Absolutely Irrefutable and Completely Wrong

Kobe bryant is nothng how you guys make him seem like hes actually a great basketball player and hes gotten to wear he is right now by worckinhg hard and not giving up on his dream he kept moving foward he didint let anything stop him from making his dream a reality and i bet his dad is really proud of him kobe might be a mest up husband but oone heck of player but kobe needs to learn that just because he has money that he can bye anything in the world i mean he bought his wife a 4 million dollar eight carrot purple diamond ring for beiing unfaithful and he thinks that that is gonna make everyhting better again but if i was vanessa and he did that to me i would slap him silly MONEY CANT BY LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comparing players from different eras is always an exercise fraught with peril because the younger superstars tend to build on the skills and abilities of older ones.

The best way I can put my opinion is: If you were to put 1984 Jordan and 1998 Kobe (Kobe played scant minutes his first two years) both into cryogenic freeze and have them pick teams in 2010, my guess is that Jordan beats Kobe. Bigger hands, stronger build, and Kobe (by his own admission) built his game upon those of his antecedents--none more than Jordan's.

But if you put 1996 Jordan into cryogenic freeze and advanced him up to 2010, and had them again pick teams, I think Kobe would beat Jordan. There's been no superstar who studies the game closer than Kobe--partly because he has unprecedented study resources available at his disposal--and I have to believe he'd pick Jordan's game apart (much as anyone can, at any rate). But there's nothing terribly sacrilegious about that; LeBron would also beat Jordan. Maybe Wade, too.

what no one seems to want to talk about is that kobe's legs and explosiveness are about gone. he can't shake guys off the dribble anymore. he can't get in the paint and get to the free-throw at will anymore. opponents aren't succumbing to the triple-pump deep perimeter fakes that now lead to ill-advised jump shots. the numbers don't lie. since jan. 1, kobe has shot eight or more FTs in, I think, 8 of 22 games. That's awful for a guy who averages 25 shots a game.

It's as if he won't accept that fact that he is a finesse, post-up/pinch-post jump shooter -- just as MJ was late his career. kobe seems obsessed to prove he hasn't lost anything, when it is so obvious he has.

i even thought he played poorly in last year's NBA Finals, and his shooting percentages support that.

i mean, i love the lakers, but kobe's team is pretty much loaded. why is it that every game he plays with them, it seems like such a laborious task just to win? Again, look at their record since Jan. 1. A lot of fattening up on bad eastern conference teams and losing to contenders.

You can't look at shot attempts to measure whether or not Gasol is getting touches. Without Kobe in the lineup he was getting outshot by Shannon Brown. There is such a thing as being too unselfish and Gasol brushes right up on that line. Too often when he has a chance to overwhelm a weaker defender, he just holds the ball and waits to be doubled, or waits for a cutter.

It doesn't matter who was shooting last night or not, the Lakers lost that game because they submitted a remarkably lazy effort on the boards. On their front line, only Artest was actually trying and he wasn't that effective.

Paul,

You're wrong. He missed good looks. They weren't 20 ft. pull-up iso jumpers he was missing. They were pinch post jumpers that he nails with ease, within the offense. Or missed shots after driving.

Not sure how many Lakers games you watch, but this wasn't one of those games that he's just shooting too much.

The Lakers lost because they gave up too many open jumpers and didn't rebound well.

Also, in terms of the Kobe v Michael debate- MJ 6-0 in the Finals, Kobe 4-2.

On a night where Kobe's shot isn't falling, like last night, he needs to give the ball up more. There is no excuse for him taking twice as many field goal attempts as Pau.

I don't think Kobe will ever lose his rep for selfishness offensively.

I'm a Kobe fan and I'll admit he will never beat the mythology of Jordan. Can't be done.

Jordan really should have had 8 rings, that baseball thing was a joke

I have to disagree. Maybe the kids who never saw Michael play will consider him better, but there are enough people who remember him as the second option that they will put an asterisk on those titles with Kobe.

There's very little chance Kobe goes on to win 6 more titles. And that is going to make anyone over the age of 20 reluctant to say Kobe is the better player.

If he wins more titles than Jordan, he'll be remembered as a better player, controversy or not. Personally I think Jordan was better but people only care about the rings.