Kobe vs MJ

[koberulz]

no, i don't want to spark another long debate.

i need to write a feature article for an english assignment, and i picked "kobe vs mj" as the topic. a quick google search returned thousands of copies of the same article, posted on different forums.

so if anyone has any good sources to compare the two statistically, please share.

wasn't sure whether to put this in general talk, as it's homework-help type stuff, or nba talk, since it's related to the nba. move it if you feel like it, but do try to agree so you arent playing ping-pong with my thread.

[artestfighttrainer]

www.basketball-reference.com
www.82games.com

[Matthew]

http://www.nba-live.com/matthew/Kobe%20Bryant%20vs.htm

I made this article after kobe's game tying 3 in game 2 of the 2004 finals. It was posted on nbalive.org, but i couldnt find it so i just uploaded a nuts and bolts version. Feel free to use it.

[nets4life]

you must have a really cool english teacher

[koberulz]

THE G.O.A.T.?
By ******* ******

Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the NBA’s G.O.A.T., or Greatest Of All Time. However, as with any standout star, comparisons with current players run riot. Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant have all been compared to His Airness. By far, the closest comparison is that of Kobe Bryant. Does he have what it takes to knock Jordan off his throne?
In 2002, Charles Barkley said that Kobe Bryant was better than Michael Jordan at similar stages in their careers. Statistically, however, this is not the case.
In 2002, Bryant had been in the NBA for five years. He scored 18 points per game at a 45% clip. Five years into his career, Jordan held three scoring titles, a 63 point playoff game, averaged 37 points per game (a number which, at the time, Bryant had not come within eight of) in 1987 alone, and that same year became the first guard to score 3000 points, 200 steals, and 100 blocks in the same season. He had one MVP award and one Defensive Player of the Year award. Statistically, he buried Bryant.
The other possible way to interpret Barkley’s statement is that he was referring not to years played, but to age. In 2002, Bryant was 23. Jordan was not drafted until he was 21; making the year he was 23 just his second season. Bryant was drafted straight out of High School, opting to skip college, at the age of just 17. This gives him a huge advantage over Jordan in this statistical analysis. In just his rookie year, Jordan shot 51% from the field, and became the first rookie since Larry Bird to lead his team in scoring, rebounds and assists. He compiled 196 steals and 69 blocks. Bryant, in his first five years in the league, never matched even one of those numbers.
Given more time to develop, Bryant did eventually creep closer to equalling Jordan. After the Los Angeles Lakers’ first three-peat, Bryant finally looked like giving Jordan some competition, provided the right statistical parameters. Bryant’s stats over the three years of the three-peat compare quite well with those of Michael Jordan during the Chicago Bulls’ first three-peat, however he still falls short in most categories. If Bryant’s three-year stats are compared to Jordan’s during the Bulls’ second three-peat, they are practically a dead heat. Keep in mind that not only did Bryant not actually surpass those stats, and that they are also not Jordan’s career-best stats.
Those on Jordan’s side of the comparison debate never fail to point out Bryant’s supposed dependence on the presence of Shaquille O’Neal, going on to point out that Bryant has only succeeded in O’Neal’s presence, and that Jordan took a team of nobodies to an NBA World Championship.
In actuality, this is not the case. Before the arrival of Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant in 1987, the Bulls never passed the .500 mark. In the two years Jordan was with the Washington Wizards, he failed to make the playoffs.
There is no doubt, however, that Shaquille O’Neal had more of a helping hand in LA than Pippen did in Chicago. In Michael Jordan’s six NBA championships, he won Finals MVP all six times. Shaquille O’Neal won all available Finals MVPs while in LA.
Jordan made Pippen a better player, but Pippen always knew he was the secondary option and accepted the role. The two fed off each other and meshed their games together. O’Neal and Bryant shared the ball only when they had to, each refusing to play second fiddle to the other. With O’Neal officially at the helm, the Lakers won three consecutive championships. When Bryant took over in 2003-04, the Lakers lost in the NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons. O’Neal left the team, and the Lakers failed to make the playoffs the following year.
Jordan and Bryant have very similar playing styles, although one major point separates them. Bryant’s mental ability on the basketball court pales in comparison to Jordan’s. Jordan passed the ball around freely in order for the Bulls to win. He could make an impact without the ball in his hands. Bryant needs the ball to be effective, and has no trust in his team-mates. He does most of the Lakers’ scoring, as evidenced by his 62- and 81-point performances in 2006. As a result, when Bryant is at all contained by the opposing team, the Lakers have no options.
Bryant is slowly developing this aspect of his game. In the 2006 playoffs, Bryant’s first without O'Neal, Bryant was able to share the ball around, allowing the Lakers to gain a 3-1 series lead before losing out 4-3. In game three, Bryant was the last Laker starter into double digits. Despite the improvement in the mental game, Bryant is still a long way from matching Jordan. In the category of awards, the closest Bryant has managed to come is half, his three championships to Jordan’s six. In all other awards categories, Jordan has more than double the number Bryant does.
There is really no comparison. Michael Jordan is still, and likely forever will be, the NBA’s G.O.A.T.

any comments/suggestions?

[Cloudy]

Man that pic sucks

[koberulz]

what's wrong with it?

[---]

its unrealistic

[Kbryant8]

maybe try to do two sides,one is MJ´s and second is Kobe`s

[maes]

After the Los Angeles Lakers’ first three-peat, Bryant finally looked like giving Jordan some competition

There's something wrong w/ the structure of that sentence. Might want to change it something like:

"...Bryant finally started to show signs of challenging Jordan's statistical dominance."

[volsey]

Quote:
After the Los Angeles Lakers’ first three-peat, Bryant finally looked like giving Jordan some competition


There's something wrong w/ the structure of that sentence. Might want to change it something like:

"...Bryant finally started to show signs of challenging Jordan's statistical dominance."

Or " After the Los Angeles Lakers' first three-peat, Bryant finally looked to be giving Jordan some competition"

[Silas]

Or you could just say three-peat since they only had one, or say after their third straight championship, that'd sound more proffessional.