But his place in NBA history remains complicated.
Yes, even after Bryant led his L.A. Lakers to their second straight (16th overall) NBA championship Thursday night, discussing his legacy is far from simple. In fact, it's nearly impossible. The 14-year superstar is now a member of five NBA title teams of the past 11 seasons and his Lakers seem poised to challenge for more during the next year or two.
But, let's not get too far ahead.
Comparisons in sports are inevitable. The most difficult ones to make are the ones that compare players across different eras and with different circumstances. For years, Bryant has been compared very favorably to the great Michael Jordan (my all-time hoops hero). And now that Bryant is just one championship behind MJ, the comparisons are as heated as ever. Many have even placed Kobe above Earvin "Magic" Johnson as the greatest Laker in history. It's entirely possible that Bryant is Johnson's superior, but he is still miles behind Jordan.
Here's why:
To be fair to both men, I'm only going to consider Bryant's last 11 seasons, since his first three were spent learning the NBA after jumping straight from high school. His productivity was far below what it came to be. For Jordan, I won't consider his two year stint with Washington, when he was a very advanced-in-age 39 and 40 and it's also pointless to consider his 18-game second season and his 17-game comeback season in 1995. In other words, I'm comparing Kobe's best 11 years with Michael's best 11 years.
In Kobe's 11 seasons, the Lakers have won the title 5 times. In each of those seasons, he not only didn't win a league MVP award, but the consensus opinion was that he was no higher than the second best player in the NBA. Not the best. His role on the Lakers' 2000-02 title teams was as the killer wing player. Shaquille O'Neal was the best, most dominant player on the floor and the league and his ability to virtually guarantee a Lakers basket every time down the court was their strongest asset. He was more physically imposing than anyone and had a litany of post skills that made him the focal point of opposing defenses. Bryant, with his myriad skills was the beneficiary of Shaq's paint presence. Though Kobe seemed to resent having to share the ball with O'Neal at the time, he still prospered from being the best one-on-one player in the game who was hardly ever required to go one-on-one.
So even though Kobe played a very pivotal role in those first three titles, he played with a very unfair advantage. Let's also not forget about the rest of the talent that L.A. had during those years. When Kobe became the team's leading scorer for the first time in his career during the 2002-03 season (30.0 ppg), the Lakers lost in Round 2 of the playoffs. It was the first time Bryant's thirst for glory impeded the team's goal; he had a 13 game stretch at midseason where he averaged more than 42 points per game. That type of monopoly on the ball is inexcusable when a guy like O'Neal (just 31 at the time) is around.
In the 2004 season, the Lakers lost again, this time in the NBA Finals to upstart Detroit. By then, O'Neal and Bryant's rift was at an all-time high in the animosity category. It was the last time they played together as O'Neal wound up in Miami the following season. With Bryant as the team's Number 1 star for the 2004-05 season, the Lakers were a mess and stunningly missed the playoffs. In '06, Bryant unleashed the full capacity of his brilliant offense and averaged a career high 35.4 ppg. He even dropped 81 points in a game v.s. Toronto, but come playoff time, his Lakers got bounced by Phoenix, an occurrence that repeated itself in 2007. It was during that off-season that Kobe fumed in the media and disparaged his teammates while mentioning that he wanted a trade. Of course, the ensuing 2007-08 season saw the shocking trade (steal) for all-star Pau Gasol. This move, along with the great improvement of the Lakers' Andrew Bynum put L.A. in the NBA Finals for the first time in four seasons.
Even though Bryant won the 2008 MVP, his Lakers lost the title to Boston. The following season, L.A. steamrolled Orlando en route to capturing the 2009 NBA title, Bryant's 4th overall, but first as the team's best player. They repeated the feat two days ago when they won in a delayed rematch with the Celtics. Bryant won Finals MVP for the 2nd straight season, but he never had a standout game.
For Michael Jordan, his path was very different. After six seasons of awesome accolades, breathtaking highlights and endless praise, his Chicago Bulls still possessed no championships. When they finally broke through in 1991, Jordan loomed very large. He averaged 31.2 ppg, 11.4 apg and 6.6 rpg! He dominated in the '92 Finals as well as he outshone his supposed equal Clyde Drexler with a 35.8 scoring average. For the Finals in 1993, he set a record with a 41 ppg series average against Phoenix. He stunningly retired nearly four months later, then returned two years after that. He led Chicago to another trilogy of championships in 1996, '97 and '98 before riding off into the sunset. The major difference between Jordan's showings in the championship series v.s. Bryant's is simple. Jordan had games so great that they remain some of the most transcendent moments in league history.
In the regular season, MJ won 10 NBA scoring titles, 9 NBA 1st team all-defense, 6 Finals MVP's, 6 NBA titles, 5 league MVP's and a Defensive Player of the Year award. He was always the best player on his team and though he had an awesome sidekick in Scottie Pippen, he always played with one-dimensional role players and had lousy centers and point guards on his team. His regular season resume is filled with 60, 50 and 40 point games but his playoff resume is filled with series winning performances that impact basketball history greatly. In his final two Finals series alone, MJ authored two of the greatest single game performances the championship series has ever seen. He was always the focal point of his team's offense as well as the other team's defense.
Kobe meanwhile, has had awesome regular season games but almost no playoff games that jump out at you. Even when he went on a one-quarter scoring explosion in Game 4 of this year's Finals, the Celtics still won. He has one MVP, which he earned during the same season his team lost in the Finals. Jordan won 4 of his 5 in seasons that ended in championships.
I agree that Kobe has skills that are virtually equal to Michael's which is amazing in and of itself. But this nonsense about Bryant being a better shooter than MJ is ridiculous. Yes, Bryant became a good shooter earlier than Jordan did, but once Michael perfected his mid-range jumper, he was automatic. MJ, even by Phil Jackson's admission was a better finisher at the rim than Kobe (since Jackson coached both men, I give added weight to his evaluations of them) Michael was also a superior post-up player even though Kobe is excellent in that category. Kobe has been an outstanding defender, Jordan was better. On the ball, he was more ferocious. Off the ball, he played the passing lanes with better anticipation. Both players have shown reluctance to pass the ball, but they are very effective when they do. Michael saw the floor better mostly because he was trained in college by Dean Smith to play as a team before playing as the hero. Even though Jordan was known as a ball hog, he still displayed that fundamental skill to look for the open man.
Bryant shoots the 3-pointer better than MJ, but takes far too many shots from that distance. Jordan was an inconsistent 3-point shooter, but he was a very good "situational" 3-point shooter. He also had the sense and discipline to take higher percentage shots instead of "the home run ball" which has a tendency to take a team out of their game. Both men were brilliant in crunch time, Jordan made a habit out of drilling last second shots and breaking the hearts of many teams. Bryant nailed several game winners this season alone.
All in all, Kobe Bryant is awesome. Granted, I can't be as big a fan of his as I'd like to be because my allegiance to Jordan won't allow it. With that being said, I make these arguments in MJ's favor with complete objectivity. I presented facts and opinions based on facts and I gave each man the benefit of the doubt. Kobe is not as great as Michael, and that is just fine.
He's a legend already. That ain't too shabby.
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