Quite Possibly the Dumbest Thing I Have Ever Read

I wasn’t planning to write an article tonight. After all, it hasn’t even been two months yet since our last post. But I saw this article on ESPN.com, and had to respond immediately. Now, it is a commonly held opinion around here that ESPN tends to emphasize coastal-area teams above those in the Midwest and the South. And I can take it when they assert that the AL East is still the best division in baseball, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary (for example, the NL Central has had a team in the World Series for the last three years, while the AL Central features a whopping four legitimate contenders this season). And the dubious claims that the Bears would have been completely outclassed by the Patriots, Ravens, and Chargers. But this is not going to stand…so here’s the entire article, with my commentary. (Note: since I am not exactly a formatting genius…and yes, I know that we’ve had this site for almost two years…I’m putting the article in normal type and my comments in parenthesis.)

Putting Kobe in perspective
By Jemele Hill
Page 2
Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan (Wait….WHAT?! I’ve got to hear this).

Not more successful. (oh, ok…so how is he better?)

Hasn't had a bigger economic impact. (Definitely true.)

Hasn't won more MVPs. (Also true – MJ 5, Kobe 0…although you could make a strong case that both players deserved at least one or two more.)

Hasn't won more titles. (Excellent point.)

But he's a better player. (Oh, ok. I’m glad to see that evaluating someone as a basketball player is not based on their success on the court, economic impact, individual awards, or team success…then I guess it’s statistics, the last refuge of people who want to have strong opinions about sports without actually watching them…so, for the record, MJ averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game in his career, while Kobe averages 23.9/5.1/4.5/1.5.)

Kobe can do everything Michael did, and even a few things Michael couldn't do. (Apparently winning the same number of titles, winning AN MVP award, and putting up MJ’s #s are not included in “everything Michael did.” I will concede that Kobe has done some things that MJ has not; it’s just that a lot of these were not good things.)

Kobe is just as good a defender (This claim is dubious, although not completely idiotic. While MJ averaged almost a whole steal more per game, he was rarely defending the other team’s best player since he played with Pippen. I can’t recall many instances of either player being lit up). His killer instinct is just as pronounced (Also debatable. MJ’s increased dramatically in playoff games, however, while Kobe’s seems to be relatively constant over the course of the season). He can shoot, finish and explode (along with almost every good scorer in the history of the NBA). And just like Jordan, the more he's pissed off, the more unstoppable he is (the two players were similar in this respect. However, while Kobe’s anger is primarily directed towards scoring, MJ directed his competitive fury towards doing whatever was most necessary to winning the game, be it scoring, defense, rebounding, or hustling after loose balls. "You play to win the game! Hello?!").

At the very least, Kobe's scoring spree over the last week should put to rest any lingering doubts that he's the best player in the NBA (No, it proves he is the best scorer in the NBA, which is different, although I doubt anyone really would have ever said he wasn't. You know, aside from the fact that there are other guys averaging more points per game right now). Yes, better than Steve Nash, who is the best point guard, but not the lethal force that Kobe is (This is subjective, but I would argue that Nash can score 20 and add 50 points to his team’s point total for the game, while Kobe is capable of scoring 50 and adding 20 to the Lakers point total). Yes, better than Dwyane Wade, who is certainly closer to the Kobe-Jordan level than LeBron James, but D-Wade's game is not as polished as Kobe's (I’m not getting into DWade vs. LeBron right now; let’s wait until they’ve been around for a few years).

Kobe's streak of four straight 50-points-plus games is something none of those players can do, and it's something that hasn't been done since Wilt Chamberlain, who had an NBA-record seven straight 50-point games. Truthfully, Kobe should have tacked another 50 on Golden State on Sunday night (Apparently, the Warriors, traditionally a defensive powerhouse, were able to do a better job of shutting Kobe down than – get this – the Blazers, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, and Hornets. By the way, remember when almost half of the teams in the NBA were solid defensively? I mean, don’t get me wrong, the NBA has gotten much more fun to watch lately, but after the Pistons, Rockets, Bulls, Spurs, and Mavs, what teams in the NBA make you think “goodness, we’re really going to have to fight for every basket against these guys?”).

Of course, the idea that Kobe is better than Jordan -- or even the best player in this league -- is as repugnant to some folks as a rectal exam (That’s a horrible comparison. Rectal exams usually serve some useful purpose, and can even save lives on occasion. This is way worse). Even though Kobe has proven himself under pressure countless times, he gets the A-Rod treatment.

Kobe can't please anyone. And it doesn't help that most people suffer from revisionist history when it comes to Jordan, forgetting that he was just as poor a teammate and a ball hog and that he ran off coach Doug Collins like Kobe ran off Phil Jackson the first time (It is true that Doug Collins was run off partly because he couldn’t get through to the team’s superstar, which when you have someone irreplaceable, is as good a reason as any to run off a coach. Incidentally, the SAME GUY who was instrumental in getting MJ to start playing team basketball on offense and thereby win championships was unable to get through to Kobe in any kind of meaningful and permanent way, despite getting him at a more formative point in his career).

In fact, you could argue that Jordan was even worse. Far as we know, Kobe hasn't jacked up any of his teammates the way Jordan punched out Steve Kerr and Will Perdue at practice (see, there’s ANOTHER thing MJ did that Kobe never could have. Will Perdue would have beaten the crap out of Kobe if that happened. It also merits pointing out that Purdue and Kerr both remained productive players for the Bulls after that happened, although I am using “productive” loosely in Purdue’s case…but the point is neither guy got worse to an Odomlike extent, or had to leave the team. Also, if we’re going to criticize Jordan’s ball-hogging tendencies early in his career, I will point out that MJ was a ball-hog that developed into a great team player – and probably improved at the professional level more than any other athlete I can remember. Kobe began his career as a reserve on an average team and eventually developed into something resembling the ball-hog version of MJ).

