I have watched professional basketball for 40 years and I have to agree with John Lucas.
Last night in Denver, Kobe covered the point guard, the off guard, and the small forward on defense, rebounded the ball well, scored 40 points and facilitated the offense as well.
No one, and I repeat no one has ever done more on the court at both ends than Kobe. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen to help out on defense. Not to say that Jordan was a bad defender but Ron Harper, Dennis Rodman, and Pippin were all defensive stoppers who could cover the other team’s best player. Trevor Ariza is not in the same league as an on-ball defender and everyone else on the Lakers is even worse.
Magic Johnson was not a good defender. Larry Bird was a decent rebounder but not a very good defender. Dr. J could shut his man down in the fourth quarter but he quite frankly rested on defense for a lot of the game.
Bill Russell is the best defender of all time but he was a mediocre offensive player. Wilt Chamberlain is my favorite player of all time but his game had a few holes in it. He couldn’t hit a free throw (in the 100 point game he made 28 of 32 but his career is 50% or less) and never took outside shots in games although he says in his book that he could hit them.
Kobe really doesn’t have any weaknesses. If he has a weakness it is that he tries to do too much at times and doesn’t let the game come to him. His shot selection isn’t always the best as well.
Lebron James is the only other guy that I can think of who is chance to the best in the game at both ends of the floor. If he continues to shoot the ball well from the outside as he has done so far in the playoffs for the rest of his career he will be in the same class as Kobe. Only time will tell.
I have to agree, from an offensive and defensive level, Kobe is the best in the game fundamentally and maybe ever.
He can dribble with the best, mid range game is the best, great in the post and has a myriad of moves to score and can shoot the three pointer. He is the most polished offensively. Defensively, he can hunker down and target the other team’s “hot” player and shut them down, he takes it personally, he is the most competitive guy.
Sorry, Kobe just has a looooong career going. In Contrast, Lebron has to proove that. Lebron is more of an offensive force, but Kobe is more overall. I think the Cavs will be champions this year, despite the 1th round loss, but Kobe has more of an career speaking for him.
Nice that he speaks of Novak. Great Size and shooter.
And Jordan never defended PG’s, 2G’s and SF’s????
MJ was the best on offense and defense….no comparison.
We all know that Kobe is not even better than Shaq….Kobe rode Shaq’s coattails for championships and Shaq was the dominant factor resulting in 3 MVP’s.
PERIOD.
Too bad fundamentally sound can’t bring him anywhere near Jordan’s status. Be as fundamentally sound as you want, if I have a game 7 on the line, I’ll take Jordan every time.
[...] Originally Posted by bo spur Iverson, and Marbury to me are very similar players to Bryant, only they never had a Shaq to ride his coat tails. Nobody ever talks about them being the best of the best. That’s probably because they are not. John Lucas played against Magic, Jordan, Bird, Kareem and says: “I don’t know if there has ever been a better player fundamentally than Kobe Bryant.” HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - NBA Videos [...]
He is not more fundamentally sound than Jordan. Hell every post move Kobe does was invented and used more effectively by Jordan. Jordan was a better on ball defender. Kobe lights up a bad Knicks team for 60+ with like 4 assists and 3 rebounds and he’s the greatest all of a sudden. Jordan lights up a championship Celtics team for 60+ and just happens to throw in 18 boards and, not sure but, 8+ assists and now Kobe is more fundamental. Get outta here! Yeah you could say that Kobe was/is the better outside shooter; but, when you have the athleticism of Kobe and Jordan, there is no need for three point shots.
nice try to sell some kobe shoes but….
this is blasphemy don’t use Jordan in the same sentence with kobe there is no comparison at all Jordan was better fundamentally in offense and defense he was shooting better he was driving alot better he was smarter he more competitive he was more mature in his choices and he alot tougher both mentally and physically.
