If There Was No Michael Jordan

[dking_11]

I didn't know how to start this thread but whatever, I'm only 20 years old, so I wasn't really able to see Michael Jordan in his prime, so IMO Jordan is not 'the greatest player I'VE EVER SEEN.' That would be Kobe and I know alot of people would just say go to YouTube and stuff, but I anybody can put together a 10 minute highlight reel and make Tracy McGrady look like he is the best player of his era.

Look I know Jordan was amazing but I wasn't able to see him, not saying he's not the greatest player ever in the NBA but not the greatest player I've seen and with that being said,

Seeing how many people keep saying Kobe is the closest thing to Jordan we'll see, if there was no Jordan, if he didn't exist or if his stats were those of like a Byron Scott's career, would Kobe Bryant be the greatest NBA player had he won the title this year? I'm a firm believer that there will never ever ever be another Michael Jordan, but as well as there will never ber another Kobe Bryant.

But seriously, this question is bugging me and I wanted to know what other people would think, some who have seen back in the day ball, blah blah blah and stuff, people who know basketball.

[Bornindamecca]

Quote: Originally Posted by dking_11

I didn't know how to start this thread but whatever, I'm only 20 years old, so I wasn't really able to see Michael Jordan in his prime, so IMO Jordan is not 'the greatest player I'VE EVER SEEN.' That would be Kobe and I know alot of people would just say go to YouTube and stuff, but I anybody can put together a 10 minute highlight reel and make Tracy McGrady look like he is the best player of his era. Look I know Jordan was amazing but I wasn't able to see him, not saying he's not the greatest player ever in the NBA but not the greatest player I've seen and with that being said, Seeing how many people keep saying Kobe is the closest thing to Jordan we'll see, if there was no Jordan, if he didn't exist or if his stats were those of like a Byron Scott's career, would Kobe Bryant be the greatest NBA player had he won the title this year? I'm a firm believer that there will never ever ever be another Michael Jordan, but as well as there will never ber another Kobe Bryant. But seriously, this question is bugging me and I wanted to know what other people would think, some who have seen back in the day ball, blah blah blah and stuff, people who know basketball.

Kobe isn't the second greatest player of all time, which is the short answer to your question.

However, the rest of the answer is a little more complex than it seems. Besides athleticism, big hands and a more natural knack for team leadership, the biggest difference between Kobe and Michael is that Kobe came after Michael. Mike was the first time people saw a shooting guard doing the things that he was doing. I'm not going to list them all, but suffice to say that 6'6 guards were not dribbling like PGs, changing direction, pulling up, posting up, fading away and dunking on your big man on route to Wilt-like scoring performances on a regular basis.

Had Kobe been Kobe WITHOUT the benefit of seeing Michael first, not only would fan reaction to him have been different, but coaches would not have been able to game plan against him until the next guy came along.

But that's impossible, because Kobe studied everything from MJ's moves to his speech patterns to carve himself into the second best SG of all time and a top ten great.

Kareem
Wilt
Larry
Magic

Four guys that I don't believe Kobe has surpassed. Not saying he's better, or worse, but that these are all the "after Michael" guys. I recently read someone put it very well:

"All time first NBA team, no one with a brain is going to argue that your first team backcourt is definitely Magic and Michael, but your second team backcourt is Kobe and Oscar."

I'd say that about sums it up.

[lilbiggio]

Hmmm this is a very familiar topic but I'll play along.

I think the things that make people say there will never be another Jordan do not just land on the court.

I mean talent for talent, someone can easily surpass or match Jordan in talent. That is not really a doubt in my mind about that.

But Jordan was the NBA from 1990 to 1997. He carried the league when the league needed someone to be the face of the brand. The modern day NBA I think is structured better for there to be many "Jordan" like stars. Players that transcend across many levels of athlete=spokesperson.

If the NBA is smart they'd never let one person be as dominant in marketing as Jordan became. Kobe is pretty darn popular, but atleast if he retired today the NBA wouldn't suffer because there are plenty of popular players all across the country. Current example when people watch Kobe, they watch him and know they're watching a HoF. when people watched Jordan, they believed they were watching one of the greats of all time.

There was a lot of promoting and pimping of Jordan in those days and why not? He was the best player on the best team. A great offensive player, a great defensive player, and a Icon. Kobe gets this too but unforunately he came second so he will always be compared to Jordan. Jordan was the pioneer of this kind of stuff for the modern day NBA.

Now none of this is no slight to Kobe, but that's just how it is that's how Jordan was packaged and he lived up to the billing. I can see a lot of after the fact talks like this for Kobe when he's hanged it up... like man, we might have just watched the greatest retire... but it was a foregone conclusion that Jordan was a "living" legend. You were watching the story unfold in front of your eyes. The NBA has wisely not allowed this to happen to Kobe.

That's my opinion on it. You really SHOULD go to Youtube, and don't watch a highlight clip, but watch one of the Jordan vs. the Knicks Defense videos. Those are a heck of a lot more interesting and insightful than just some package of Jordan dunking all over the place.

[Taur3asi3]

Nothing to do with Kobe but if there was no Jordan Patrick Ewing would be ranked significantly higher on all-time lists because he'd have a couple of championships.

[TheMatrix31]

If there was no Jordan, Magic would be the greatest of all-time in my opinion.

[capp34]

If there was no Jordan we would appreciate current players more instead of trying to compare every aspect of their game to Jordan. We have some unbelievable guys playing these days but they are gonna get short changed because of the '' he will never be better than Jordan'' BS.

[Jukeman]

Are there not full NBA games of MJ availible?

[HHHRVD55]

If there was no Jordan, Stockton and Malone would have won a few titles.