
by Dr. Handsome, D.D.S. on Jan 18, 2012 9:31 PM CST up reply actions
To this day I don't think Kobe ran Shaq out of town
I think the Lakers acknowledged that Shaq’s athleticism and effort were waning. I think they recognized he was beginning to decline. Meanwhile, Shaq was demanding 30-35 million a year in an extension, and the Lakers stopped winning championships. They didn’t want to pay 30-35 mill for a declining Shaq, thus traded him while he still had value, picking up some pieces to rebuild around Kobe. After all, Shaq’s numbers dropped from 27 and 11 in 2002-2003 to 20 and 9 in 05-06 (traded before 04-05 season).
In terms of the next jordan
I think really Grant Hill possibly really could have been it, if it wasnt for his injuries. I think right now, Wade might be the real closest to jordan. Wade might not share the same mannerism like kobe and lebron often do, but wade certainly has the attributes down. the ability to score effectively by attacking the rim and finishing incredible plays, the defense, the killer instinct on both ends of the court, the obviously weak jumper yet somehow in crucial moments is able to hit shots from well beyond the arc. I think wade undoubtedly has the same game as jordan, just lacks the frame to play that style of basketball.
Kobe has all the mannerisims and physical tools, but i think his game is completely different than jordans. Lebron has far more physical tools, but plays more for flash than jordan ever did especially on defense. On offense lebron plays far more like pippen than he does Jordan.
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
Kobe at times can be a chucker
Hence he never shot over 50% in his career I think…MJ is great to me because of his basketball IQ…
"Violence is not always the answer."
"Violence is the question, and the answers always YES!"
*not even over 47%
"Before the game, we all thought he’d get 20 (points)," Chicago’s Kyle Korver said. "We didn’t know he’d shoot 28." - speaking about JLIII
What really separates Jordan from Kobe
is the ease with which he played. He truly perfected every one of his moves. To this day, Kobe’s shots are still not as refined as Michael’s. MJ’s fade-away was as perfect as it gets; Kobe’s still has moving parts and is not as fluid. MJ’s fundamentals, strength and finishing skills all far surpass Kobe’s.
phil jackson said it best
i dont remember the exact quote but it was something along the lines of ‘Kobe finds a way to hit the hardest shots, but jordan found a way to get the easiest shots’ and i always thought it was the best summary of the two players different styles.
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
Jackson also said
that Jordan had bigger hands than Kobe.
I’ve also read that Jordan could bend his thumb to a remarkable degree, so that he not only had large hands, but extra-opposable thumbs. He could catch a basketball thrown the length of the floor with one hand, he could hold the ball out at arm’s length securely, and of course he could dunk it one-handed.
i remember jordan mentioning his hands as an advantage in an old interview
they asked him something like what sets you apart and he mentioned his giant hands as one of the things. Is it really that much of an advantage, I mean in terms of one nba scorer versus another. I mean I would have thought arm length matters more.
Let us cavort like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean.
by hedonism bot on Jan 18, 2012 4:09 PM CST up reply actions
I don't know how much of an advantage his hands specifically were
but I also think he had other physical advatages over Kobe – namely his quickness and ability to stay healthy. I feel like he was a lot quicker than Kobe early in his career which meant he didn’t rely so heavily on the jump shot. And later in his career, his body seemed to hold up more. He didn’t seem to have the list of nagging injuries that plagues Kobe.
by Basketball Smurf on Jan 18, 2012 4:29 PM CST up reply actions
His ability to stay healthy had a lot to do with his work ethic
and his smarts in hiring Tim Grover to help him prevent injury.
It can be a disadvantage when shooting.
Some people claim that’s why big guys have trouble with foul shots. But it is a huge advantage around the basket, both driving and rebounding, and Jordan also took full advantage when faking players out, since he could stick the ball out and pull it back on a string.
And yes, arm length is also important.
I think the bigger problem for some bigs is that they are staring at the rim almost at eye level. The arch is what gives you the shooter
"There are two ways to argue with a woman, and neither of them work."
- Carlos Boozer after cancelling an interview with a Sports Illustrated reporter because his wife was expecting him home.
shooter's touch*
"There are two ways to argue with a woman, and neither of them work."
- Carlos Boozer after cancelling an interview with a Sports Illustrated reporter because his wife was expecting him home.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at.