NOCOMPARISON. I AM TIRED OF HEARING OLD NBA VETERANS HATE ON MJ. FIRST ITS MARK JACKSON (FORMER PG NY) SAYING THAT KOBE IS BETTER THAN MJ. NO WAY STOP COMPARING!!! NOW IT’S JOHN LUCAS. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAS STOPPED NUMEROUS TOP 50 PLAYERS FROM WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP NOT KOBE! GIVE CREDIT TP MJ STOP BEING A HATER AND REALIZE THAT MJ IS THE GREATEST PLAYER TO EVER PLAY IN THE NBA. THE NBA LOGO NEEDS TO BE CHANGE FROM JERRY WEST (GREAT PLAYER) TO MJ’S LOGO. COACH LUCAS YOU WERE IN THE NBA WHEN MJ PUNISHED EVERYBODY STOP TRYING TO CAUSE CONTROVERSY. YOU WERE GOOD BUT MIKE WAS LIKE A GOD!
it s dumb that he spoke in my opinion. he stated that kobe patterned his moves after jordan….so thats the end of it. jordan played angles and used his pivot better then anyone. have we forgotten the baseline spin on the knicks! kobe is good but the difference between jordan and kobe was you never effected jordan’s fade away, kobe has been blocked by the likes of one tracy mcgrady and he can be rattled, look how melo manhandled him on defense. jordan never was showed up by anyone by the time the game was over. we also have to remember two things. what made jordan the greatest even with the high school influx of players was when jordan entered the league he was the best, point blank period, no 3 year wait process like kobe, no tentative let me be a good teammate like lebron, he came in as a freak of a player and was the best player from the time he entered the league. fundamentally also goes with mental fundamentals, least we not forget the strip of malone in the finals. jordan was fundamentally,mentally, phsyically better. remember he played in what is probably considered the greatest period of basketball. the guards may not have been in the same class as him but you had, hakeem, robinson, bird, magic, drexler, ewing, barkely, malone, wilkins. there is no comparsion, even players back then were more fundamentally sound then now because it was more team oriented, you had to think about everything. now its space the floor no help defense allowed, no handchecking. its no comparsion, the nba made the game easier and less physical meaning the fundamentals are good but not as good as they would need to be to play in jordans era.
KEY WORD…FUNDAMENTALLY, not sayin MJ is not the greatest but his foot work in the post is not as good as kobe’s. MJ is still the best to ever play the game and Kobe IS the best of his era, and lebron is the best of his era so stop hatin on players cuz they got skills. i have never seen a player who is critiized soooo much and still manage to be MVP AND be the best player in the game right now.
Chanman, Kobe’s footwork is no where close to Jordan’s. I don’t know how old you are or much of Jordan you saw but I watched Jordan from 88 till he retired and I watched all of Kobe’s years and Kobe is not even close. Kobe is no where close to Jordan in anything, especially fundamentals. Go and watch Jordan’s games on youtube and you will see that fundamentally Jordan did all of the little things that Kobe tries to emulate but he is just not as good at it. Lucas is just hating because Jordan probably rocked him over and over.
zac you got to be young if you think the era mj and the bulls were ruling was the best era ever in the nba.that is a freaking joke.scottie and mj did not face any body who could drop 40 on them.i watched them play the ball instead of their man constantly.if they tried that mess in the late 70,s early 80,s cats like david thompson, dr.j george gervin, walter davis, rick barry, marques johnson purvis short jamal wilkes kelly tripucka, michael ray richardson ,bernard king adrian dantley, a drug free john drew, a healthy doug collins,pete maravich and others would have dropped 40 on them with no problem.they did not face hardly any of the all times greats at big guard/small foward.i know some of you guys going to whine but all these guys i named got theirs with the blatant help from the refs mike got ,where if he missed a shot a foul was called.ithink a mature kobe bryant would have got his his on mike and scottie also.and i started watching the nba in 1972 so i saw everybody in their primes pretty much.
Jordan got every call - and I mean every call. Kobe gets screwed all the time. And if anyone wants to start about that Kings game back in the days I challenge you to watch that WHOLE series (especially the final minute from the game before) and tell me that the Kings weren’t getting the better calls.
If the game was on the line I’d take Jordan shoving Reggie Miller and watching the refs sit there with their thumbs up their ….
