Watching Kobe play with all of his injuries as well as he has made me think - is he better than MJ? They are both so similar - the skill, passion, drive, championships. I still give Jordan the nod by a hair, but I'm not sure why. But it is a close call, is it not?
MJ and it isn't even close. He has a huge mental edge IMO. While Kobe does have game winners, Jordan was just on a different level.
Jordan's defense was pretty darn amazing and Kobe has never really been a huge difference-maker at that end of the floor IMO. I think Jordan was better than Kobe was/is. Ed O.
Jordan's a pretty overrated defender. But then again, so is Kobe. Jordan by a longshot. However, I don't think he's #1 all time 'by a mile'. You could make an argument for Wilt and Bill Russell (especially Wilt).
what is the highest possible PER? wilt had a 31.8 PER in his 50.4/25.7 season on 48.5 MINUTES PER GAME?? at 31 years old he put up 24.3/23.8/8.6
The only people who try and put Kobe up there on the same podium as MJ are Laker fans. Kobe is the best SG of this era and #2 of all time but him and Jordan are on two different levels.
I don't want to play the "I'm old" card, but... did you see Jordan play? He was an incredible defender in his prime. I still think Wilt is the most dominating (which is my definition of "best", rather than "put them all on the floor together at the same time"-best) as good as Jordan was. Ed O.
Pippen was amazing on defense and is a Top 50 player alone on his individual defense. He defended Magic Johnson, John Stockton, and Gary Payton, and allowed defensive slugs like John Paxon, Craig Hodges, and Steve Kerr to be impact players despite their lack of defense. Jordan won DPOY awards because of Pippen.
PER is pace-adjusted and as I recall those leagues played at considerably higher pace. I find it pretty unlikely that Chamberlain could replicate his raw stats in the current NBA. That said, his PER shows that a prime Chamberlain would be arguably the best player in the NBA in any year. As for the original question, I think it's pretty clearly Jordan. Jordan is the only player I've seen who was able to go full-speed at both ends (by which I mean, carry an offense's primary scoring load while still being a high-level defensive presence) all game long. He wasn't doing that later in his career (he developed a regular season cruise control mode in the second three-peat) but prior to his first retirement, it was unreal how good he could be end to end. The best two scorers directly after him, IMO, were Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady (before back injuries destroyed his effectiveness). Both were capable of spurts of defensive excellence, but neither could keep it up all game long, or even most of the game, while carrying a primary scoring load. McGrady did his best full-game defensive work as a Raptor when Vince Carter was the primary scorer and Bryant did his best full-game defensive work when Shaquille O'Neal was the primary scorer. LeBron James is the closest thing yet that I've seen to Jordan in terms of being capable of doing that kind of work on the offensive and defensive end for the entire game. I think James is the guy who really compares to Jordan as a talent, not Bryant.
I was convinced at the time that Carter/McGrady was Jordan/Pippen redux. I was an idiot at a young age.
