Vmart wrote:KnicksSince88 wrote:You can certainly compare players from different eras. Sure, its harder than it is to compare guys of the same era, but i feel pretty safe in saying LeBron is better than Brian Quinnet. Or can i not make that comparison because they played in different eras? Can I say Hakeem was better than Brook Lopez? Or can i not come to a real conclusion because they played in different eras? I understand these are extreme examples, but if you watched both guys play, you can draw your own conclusion. Jordan was a better player than Kobe, era or not. And its not like we are comparing back 50 years, where we would wonder how Wilt would fare in a league where the average Center was not 6'6" - 6'9" ish.(Still would have been great, but not posted quite the same numbers, also would be used differently) To me its fairly obvious to anyone who saw both Kobe and MJIm still not convinced hes better than Wade or LeBron (I dont think he is)
If you are comparing players then look at the stats and you will see that Jordan is better than Kobe in all facets of the game. It doesn't need a discussion. If your talking championships then no one is better than Russell. Now if you are talking about stats then you will see that Kobe falls in the category of Gervin, English, Dr. J, Agguire, Dantley, Domonique and yes even Barkley. What separates them is the rings now you have to take into consideration teams that they play on and what they are given. Some are given more than other and hence they are able to make their talents maximized with championships. I consider Kobe a recipient of excess talents on his team and he is elevated in stature because of the talents that he has and the excess that he plays with. Jordan on the other hand had some of the best stats since Wilt and he accomplished a lot but even he didn't have the amount of talent that Kobe had. Majic was another with excess he maximized his talents with Championships and he is definitely one of the best ever to play just as Kobe is.
What exactly is the debate is it Stats + Championships. Is it just championships because not every team is equipped the same some have more than others and takes away from others who aren't as fortunate.
Jordan didnt have the amount of talent Kobe had? Are you talking surrounding talent, or are you saying Kobe was a more talented physical specimen than MJ? Because if its the latter you couldn't be more wrong. I don't know how much of MJ you saw, or if you even saw his true physical prime in the early 90s, but MJ was a superior athlete, had superior hands, was a superior defender, passer, was physically stronger and was more consistent game in game out, night in night out than Kobe. I frankly can't think of much of anything Kobe has on MJ. He's a better 3 point shooter, but thats really only because he takes a real high volume of threes and its more a part of his game. Percentage wise, both are near identical for their career. But unlike Kobe, another area where MJ was superior was he was smarter and knew how to limit his weaknesses. Not a great 3 point shooter so he didn't take a ton of threes, was far more efficient offensively because of it. MJ was superior to Kobe in nearly every facet of the game.