Jordan was a more fluid basketball player but Kobe is more fundamental. Why is that so hard to understand? Nobody’s “hating” on anybody and it’s completely dumb to infere that from these comments.
no offense but thompson, wilkes, tripuka , richardson, are not being mentioned before a pippen or barkely, its that simple they aren’t even on the top 50 list. you can not name 4 centers from the 80s before you have to mention hakeem, david, ewing . for forwards i m going malone, bird barkley,mchale, barry was done by 1980. guards jordan and that is the only weak category. point stockon, isiah, johnson. They are all jordans era and they are considered the best. you could argue for nate, but aside from that the names you are mentioning are like someone mentioning reggie miller or even dominque which i mentioned, they are good but not upper tier. i ll even take back pippen, but it was probably one of the most balanced eras at each position ever. you had 4 to 5 hall of fame centers. 4 guards and 4 forwards. your list is really the 70s not 80s which i agree with you some on, it just very hard to compare. Jordan again was the best when he left both times , and he was probably still top 20 when he played wit the Wizards.
Zac here u go again……who did Jordan guard at the SG positions? u answered your own question, NOBODY!! on the other hand who does Kobe Bryant have to guard? from J Kidd, Steve nash, t mac, vince carter, D wade, AI in his PRIME. TO lebron, melo, who’s got all kinds of size over him and still do a great job. and u argue jordan’s era is the best? look at the league in the past 10 yrs…..KG, Duncan, Shaq, Dwight Howard, at the centers…PF’s Nowitski, J oneal when he was healthy, amare. SF’s lebron, melo, kirilenko, Rashard lewis, turkoglu. SG’s kobe, t mac, vince, wade, AI, ginobili. PG’s Nash, Kidd, Paul, D Will, Baron Davis…..ALLL great players AND did Jordan have 6′9 6′10 guys guarding him? didnt think so, so kobe has to face that every game and STILL put up good numbers
i don’t think anyone could ever be able tell. people tend to take away from kobe’s 3 championships because of how dominant shaq was, but in fact, kobe was usually the closer in those years (and for good reason). he was a key player, there’s no championship in those years without kobe bryant.
and vice versa, jordan himself was the closer on incredibly strong bulls TEAMS (especially defensively their strength was crazy) and people tend to take away from pippen’s influence on those championships. dude was 2nd in MVP voting while jordan played baseball. sure, jordan was good, possibly the best ever, BUT you can’t be so sure and never will be because this kobe bryant guy is freaking amazing and damn close, as close as anyone has ever been. just open your eyes…
where is lebron in this conversation? on his way, he’s a beast but still has some intangibles to pick up and some little things to learn. i don’t think there’s too much you could teach kobe bryant these days. i couldn’t come up with anything. but this is interesting actually, who from the hater-corner knows something?
here is my problem with all these arguments. did the suns make the playoffs this year? think not and you bring up amare and nash. have they even reached the finals…no. you say wade(who by the way is my favorite player) he would be lucky to avg.60 games a season in jordans era because they would have put him on his back for even attempting to come in the lane at 6′4″. you bring up nowitski who won mvp an choked in the biggest games of his life in the finals. you have kirelinko who is good but that in my opinion no differen in comparsion to a james worthy, dennis rodman, or jerome kersey who had more size and bulk then kirlenko and were always in uniform an not hurt every single week. who else did you say…oh you have rashard lewis , which just destorys you are argument for a guy who shoots pretty close to 30% of his shots behind the 3 point line and hates contact. then you say vince ( who plays when he wants to and is the modern day nique as in good but not great, davis, paul , d will , no disrespect but neither even with the size are better then isiah thomas was in his prime and jordan played them every year. your argument has holes beause not one player you mentioned has a ring except wade and ginoboli. i dont care what you say, kg is getting bullied in this era because who is he guarding, barkley would have made him look stupid and he couldnt guard any center…still doesnt to that point, freaking jermaine oneal couldnt even get playin time and he was behind an old pippen in portland. my argument wasn’t to diss the new school but to simply say competition was rougher, defenses were tougher, people had more pride in the game and it showed in their play. give me a modern day team aside from the aging spurs that even gives you the same mindset as the 90s bulls/or even bad boy pistons, you could have said the lakers but kobe didn’t want that he wanted his own team. read them off, bulls, the pistons, the lakers, the rockets, even the jazz , even portland. not one team now in the nba as its stands is challenging anyone from jordans era that i just mentioned, and you can’t tell me otherwise, if you try your crazy. every team was physical, no announcer is even going to say that this team was built blahh blah blah. look at kobe he didn’t even want what jordan had of 6 titles with shaq, he had to do it himself. tracy said bump it let me leave and do it without vince and his team got out of the first round without him!!!!!, marbury forget a legacy with kg. the nba now is a bunch of one on ones so all you have to do is beat the best player on the other team because guess what, i m not sure lamar wants to show up and give it his all, or i m sorry rasheed isnt in a good mood, or my bad howard is out smoking weed, or even nash , amare , shaq don’t want to play defense so lets fire the coach, who has 2 rings of his own compared to only shaq having 4 out of all three players. the league now is entertainment it doesn’t hold a match to the fire games were back in the day. bulls/knicks, bulls/cavs, bulls/ pacers. everyone looks an says they are quicker they are faster they are stronger, guess what though. bird was the slowest dude in the world and was great, rodman was 6′8 leading the league in rebounding and probably would still hold his own now, barkley was a brute force. you had players that would still do damage now kj,joe dumars, worthy,mchale,mark price.watch some tapes people, don’t be deillusioned by the moves, see team work, the schemes, the matchups. the nba now is about 7 legit teams man.
