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The big debate that has been going around the NBA the past few years has been "Who's better; Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan?" Comparing them by stats and accomplishments is difficult, because Kobe skipped college to go right to the NBA from high school while Jordan played through his junior season at North Carolina on the college level. With that in mind, if you were to compare the two by stats and accomplishments, you would have to take away Kobe's first three years in the NBA and compare them to Jordan's first four. Those three seasons that are "thrown out" would represent the three seasons it took Kobe to adjust from high school to the NBA, as well as the same three year period Jordan enhanced his skills by seeing significant playing time at the college level. On this page, I'll break the two men down by stats in a variety of ways. They'll be broken down by career stats, stats from their first seven years in the league, and by the formula that I stated above, in which Kobe's last four NBA seasons go up against Jordan's first four. There is really no honest way to compare these two, as Jordan was the prototype basketball player in the 80's and 90's, while Kobe has taken over in the late 90's and into the new millenium.
One thing can be said about both men, and that is that neither men were able to win a championship prior to having Phil Jackson introduced as their head coach. However, when you compare stats, if Kobe were to play until age 40 (he's 24 now), he would eclipse all of Jordan's career marks. But, if he were to only play 15 years in the league like Jordan did, then his stats would fall significantly short of those posted by Jordan. But, then again, the difference with Kobe skipping college and Jordan attending college throws a big problem in the middle of things when trying to compare the two.
BASIC PLAYER INFORMATION
CAREER STATS
KOBE'S FIRST 8 YEARS VS. JORDAN'S FIRST 8 YEARS
KOBE BRYANT 99/00-02/03 VS. MICHAEL JORDAN 84/85-87/88
OVERALL ABILITY
While the career averages are heavily in Jordan's favor as of right now, Kobe's first seven years in the league match up just a little less than Jordan's numbers in pretty much every category. But, when you eliminate Kobe's first three seasons and compare them to Jordan's first four due to Jordan's three years of college experience versus Kobe's three years of learning the NBA game due to skipping college, the stats seem to balence out. Overall, I think it's obvious that Jordan is the better scorer and defender than Kobe, but Kobe's overall ability on offense outweighs Jordan's in my opinion. He is able to score out of nearly any situation, and is a better ball handler and a much bigger threat to hit the outside shot. Another reason why Kobe's field goal percentage is lower than Jordan's has a lot to do with shot selection and the fact that Kobe takes more outside and more difficult shots than Jordan did. However, I'm not even going to dispute who the better scorer is out of the two, because I think Jordan's numbers speak for themselves.
As far as defense goes, Jordan has the edge in steals and blocks per game by far. Kobe is a very solid defender in his own right at this day and age where NBA players are bigger, faster, stronger, and quicker than the ones Jordan faced for most of his career. The big thing that determines whether or not Kobe will surpass Jordan as the game's all-time great is his longevity. It took Jordan 8 years to get his first ring, while Kobe has already won 3 rings in his first 7 years. While his individual honors fall short of his contributions to his team, Kobe still remains one of the most dynamic and exciting players that the game has ever seen, and he's improving by leaps and bounds every year. Right now, I'd have to give Jordan the edge in this debate when you talk about who's better. However, if Kobe's game continues to elevate like it has the past four seasons and if the Lakers keep on winning, then perhaps in about five years from now, myself and the rest of the basketball fans across the world will have a change in heart. But, as it stands right now, Jordan is still in a league of his own.
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