Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan: twins.

[Kiorrik]

Alright alright, before I kick this off, I want you guys to understand that this is not my attempt at stating a thread about how one is better than the other.

I don't mind if this thread evolves into another Kobe vs Michael thread, but it's not my intent.

What I *do* want, is to share a video and ask you guys if you think this is just a few coincidental plays, or maybe they *are* exactly the same type of basketball player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74zX6R2qbrs

What do you guys think: are they "the same"? Or do their games actually have some differences?


.edit: ps; do check the video, and turn the sound of if you have to :p

[RAcker]

If by twins you mean that they are both D Bags, sure.

[Fafnir]

They're not twins per se. Kobe has actively modeled his entire game on Michael for years.

They're similar in many ways though. Still Jordan was, and always has been a far superior player.

[Kiorrik]

Still Jordan was, and always has been a far superior player.

How so?

[Fafnir]

Still Jordan was, and always has been a far superior player.

How so?

He's a superior offensive player in pretty much every aspect of the game except 3 point shooting.

He's also a better defensive player and played defense much more consistently. If you match up their career arcs Michael's just better in almost every area at every stage. 3 point shooting and long 2s are probably the only exception, but Michael got to the rim and line at a better rate.

[ManUp]

Twins would mean they were from the same time. Kobe is an MJ clone, but he's less of a slasher. I think Wade is also similar to MJ in his aggressiveness.

[bdm860]

Come on now, we could do a video like that comparing DWade to Jordan, or Vince Carter to Jordan, or Jason Richardson to Jordan...

Anybody who plays the wing and can drive with nice hops is going to have a bunch of plays that look EXACTLY the same.  Especially when they shoot 20+ shots a game, it won't be hard to find a few shots that look very similar.

[Witch-King]

Jordan was by far the more efficent scorer, averaging over .500 from the field for his NBA career. Simply put, it was often times better to just pass the ball to MJ, even if you knew your opponent was going to double-team him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5auPSMaD3vE

It is a shame how the NBA has softened up since Jordan retired; no handchecking, three in the key, etc. I remember how tough it was for the Bulls come playoff time to just get past the Detroit Pistons and their brutal defense. Imo what the C's did to Kobe in the 2008 NBA Finals is nothing compared to what Michael Jordan went through in his early years, hell MJ averaged 37 ppg in his third season in the NBA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDeiWYttLME

[LarBrd33]

It seems so weird to me that some people could honestly think the NBA has evolved to the point where Kobe Bryant is the "evolution" of Jordan or something.  Come on.  Jordan was still a 20 point scorer at 40 years old.  Jordan in his prime was the greatest player to ever live.  He was dominant.  He killed teams.  It was surreal to watch him.  Then he retires... 10 years go by and people sit around debating if Kobe Bryant is on his level.  Come on... I don't even believe Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA RIGHT NOW. 

[housecall]

I use to wonder why Kobe never entered into any  All Star events unlike MJ did in his prime...he always entered the SLAM Dunk contest and challenged the best.I finally figured it out,MJ carries a confidence with in himself that Kobe doesn't.MJ was willing to lose and accept defeat as an individual where Kobe always has to be part of a group in case he fails there will be someone else to blame it on.So i think no matter what Kobe does to emulate MJ's game,he will never match his individual challenges.

[RAcker]

I use to wonder why Kobe never entered into any  All Star events unlike MJ did in his prime...he always entered the SLAM Dunk contest and challenged the best.I finally figured it out,MJ carries a confidence with in himself that Kobe doesn't.MJ was willing to lose and accept defeat as an individual where Kobe always has to be part of a group in case he fails there will be someone else to blame it on.So i think no matter what Kobe does to emulate MJ's game,he will never match his individual challenges.

It's because he was too busy trying to enter into other individual challenges back at the hotel.  Wocka wocka!  Zing!

[RJ87]

I don't even believe Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA RIGHT NOW. 

TP for taking the words right out of my mouth.
As much as I despise the Cavs, the best player in the NBA right now is LeBron. Kobe looks like a much better player than he really is because of the pieces around him - Gasol, Odom, Bynum and now Artest. LeBron has scraps to work with, but he makes them better players - heck he made Mo Williams into an all-star. I'm not saying Kobe isn't a great player, because he clearly is, but the real mark of a great player is making the players around you better - I don't really see that from Kobe.

[Kiorrik]

Thanks for the teachings, oh fellow C fans :]

Seriously.

I've always been a fan of basketball, but I'm from Holland and over here, honestly, we don't get to see much of it. I knew who MJ was, and of course, since I was interested, I knew Stockton, Malone, Bird, etc etc. It wasn't until the internet blew up in the 90's that I got to experience more of the NBA, and learned of "the human highlight reel", Russel, McHale, etc.

Since about 3 years, I've been able to watch NBA on the television, and since this year I've seen about 10 times as many games as I have in my whole life. A lot of things have started to dawn on me. Actually, my own game has gotten better because I watched the NBA. In that regard, I can see why Kobe is labeled a "copycat".

I never got the whole fuss about the two being as good, or not as good as the other. And now that you guys have linked me some vids and talked about the difference in their games, and the difference in the league, it's starting to make sense.

TP's to all of you, for today has been a slight revelation.

(I'm so glad I opened the topic )


.edit: oh, and excuse me for being an unknowing son of a mother

[Witch-King]

I don't even believe Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA RIGHT NOW. 

TP for taking the words right out of my mouth.
As much as I despise the Cavs, the best player in the NBA right now is LeBron. Kobe looks like a much better player than he really is because of the pieces around him - Gasol, Odom, Bynum and now Artest. LeBron has scraps to work with, but he makes them better players - heck he made Mo Williams into an all-star. I'm not saying Kobe isn't a great player, because he clearly is, but the real mark of a great player is making the players around you better - I don't really see that from Kobe.

^This all may very well be true, but if you remember even after the Cavaliers' near perfect regular season (they almost tied the Celtics for best all time home win percentage), the Cavaliers were still unable to make it to the NBA Finals.

Interestingly enough, the Cavaliers had the chance to tie that home-record on the last game of the season, but instead chose to rest their starters for the playoffs (including Lebron). This move was detrimental to the Celtics, because the 76ers beat the Cavs that game, and moved up a seed in last years playoffs, so that we had to play the Bulls in the first round.

**Hearkens back to the infamous Celtics Bulls 7 game extravaganza series characterized by multiple overtimes/gamewinners/controversial fouls/Ray Allen's 51 point explosion/Scalabrine coming up somewhat clutch in game 7**

...Meanwhile LeBron James was on easy street, eliminating the lackluster Pistons (see Allen Iverson implosion/sub .500 reg. season record) and the complacent Hawks in 4 games apiece, only to be upstaged by the Magic in 6 games (a team that we took to game 7) even though he was averaging playoff record numbers (35 pts, 9 rebounds, 7 assists)... 

Let's hope we can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season; I hear Kobe Bryant is playing through injuries over in the Western Conference, so it's not like every game from here on out is a 'must'-must win... 

[guava_wrench]

They're not twins per se. Kobe has actively modeled his entire game on Michael for years.

They're similar in many ways though. Still Jordan was, and always has been a far superior player.

Yeah. Copy cat is quite different from twins.

The problem with the video is that there are many plays that look the same because both Kobe and Jordan are human beings with the same anatomy. We can find tons of video of other players doing similar things.

Still, Kobe consciously tried to mimic Jordan's mannerisms early on, so there are a lot of similarities.