The only thing Kobe has left to learn is how to be a good team leader. The spike lee doc was funny, because you could actually see surprise register in other player’s eyes. “He remembered my name.” You can tell Kobe saying hello is reserved for special occasions like christmas. Meanwhile, in th pit that is cleveland, cavs players are absolutely in love with Lebron. I wonder why. Maybe because Lebron has teammates instead of co-workers
ZAC ,MIKE AND SCOTTIE RESTED 4 OUT OF EVERY 4 GAMES THEY PLAYED ON DEFENSE.WHERE WOULD THOSE KNICK,PACER,CAVS TEAMS BEEN AT IN 1980? WATCHING AT HOME IF YOU THINK ANY NBA TEAMS IN THE 90,S WERE AMONG THE TOP TEAMS OF ALL TIMES YOU ARE YOUNG AND CRAZY.ALSO YOU GOT TO REMEMBER YOU HAD TO GUARD SOMEBODY EVERY NIGHT IN THOSE DAYS.HOW FOLKS IN THE NBA PLAYING BIG GUARD/ SMALL FOWARD CANNOT HIT A 15 FT JUMPER OR POSSESS SERIOUS ONE ON ONE SKILLS, 90% OF THE STARTERS IN THE NBA.EVERYBODY I NAMED WAS A BONAFIDE SCORER WHO DID NOT MISS OPEN JUMPERS.MIKE AND SCOTTIE WOULD HAD TO GUARD SOME ONE EVERY FREAKING NIGHT AND THAT IS SOMETHING THEY NEVER HAD TO DO.THE MARJORITY OF THE BUMS IN THE 90,S WERE SCARED OF MIKE JORDAN.WORRIED ABOUT BEING ON A POSTER AND RUNNING OUT OF HIS WAY,EFFING LAME AZZ BULL
Stop comparing let MJ be himself and let KB be himself Kobe will play at least another five years. MJ sat out a year and came back and three peated again. What dont u people understand KOBE is not in the first 50. I agree he is in the next 50. Jordan had no center he molded Scottie Pippen into a great player did KOBe H NO!!
frank B Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
I have watched professional basketball for 40 years and I have to agree with John Lucas.
Last night in Denver, Kobe covered the point guard, the off guard, and the small forward on defense, rebounded the ball well, scored 40 points and facilitated the offense as well.
No one, and I repeat no one has ever done more on the court at both ends than Kobe. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen to help out on defense. Not to say that Jordan was a bad defender but Ron Harper, Dennis Rodman, and Pippin were all defensive stoppers who could cover the other team’s best player. Trevor Ariza is not in the same league as an on-ball defender and everyone else on the Lakers is even worse.
Magic Johnson was not a good defender. Larry Bird was a decent rebounder but not a very good defender. Dr. J could shut his man down in the fourth quarter but he quite frankly rested on defense for a lot of the game.
Bill Russell is the best defender of all time but he was a mediocre offensive player. Wilt Chamberlain is my favorite player of all time but his game had a few holes in it. He couldn’t hit a free throw (in the 100 point game he made 28 of 32 but his career is 50% or less) and never took outside shots in games although he says in his book that he could hit them.
Kobe really doesn’t have any weaknesses. If he has a weakness it is that he tries to do too much at times and doesn’t let the game come to him. His shot selection isn’t always the best as well.
