Just who is the greatest of all time?
This debate needs to end, and it needs to end now, for a very good reason. Beyond any and all stats, more significant than number of championships, prevailing over all records and accomplishments, there is one key reason why this debate needs to cease.
Because Kobe's career hasn't finished yet.
It seems so obvious to me, and yet the battle wages on between "Kobe-lovers" and "Jordan-lovers."
Let's be clear, most basketball fans can make a fairly good argument for putting Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird amongst the top 5-10 players of all time. And that's fine.
But when you start to make the comparisons to present-day players who are still carving out their legacy, the debate becomes even more subjective.
Granted the entire debate over "greatest of all time" is a subjective one, as there is no set-in-stone formula for determining such an accolade. Based on number of championships, it's Bill Russell. Based on points scored, it's Kareem. Based on shooting percentage, it's Wilt Chamberlain. When it comes to leading the league in scoring, nobody did it more than Jordan, and MJ also scored more points than anyone in the playoffs.
The point is that there are an almost infinite number of stats as well as variables which go into analyzing every player's NBA career. Are Bill Russell's 11 NBA titles less significant than MJ's six because of the significantly fewer number of teams in the league at the time? I don't know, that's a matter of personal opinion. Is it fair to compare guards to forwards or centers? I haven't a clue. There's no set rules for this sort of thing.
So we can banter back and forth all day long about who is better, Kobe or MJ, but it isn't a relevant debate at this point in time because while Michael's career is over, Kobe still has presumabl...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
