Good defensive teams as well as players today have thee best Defensive Rating in NBA history. Sorry, you cant argue with the Defensive numbers.

Not only does Kobe play against thee best 2 guard/ small forward defenders in NBA history, they are in his own conference. And if you think Gary Payton was the best to guard MJ, Kobe played against Payton 25 Times compared to MJ against Payton 15 times. Payton played the majority of his career in the West.

Shane Battier, Jason Kidd, Doug Christie, Raja Bell, Andre Kirlenko, Ron Artest, Gary Payton, and Bruce Bowen are all perennieal 1st and 2nd Team All Defense. All played Kobe 4 times a year.

Jordan’s defenders were a bunch of nobodies defensively. And since Scottie Pippen took on the best perimeter player on the opposing team, that meant Jordan didnt have to expand as much energy as Bryant who does guard the oppossing teams best player.

Kobe not only plays against better defenses but against a better NBA period.

Tex Winter himself said that these were thee best players, today, than any time in NBA history. And you cant argue with Tex Winter, he knows better than anybody.

Besides the fact that all of these comments are from guys that never actually watched Jordan play, they also never watch Bryant play because obviously they arent fans. So its not only ignorance, its blind ignorance.

Two more rings and there wont be an argument. Kobe gets his sixth and he will be thee greatest and would have done so without Shaq. Kobe has already done it without Shaq, Jordan never came close without Pippen. In fact MJ never had a winning season without Pippen. Kobe has two Western Conf Championships and and NBA Championship.

Even contemporaneous superstars recognized the unparalleled position of Jordan. Magic Johnson said, “There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us.” Larry Bird, following a playoff game where Jordan dropped 63 points on the Boston Celtics in just his second season, appraisal of the young player was: “God disguised as Michael Jordan.

A brief listing of his top accomplishments would include the following: Rookie of the Year; Five-time NBA MVP; Six-time NBA champion; Six-time NBA Finals MVP; Ten-time All-NBA First Team; Nine time NBA All-Defensive First Team; Defensive Player of the Year; 14-time NBA All-Star; Three-time NBA All-Star MVP; 50th Anniversary All-Time Team; Ten scoring titles — an NBA record and seven consecutive matching Wilt Chamberlain; Retired with the NBA’s highest scoring average of 30.1ppg.

If the NBA itself says mikes the greatest ever why is this even up for debate?

kobe:4× NBA Champion
(2000, 2001, 2002, 2009)
NBA Finals MVP
(2009)
NBA Most Valuable Player
(2008)
11× NBA All-Star
(1998, 2000–2009)
2× NBA Scoring Champion
(2006–2007)
7× All-NBA First Team
(2002–2004, 2006–2009)
2× All-NBA Second Team
(2000–2001)
2× All-NBA Third Team
(1999, 2005)
7× All-Defensive First Team
(2000, 2003–2004, 2006–2009)
2× All-Defensive Second Team
(2001–2002)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team
(1997)
3× NBA All-Star Game MVP
(2002, 2007, 2009)
NBA Slam Dunk Champion
(1997)
Naismith Prep Player of the Year
(1996)

look at how big jordan’s list is and how big kobe’s is.jordan was a better leader too. and 3 of kobe’s championships were cuz of shaq.. kobe was a ball hog until 2008.
conclusion: if kobe bryant made his next 1600 fg in arow, he still wudnt be close to jordan. in order for kobe to be close to jordan he wud have to score 42 ppg for 8 seasons … and not to mention the assists/rebounds/etc etc^^
honestly.. kobe has said it himself that mj is the greatest of all time and thr will be no next mj.. hell magic has said it, so many legends have said it.. yet u kobe fans who dunno shit about the game will keep on saying kobe is the best..also back in the 90’s thr was a thing as ‘hand checking’, if it was allowed today bryant wud average 18 ppg or something.phil jackson has said if jordan came and palyed now, he wudve averaged 45 ppg atleast..
mj’s top 5 highet scoring performances have been against the league’s best, while kobe’s have been against shit teams like raptors.( but 81 points is still amazzing).now u tell me who is better after u read all this..