Lebron James is the only other guy that I can think of who is chance to the best in the game at both ends of the floor. If he continues to shoot the ball well from the outside as he has done so far in the playoffs for the rest of his career he will be in the same class as Kobe. Only time will tell.
BEasy Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Its good to hear a Great Player, try to instill fundamentals into younger players.
Good Luck J Lucas Hope you get back on sideline we need more coaches like you in the NBA.
Good Luck
Jeff Said,
May 20, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
John,
You will be back! and bring your son with you. He has Game and Heart like yourself.
-Jeff
Terps 73-77
the genius Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 1:56 am
jerome james vs eddy curry ? xD
john Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 6:59 am
you notice whose shirt he is wearing though
Cordell Taylor Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 8:17 am
I have to agree, from an offensive and defensive level, Kobe is the best in the game fundamentally and maybe ever.
He can dribble with the best, mid range game is the best, great in the post and has a myriad of moves to score and can shoot the three pointer. He is the most polished offensively. Defensively, he can hunker down and target the other team’s “hot” player and shut them down, he takes it personally, he is the most competitive guy.
Craig Bailey Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 10:07 am
Well said. Can’t wait til the haterz bring their 2 cents. Lol
Stephan Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Sorry, Kobe just has a looooong career going. In Contrast, Lebron has to proove that. Lebron is more of an offensive force, but Kobe is more overall. I think the Cavs will be champions this year, despite the 1th round loss, but Kobe has more of an career speaking for him.
Nice that he speaks of Novak. Great Size and shooter.
Rick Salam Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
Kobe is not the best. Jordan is … plain and simple dummies!!!!
boogie Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
Lucas what’s wrong wit u man… u know Kobe can and will not ever be better than Jordan at this game we love so dear… same for Bron.
Brenda Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
And Jordan never defended PG’s, 2G’s and SF’s????
MJ was the best on offense and defense….no comparison.
We all know that Kobe is not even better than Shaq….Kobe rode Shaq’s coattails for championships and Shaq was the dominant factor resulting in 3 MVP’s.
PERIOD.
Siz33 Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Too bad fundamentally sound can’t bring him anywhere near Jordan’s status. Be as fundamentally sound as you want, if I have a game 7 on the line, I’ll take Jordan every time.
Are players like Wilt, Mikan and Russell overrated? - SpursReport.com Said,
May 21, 2009 @ 9:36 pm
[...] Originally Posted by bo spur Iverson, and Marbury to me are very similar players to Bryant, only they never had a Shaq to ride his coat tails. Nobody ever talks about them being the best of the best. That’s probably because they are not. John Lucas played against Magic, Jordan, Bird, Kareem and says: “I don’t know if there has ever been a better player fundamentally than Kobe Bryant.” HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - NBA Videos [...]
steve Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 12:37 am
more fundamentally sound? Ok. So what.
Tristan Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 12:40 am
He is not more fundamentally sound than Jordan. Hell every post move Kobe does was invented and used more effectively by Jordan. Jordan was a better on ball defender. Kobe lights up a bad Knicks team for 60+ with like 4 assists and 3 rebounds and he’s the greatest all of a sudden. Jordan lights up a championship Celtics team for 60+ and just happens to throw in 18 boards and, not sure but, 8+ assists and now Kobe is more fundamental. Get outta here! Yeah you could say that Kobe was/is the better outside shooter; but, when you have the athleticism of Kobe and Jordan, there is no need for three point shots.
Boi Boi Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 1:45 am
6.Chris Paul
5.Dwight Howard
4.Carmelo Anthony
3.Dwyane Wade
2.Lebron James
1.Kobe Bryant
Tasos Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 9:46 am
nice try to sell some kobe shoes but….
this is blasphemy don’t use Jordan in the same sentence with kobe there is no comparison at all Jordan was better fundamentally in offense and defense he was shooting better he was driving alot better he was smarter he more competitive he was more mature in his choices and he alot tougher both mentally and physically.
