Kobe-Mike Debate Has Become Tiresome, Overused and Irrelevant

Recently, I was reading a Laker article on this very site when I saw a giant debate in the comments section about whether or not Kobe would ever be as good as MJ. There, I saw a horde of Kobe haters going on and on about how Kobe's nothing compared to Michael Jordan.

The funny thing is, Michael Jordan wasn't mentioned once in the article.

I wrote an article some time ago, debunking the overused misconception of Kobe Bryant being just a role-player on the early 2000s championship Laker teams. Today, I'd like to address another, perhaps even more intolerable, argument that Kobe's detractors hurl whenever they feel the need to quench their appetite of hatred.

That argument always includes some variation of, "He's no Michael Jordan."

Essentially, those haters would dismiss all Kobe has accomplished, because he's not the greatest player of all time. Some of them might even get a little more creative, with "He copied Jordan's game." I've even heard "He even copies how Michael Jordan walks."

That's right. Kobe's gotten heat because he walks like Michael Jordan...Does anyone else find this as childish as I do?

But moving on to the substance of these haters' claims, they essentially say that Kobe will never be the best, he is a wannabe Mike on the court and that he copies Mike's mannerisms.

The first claim is true. Michael Jordan was, and is, the greatest player in NBA history. There aren't many who would dispute that.



The funny part is, Kobe doesn't dispute it either.

This video, taken prior to the 2008 NBA Finals, has Kobe clearly saying he wants nothing to do with the MJ comparisons. He knows he will likely never reach MJ's pinnacle of greatness, and all he wants is, and I quote, to be the very best that he can be.

If Kobe himself is so quick to dismiss the MJ comparisons, why do Kobe haters insist on harping on about it?

Now, as for co...

About the Author