Kobe will never be forgiven for Shaq's departure, but you're delusional if you think Jordan wouldn't have had any ego issues playing alongside a player with Shaq's star power (The ego issues stem primarily from the fact that Kobe wanted to be the best player on a team, which he never was when Shaq was around - he all but admitted this outright at the time. Which means that Kobe has NEVER been the best player on a championship team, and probably never can be, unless he drastically changes his style of play or the league makes the rules even more ridiculously scorer-friendly. Kobe vs. Pippen might be a more interesting debate. Also, while none of them were the cultural force that Shaq was, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc, and Jerry Krause all had massive egos that threatened to tear the team apart every off-season, and eventually did after MJ’s second retirement).

The best-player argument shouldn't be determined by personal dislike. But if you want to take it there, fine. Jordan was hardly the ideal husband, but only the tabloids were brave enough to venture into his personal life. And what about those gambling issues? If Jordan's life had been covered like Kobe's, we would have an entirely different opinion of His Airness. (This is ridiculous. Jordan was scrutinized as heavily as any non-politician in my lifetime. It’s also definitely possible that the New York media tried to manufacture a negative story about MJ towards the end of each season in the early 90’s to throw him off his game for the playoffs. While MJ was, and is, a very flawed human being, I think he had fewer character issues than Kobe, although as the writer points out this shouldn’t be relevant).

Besides a different level of media scrutiny, there was definitely a difference in the level of competition during Jordan's heyday compared to now (anyone that has followed the NBA for the last fifteen years would agree with this, although I am not sure how this helps Kobe’s case…).

Yesterday's NBA player certainly was more fundamentally sound, but there's no question that today's player is bigger, stronger and faster. When Jordan played, he was a singular force that could not be equaled. Jordan was guarded by the likes of John Starks and Joe Dumars, who were fine players but weren't nearly as skilled or physically imposing as LeBron, D-Wade, Tracy McGrady or even Vince Carter (the fact that the person that wrote this is seriously trying to imply that Vince Carter is a better defender than Joe Dumars or John Starks should be all that you need to immediately dismiss the rest of the article).

The NBA is tougher now (you have GOT to be kidding me. MJ played with and against Charles Oakley, Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Patrick Ewing, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Xavier McDaniel, John Starks, Karl Malone, Horace Grant, Reggie Miller, the Davis Boys, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, and young Shaq. Other than Wallace, Nocioni, Duncan, Bowen, and AI, what current NBA players would you put in that class as far as “toughness?” Not to mention the fact that Eastern Conference NBA playoff games were like gang fights in Jordan’s era. In nearly every series, something happened that would result in a ten-game suspension now. Now, you can actually get away with more defensive contact in a pickup game where the offense calls the fouls than in an NBA game).

Kobe, like Michael, is surrounded with mediocre to below-average talent, and Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio are all better than the Utah, Portland and the Charles Barkley-led Phoenix team that Michael met in the NBA Finals (this is part of the reason that MJ’s Bulls always beat those teams and Kobe’s Lakers lose in the first or second round of the playoffs every year. The other reason was that JORDAN WAS MUCH BETTER THAN KOBE YOU IDIOT!!!!!).

Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing will be among the best centers ever, but none of them affected the league the way Shaq and Tim Duncan have. There are two two-time MVPs in Kobe's own conference (Duncan, Nash), which is a problem Jordan never faced during his championship runs (mostly because Jordan won the MVP most years during his prime and prevented other players currently in the Hall of Fame, many of whom were as good as or better than Duncan or Nash, from winning multiple MVPs). Seven-footers weren't launching 3s back then. Magic Johnson and the Lakers were on a downward spiral, and the Pistons were on their last legs. It was Michael and everyone else. That's not the case for Kobe (not only have we now offended MJ fans and proctologists in this article, now we’re starting to lose fans of the Knicks, Pacers, Cavs, Sonics, Blazers, and Jazz. By the way, the Pistons were coming off of back-to-back championships when they were knocked off by MJ in 1991. They are remembered as having been on their last legs at that point because they lost...now there's some "revisionist history" for you!).

The shame of it is that Kobe might finish his career without a MVP (that actually would be a shame), even though his ability can be compared only to that of Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain (and T-Mac, and Pierce, and Wade…). All this time we've been looking for a player who is better than Jordan, but most of us can't get beyond whether we like or dislike Kobe as a person to recognize his contributions to the game (no, the biggest thing I can’t get past is the fact that he’s still never been the best player on a championship team, and that his career and playoff statistics are inferior to MJ’s despite playing in a more offense-friendly era. That said, Kobe is an amazing player and should be appreciated for what he is - he’s just not remotely close to what MJ was).

Ultimately the MVP award will go to either Nash or Dirk Nowitzki, who are deserving this season, but neither are as good as Kobe. Dallas and Phoenix are strong enough to make the playoffs without their stars (It’s debatable in Phoenix’s case. They’d probably be a 7 or 8 seed in the West). The Lakers, however, are a lottery team without Kobe (True…but only because Shaq, who would still be on the Lakers, has been injured for most of this year).

Now that's a valuable player (I will concede that there was one truly valid point in this article - although NBA players are worse at dribbling, shooting, passing, and basketball intelligence than they were during MJ's era, they are bigger, stronger, and faster. This is primarily because the talent pool the NBA pulls from has increased drastically since the 1990s. Not only is basketball (although not necessarily the NBA) as big as it ever was in the United States, it has joined soccer, hockey, and baseball as a legitimate international sport. The NBA is now reaping the benefits of its dramatic increase in popularity fifteen to twenty years ago. Now, I wonder who is responsible for that...because that would be one valuable player, too).