Fredd Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 9:55 am
I agree with Siz33 … this is the “ultimatest” a game 7 … Jordan, 100%
Andre Mumford Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 10:45 am
NOCOMPARISON. I AM TIRED OF HEARING OLD NBA VETERANS HATE ON MJ. FIRST ITS MARK JACKSON (FORMER PG NY) SAYING THAT KOBE IS BETTER THAN MJ. NO WAY STOP COMPARING!!! NOW IT’S JOHN LUCAS. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAS STOPPED NUMEROUS TOP 50 PLAYERS FROM WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP NOT KOBE! GIVE CREDIT TP MJ STOP BEING A HATER AND REALIZE THAT MJ IS THE GREATEST PLAYER TO EVER PLAY IN THE NBA. THE NBA LOGO NEEDS TO BE CHANGE FROM JERRY WEST (GREAT PLAYER) TO MJ’S LOGO. COACH LUCAS YOU WERE IN THE NBA WHEN MJ PUNISHED EVERYBODY STOP TRYING TO CAUSE CONTROVERSY. YOU WERE GOOD BUT MIKE WAS LIKE A GOD!
John Lucas: “There’s never been a better player fundamentally than Kobe.” Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
[...] Jackson mentioned Lucas’s comments about Kobe during last night’s broadcast and said he didn’t [...]
wdycity man Said,
May 22, 2009 @ 6:52 pm
i agree, Kobe is the best
zac Said,
May 23, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
it s dumb that he spoke in my opinion. he stated that kobe patterned his moves after jordan….so thats the end of it. jordan played angles and used his pivot better then anyone. have we forgotten the baseline spin on the knicks! kobe is good but the difference between jordan and kobe was you never effected jordan’s fade away, kobe has been blocked by the likes of one tracy mcgrady and he can be rattled, look how melo manhandled him on defense. jordan never was showed up by anyone by the time the game was over. we also have to remember two things. what made jordan the greatest even with the high school influx of players was when jordan entered the league he was the best, point blank period, no 3 year wait process like kobe, no tentative let me be a good teammate like lebron, he came in as a freak of a player and was the best player from the time he entered the league. fundamentally also goes with mental fundamentals, least we not forget the strip of malone in the finals. jordan was fundamentally,mentally, phsyically better. remember he played in what is probably considered the greatest period of basketball. the guards may not have been in the same class as him but you had, hakeem, robinson, bird, magic, drexler, ewing, barkely, malone, wilkins. there is no comparsion, even players back then were more fundamentally sound then now because it was more team oriented, you had to think about everything. now its space the floor no help defense allowed, no handchecking. its no comparsion, the nba made the game easier and less physical meaning the fundamentals are good but not as good as they would need to be to play in jordans era.
chanman Said,
May 23, 2009 @ 1:52 pm
KEY WORD…FUNDAMENTALLY, not sayin MJ is not the greatest but his foot work in the post is not as good as kobe’s. MJ is still the best to ever play the game and Kobe IS the best of his era, and lebron is the best of his era so stop hatin on players cuz they got skills. i have never seen a player who is critiized soooo much and still manage to be MVP AND be the best player in the game right now.
matt Said,
May 23, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
Seems the Alzheimer’s disease hits some great people…
Tristan Said,
May 23, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
Chanman, Kobe’s footwork is no where close to Jordan’s. I don’t know how old you are or much of Jordan you saw but I watched Jordan from 88 till he retired and I watched all of Kobe’s years and Kobe is not even close. Kobe is no where close to Jordan in anything, especially fundamentals. Go and watch Jordan’s games on youtube and you will see that fundamentally Jordan did all of the little things that Kobe tries to emulate but he is just not as good at it. Lucas is just hating because Jordan probably rocked him over and over.
satch Said,
May 23, 2009 @ 9:14 pm
zac you got to be young if you think the era mj and the bulls were ruling was the best era ever in the nba.that is a freaking joke.scottie and mj did not face any body who could drop 40 on them.i watched them play the ball instead of their man constantly.if they tried that mess in the late 70,s early 80,s cats like david thompson, dr.j george gervin, walter davis, rick barry, marques johnson purvis short jamal wilkes kelly tripucka, michael ray richardson ,bernard king adrian dantley, a drug free john drew, a healthy doug collins,pete maravich and others would have dropped 40 on them with no problem.they did not face hardly any of the all times greats at big guard/small foward.i know some of you guys going to whine but all these guys i named got theirs with the blatant help from the refs mike got ,where if he missed a shot a foul was called.ithink a mature kobe bryant would have got his his on mike and scottie also.and i started watching the nba in 1972 so i saw everybody in their primes pretty much.
