Kobe's good, but he's no Jordan

Can we please stop with the Kobe Bryan/Michael Jordan comparisons? If MJ were the Disneyland then Kobe would be the Six Flags. Good, but not Disneyland good.

On paper, there’s no comparison, so why make the argument? Looking back on Jordan’s career, he averaged 30.1 points per game during the regular season, and raised that total to 33.4 during the playoffs. Kobe, by comparison, has averaged 25 during the regular season, but his numbers have actually lowered to 24.3 in the playoffs.

MJ averaged more rebounds per game, more assists per game, more steals per game and shot a better free throw percentage than Kobe did in both the regular season and playoffs.

So, statistically speaking, while MJ is on Mars, Kobe is still hovering around the moon. Both out of this world, but Kobe still has quite a bit of ground to make up on Jordan.

Jordan has five NBA regular season MVPs to his name; Kobe has one. Jordan led the NBA in scoring 10 times; Kobe has only twice. Jordan was a 10-time NBA First Team player; Kobe is a six-time First Team member.

And it’s not only offense.

Jordan has an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award on his shelf; Kobe does not.

Then there are titles.

Jordan was the key player during each of his six championships, winning the Finals MVP in all six. Kobe has three championships to his name, but no Finals MVPs due in large part to not even being the most dominant player on his team during those championship seasons. No, the most dominant center of our generation—Shaquille O’Neal—always left Kobe standing cold in Shaw’s large shadow.

In fact, it was Kobe’s ego that drove Shaq out of town, along with the title hopes of the Lakers until this season when they acquired All-Star center Pau Gasol for 25 cents on the dollar.

Jordan also put the team first. He was known for yelling at teammates when they messed up, but never to the point that Kobe has. Not only has Kobe thrown teammates under the bus, he got behind the wheel to ran them over a few more times to add insult to injury.

Every way you slice it—and many people are getting creative in the way they slice it—Jordan is and was the better player. When Kobe’s Lakers let a 24-point lead slip away at home in the Finals last night, some people were talking about how Jordan would never have let that happen. And they’re right.

While Kobe is a great player, he’s no Jordan so let’s stop pretending he is. They are both in the Top 20 players of all time, and that’s where the comparisons end.