Most people consider Michael Jordan to be the greatest

basketball player of all-time. Saying that anyone else is

better, especially someone as divisive as Kobe Bryant,
is nearly sacrilegious.

Jordan has come to prominence lately with his

promotion of the NBA 2K11 game and his claims that he
could score 100 points in a game if he were playing
today. He also threw some derision at Kobe, saying that
Bryant was one of the top 10 guards of all-time.

There have been many assessments of Kobe and

Michael over the years. Many of the arguments resort to
a comparison of stats. However, each player had
different career paths and played in different eras.

The NBA in the 1980s was played at a faster pace, and

some years teams averaged 20 percent more
possessions than teams over the past decade.

Jordan played 3 years in college whereas Kobe played

sparingly his first couple years out of high school in the
NBA (which in part led to the firing of his first NBA head
coach Del Harris).

Taking out the first 3 years from Kobe’s NBA career

would give him averages of 28.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 5.2
apg—very similar to Jordan’s career averages of 30.1
ppg, 6.2 rpg, and 5.3 apg. Further adjusting for the
inflated statistics during the high scoring era in the
1980s would bring Jordan’s averages even closer to
Kobe’s.

Furthermore, stats don’t tell the whole story.

And finally, awards are not always the best way to
measure NBA players. There have been issues with the
way the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards
have been handed out. For instance, does any one really
think Steve Nash deserved two MVP awards?

Clearly, the MVP award does not go to the best player in

the league, but rather the best player on one of the
teams with the best record—with the caveat that the
media has to like that player (note to Miami Heat fans:
forget about Lebron’s chances this year of being the
league’s MVP).

It may be hard for some to consider both players with an

open mind. Kobe Bryant has been one of the most hated
players in the NBA, whereas Jordan’s Nike marketing
machine helped elevate his image to a deity-like
position.

Double standards have run rampant, despite Jordan

having worse antics both on and off the court.

Everyone has their biases and I surely have mine. But as

a fan of both Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, I will
attempt to compare aspects of each player’s game—
which may be the fairest way to analyze the two
legends.