Don Sellers Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 11:07 am
J Luc
Great job. You should know you do a good job of teaching the same. Hey, “Black Mike” is a very close call though.
justin Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Jordan got every call - and I mean every call. Kobe gets screwed all the time. And if anyone wants to start about that Kings game back in the days I challenge you to watch that WHOLE series (especially the final minute from the game before) and tell me that the Kings weren’t getting the better calls.
If the game was on the line I’d take Jordan shoving Reggie Miller and watching the refs sit there with their thumbs up their ….
Jordan was a more fluid basketball player but Kobe is more fundamental. Why is that so hard to understand? Nobody’s “hating” on anybody and it’s completely dumb to infere that from these comments.
zac Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
no offense but thompson, wilkes, tripuka , richardson, are not being mentioned before a pippen or barkely, its that simple they aren’t even on the top 50 list. you can not name 4 centers from the 80s before you have to mention hakeem, david, ewing . for forwards i m going malone, bird barkley,mchale, barry was done by 1980. guards jordan and that is the only weak category. point stockon, isiah, johnson. They are all jordans era and they are considered the best. you could argue for nate, but aside from that the names you are mentioning are like someone mentioning reggie miller or even dominque which i mentioned, they are good but not upper tier. i ll even take back pippen, but it was probably one of the most balanced eras at each position ever. you had 4 to 5 hall of fame centers. 4 guards and 4 forwards. your list is really the 70s not 80s which i agree with you some on, it just very hard to compare. Jordan again was the best when he left both times , and he was probably still top 20 when he played wit the Wizards.
chanman Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
Zac here u go again……who did Jordan guard at the SG positions? u answered your own question, NOBODY!! on the other hand who does Kobe Bryant have to guard? from J Kidd, Steve nash, t mac, vince carter, D wade, AI in his PRIME. TO lebron, melo, who’s got all kinds of size over him and still do a great job. and u argue jordan’s era is the best? look at the league in the past 10 yrs…..KG, Duncan, Shaq, Dwight Howard, at the centers…PF’s Nowitski, J oneal when he was healthy, amare. SF’s lebron, melo, kirilenko, Rashard lewis, turkoglu. SG’s kobe, t mac, vince, wade, AI, ginobili. PG’s Nash, Kidd, Paul, D Will, Baron Davis…..ALLL great players AND did Jordan have 6′9 6′10 guys guarding him? didnt think so, so kobe has to face that every game and STILL put up good numbers
basketboule Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 6:04 pm
i don’t think anyone could ever be able tell. people tend to take away from kobe’s 3 championships because of how dominant shaq was, but in fact, kobe was usually the closer in those years (and for good reason). he was a key player, there’s no championship in those years without kobe bryant.
and vice versa, jordan himself was the closer on incredibly strong bulls TEAMS (especially defensively their strength was crazy) and people tend to take away from pippen’s influence on those championships. dude was 2nd in MVP voting while jordan played baseball. sure, jordan was good, possibly the best ever, BUT you can’t be so sure and never will be because this kobe bryant guy is freaking amazing and damn close, as close as anyone has ever been. just open your eyes…
where is lebron in this conversation? on his way, he’s a beast but still has some intangibles to pick up and some little things to learn. i don’t think there’s too much you could teach kobe bryant these days. i couldn’t come up with anything. but this is interesting actually, who from the hater-corner knows something?