Kobe’s the tougher shot maker, but Jordan didn’t need to take those kind of shots. If you look late in his career at the game winning shots he had, particularly those two against Utah(the one that sealed the championship and the game 1 winner from the left elbow), those shots were not insanely hard. He had the perfect moves to set up Russell on both occasions and that paved the way for some pretty standard shots for the G.O.A.T.
to add to what i said
i think this is also why jordan is often found saying things like ‘3point shots are fools gold’ because for jordan, the 3pt shot was a difficult shot. Not that he couldnt shoot it, but for him it was harder than suppose, driving the lane and taking a slight hit and finishing the and 1 play. Earning the 3pts the old fashioned way. Im sure in jordans mind doing it the old fashioned way also had a great merit, if for some reason he didnt finish the shot and just took the hit, he still got a chance to go to the line for 2 points. To him it was far easier to trust that he was going to the line more often than he was going to knock that 3pt shot down. An added benefit to jordan’s line of thinking was probably that his body was designed to take the beating, and he possessed body control much like rose’s. These two attributes are what allowed him to constantly throw himself in traffic, and not just finish plays, but survive fouls with minimal injury.
I stated that i feel wade is far closer to jordan than even kobe in terms of playing style, but i think its this one area where they really differ. wade has the right mindset in terms of scoring, but he doesnt have the same body control nor body to go about scoring in that manner. Hence why he is more plagued with injury. Ditto for allen iverson, and ultimately why rose cant do what jordan did either. Sure rose is strong for his size, and has the body control, but he still is lacking the same physical tools jordan had to actually take the beating for a long amount of time. The two players who have teh body closest to jordans in this day and age, lebron and kobe…both who dont have the same mindset
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
I agree with Charles Barkley when he says MJ had the greatest basketball body ever.
Lebron is a freak because he’s so athletic at his height and weight, but MJ still had better fluidity and could move better out there than Lebron. Lebron, as athletic as he is, still has a certain stiffness to his game. Kobe and Vince are the two guys who I think had body’s most similar to MJ, and in my lifetime, are the only two guys who had enough natural gifts to even have the potential to reach MJ status. Kobe’s come kind of close because he has that similar mindset; Vince is way, way off.
lebron plays like he knows no one is going to body him up
so he looks like a bulldozer to me out on the open court, not really graceful.
Let us cavort like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean.
by hedonism bot on Jan 18, 2012 4:10 PM CST up reply actions
You realize Jordan was lethal from
mid range as well, right?
"Before the game, we all thought he’d get 20 (points)," Chicago’s Kyle Korver said. "We didn’t know he’d shoot 28." - speaking about JLIII
yes?
did i say something that makes it seem otherwise?
I dont care what the D.N.A. Says, the Guy wearing number 12 Cannot be Kirk Hinrich, he is definetly Kurt. Kirk can actually play basketball!
A little bit (at least imo)
Part of the reason I asked you that question is because you keep saying Wade reminds you more of MJ than Kobe does. Wade isn’t working with nearly the offensive arsenal of MJ or Kobe.
Another thing I want to point out; MJ didn’t view the 3 point shot as fools gold because he thought it to be easier than to say. drive to the basket, get fouled etc. He viewed it as such because he felt once they started to fall, it got him (or would have gotten him) out of what he was most effective at doing on the court (which was his ability to drive, his post moves/mid range game, passing ability…you get the picture). To simply stand at the 3 point line wasn’t an effective use of the skills he possessed and it let the defense off the hook.
"Before the game, we all thought he’d get 20 (points)," Chicago’s Kyle Korver said. "We didn’t know he’d shoot 28." - speaking about JLIII
i think he said threes are fools gold,
because most teams that jack them up all day usually suck. plus it’s just annoying to see teams just hoist up bullshit all day. to me it’s just boring.
by obnoxious american on Jan 21, 2012 12:35 PM CST up reply actions
I think if Jordan was good at evaluating basketball players
The Bobcats wouldn’t suck
by tuluse on Jan 20, 2012 1:28 AM CST reply actions 2 recs
I love Jordan as much as the next guy but...
The guy hasn’t been relevant with a basketball in his hands for over a decade now.
Enough already, who really cares who the “next” Jordan is?
It’s crap like this (among a myriad of other post career MJ-slimery) that makes me feel bad for idolizing him when I was a kid.
by Khalid El-Amin on Jan 22, 2012 10:10 PM CST reply actions
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