Kobe Bryant Research Paper

Kobe Bryant v. Michael Jordan
Persuasive Essay
18 March 2013

Kobe Over Michael

A popular subject in the world of basketball and sports at that matter, is whether Kobe Bryant will ever be as good as Michael Jordan. Whenever there is conversation about being the greatest to ever play the game, you hear names like Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James and many others. Currently the biggest topic is comparing two similar players such as Kobe and Michael together since they have played the similar position and have had great success in the NBA (National Basketball Association)(Abramson).
The trending topic will forever be asked and really never unsettled, but I believe differently. There are many statistics and stories that people may not be fully aware of about these two stars. Not only do I believe that Kobe is better, but I believe he will be the greatest to ever play the game. These two players are very much so the two greatest to play the game with one franchise and be able to gain so much success by hard work and determination and an aggressive attitude. Bryant and Jordan are so close in comparison to one another that it is actually kind of scary. They did have different career paths, but they are very much the same in how they end up in the league and what accomplishments they have achieved. It has been greatly spoken that Michael Jordan is considered to be the greatest to play and the greatest to ever play (Ethan S). Statistics and numbers show otherwise to me. In high school, Michael was cut from the varsity team his sophomore year, giving him the determination to work harder through the year and the summer to come out and make the varsity squad. Not only did he do so but he went on and had tremendous seasons and went on to play at the University of North Carolina, a school who has had many great players come through and play in the NBA. Michael was the prize pick in the NBA draft and went on to play for the Chicago Bulls and reached many heights of success early in his career, showing that he was the real deal and not just another kid from college in the NBA. The NBA in the 80's was a much faster paced game, some years teams would average twenty percent more possessions that the teams over the past decade (Ethan S). That really shows a lot about how the game has changed today. While Michael is struggling to be moved up to the varsity roster, Kobe Bryant is making a killing in the media and has big schools after him left and right.
Recruiting coaches are coming at him all of the time and his ability to play the game the way that he could allowed him to by pass college and go straight to the NBA and live his dream. He was drafted in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers where he has been playing at ever since (Drake Oz). He and Michael played against each other a few times as Michael was on his back side of playing the game, leaving to pursue a professional baseball career (Drake Oz). Why leave a sport you are having such a great amount of success in to play a sport you are clearly not as good in? Obviously it was a personal decision and did it affect him as a basketball player? Yes. He decided to come back and was not the same player as before, then soon retiring from the Washington
Wizards. One statistic that many people wont think about is how long Kobe has actually been in the league versus how long Michael was in the league. Kobe Bryant is thirty-four years old and went into the league from high school in '96. He has been in the league almost half of his lifetime and is still in the league putting up numbers that are outstanding. Michael Jordan went into the league in '84 at the age of 21 and went on to retire in '94 and in '99 before finally retiring in 2003. You could clearly see the age affecting Jordan and slowing him down as he was less explosive and not as flexible or able to keep up with the league as it had evolved over the years he missed out due to retirement. Michael Jordan has the edge on awards, but over-all, Kobe has better statistics in key categories and is 34 and still keeping up with the young guns of the league today. Kobe has a better basketball IQ.
His mentality for greatness is off the charts and his passion for excellence is the passion that every player should have in the game or in any matter for that case. In his career, Kobe has an average of 83.8 percent from the free throw line, ahead of Jordan, and also a 34.1 percentage from beyond the three point line, which is also better than Michael Jordan's percentage (Drake Oz). A lot of people look at MVP awards and national championships to decide who is the best and things like that. Michael has 5 MVP titles while Kobe only has one, but they are overrated and misleading (Drake Oz). Kobe has had much better seasons than a lot of former winners of the MVP award. Example, in 2006, Steve Nash won the MVP of the league. Nash had a great year, but Kobe put up monstrous numbers and had a fantastic year with the Lakers. You cannot base the potential of greatness off of awards. Yes, they help your confidence and your reputation as a player in the league, but they do not define your greatness and ability that you may have to show. Michael has also won 6 championships and Kobe is only at five, but Kobe is most definitely not done playing either. The age-old argument against Kobe Bryant used to be that "he only won three titles because of Shaq. Well, fast forward to 2010, and Bryant has more titles (five) than Shaq (four) and was the star of those two teams while Shaq played second fiddle to Dwyane Wade. Not saying Bryant would have won all
three titles without Shaq, but it's certainly not the only reason that he did. Bryant averaged at least 25 points, five assists and five rebounds every season during the Lakers three-peat from 2000-02. Kobe is amongst the greatest to ever play the game because of his determination and excellence he yearns after. Not only is he able to hold his own in the league today, but he is still teaching the players and leading his teams to victories at any cost. Michael was a leader, no question, but he did not have the intensity that Kobe brings to the table for the pursuit of perfection, which gives him the podium of the greatest player.