zac Said,
May 24, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
here is my problem with all these arguments. did the suns make the playoffs this year? think not and you bring up amare and nash. have they even reached the finals…no. you say wade(who by the way is my favorite player) he would be lucky to avg.60 games a season in jordans era because they would have put him on his back for even attempting to come in the lane at 6′4″. you bring up nowitski who won mvp an choked in the biggest games of his life in the finals. you have kirelinko who is good but that in my opinion no differen in comparsion to a james worthy, dennis rodman, or jerome kersey who had more size and bulk then kirlenko and were always in uniform an not hurt every single week. who else did you say…oh you have rashard lewis , which just destorys you are argument for a guy who shoots pretty close to 30% of his shots behind the 3 point line and hates contact. then you say vince ( who plays when he wants to and is the modern day nique as in good but not great, davis, paul , d will , no disrespect but neither even with the size are better then isiah thomas was in his prime and jordan played them every year. your argument has holes beause not one player you mentioned has a ring except wade and ginoboli. i dont care what you say, kg is getting bullied in this era because who is he guarding, barkley would have made him look stupid and he couldnt guard any center…still doesnt to that point, freaking jermaine oneal couldnt even get playin time and he was behind an old pippen in portland. my argument wasn’t to diss the new school but to simply say competition was rougher, defenses were tougher, people had more pride in the game and it showed in their play. give me a modern day team aside from the aging spurs that even gives you the same mindset as the 90s bulls/or even bad boy pistons, you could have said the lakers but kobe didn’t want that he wanted his own team. read them off, bulls, the pistons, the lakers, the rockets, even the jazz , even portland. not one team now in the nba as its stands is challenging anyone from jordans era that i just mentioned, and you can’t tell me otherwise, if you try your crazy. every team was physical, no announcer is even going to say that this team was built blahh blah blah. look at kobe he didn’t even want what jordan had of 6 titles with shaq, he had to do it himself. tracy said bump it let me leave and do it without vince and his team got out of the first round without him!!!!!, marbury forget a legacy with kg. the nba now is a bunch of one on ones so all you have to do is beat the best player on the other team because guess what, i m not sure lamar wants to show up and give it his all, or i m sorry rasheed isnt in a good mood, or my bad howard is out smoking weed, or even nash , amare , shaq don’t want to play defense so lets fire the coach, who has 2 rings of his own compared to only shaq having 4 out of all three players. the league now is entertainment it doesn’t hold a match to the fire games were back in the day. bulls/knicks, bulls/cavs, bulls/ pacers. everyone looks an says they are quicker they are faster they are stronger, guess what though. bird was the slowest dude in the world and was great, rodman was 6′8 leading the league in rebounding and probably would still hold his own now, barkley was a brute force. you had players that would still do damage now kj,joe dumars, worthy,mchale,mark price.watch some tapes people, don’t be deillusioned by the moves, see team work, the schemes, the matchups. the nba now is about 7 legit teams man.
Jizzay Said,
May 25, 2009 @ 1:09 pm
The only thing Kobe has left to learn is how to be a good team leader. The spike lee doc was funny, because you could actually see surprise register in other player’s eyes. “He remembered my name.” You can tell Kobe saying hello is reserved for special occasions like christmas. Meanwhile, in th pit that is cleveland, cavs players are absolutely in love with Lebron. I wonder why. Maybe because Lebron has teammates instead of co-workers
satch Said,
May 25, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
ZAC ,MIKE AND SCOTTIE RESTED 4 OUT OF EVERY 4 GAMES THEY PLAYED ON DEFENSE.WHERE WOULD THOSE KNICK,PACER,CAVS TEAMS BEEN AT IN 1980? WATCHING AT HOME IF YOU THINK ANY NBA TEAMS IN THE 90,S WERE AMONG THE TOP TEAMS OF ALL TIMES YOU ARE YOUNG AND CRAZY.ALSO YOU GOT TO REMEMBER YOU HAD TO GUARD SOMEBODY EVERY NIGHT IN THOSE DAYS.HOW FOLKS IN THE NBA PLAYING BIG GUARD/ SMALL FOWARD CANNOT HIT A 15 FT JUMPER OR POSSESS SERIOUS ONE ON ONE SKILLS, 90% OF THE STARTERS IN THE NBA.EVERYBODY I NAMED WAS A BONAFIDE SCORER WHO DID NOT MISS OPEN JUMPERS.MIKE AND SCOTTIE WOULD HAD TO GUARD SOME ONE EVERY FREAKING NIGHT AND THAT IS SOMETHING THEY NEVER HAD TO DO.THE MARJORITY OF THE BUMS IN THE 90,S WERE SCARED OF MIKE JORDAN.WORRIED ABOUT BEING ON A POSTER AND RUNNING OUT OF HIS WAY,EFFING LAME AZZ BULL
Andre Mumford Said,
May 26, 2009 @ 10:39 am
Joradn is the best point blank he made his players aroung him sooooo much better !!!
Andre Mumford Said,
May 26, 2009 @ 10:45 am
Stop comparing let MJ be himself and let KB be himself Kobe will play at least another five years. MJ sat out a year and came back and three peated again. What dont u people understand KOBE is not in the first 50. I agree he is in the next 50. Jordan had no center he molded Scottie Pippen into a great player did KOBe H NO!!