http://lakernoise.blogspot.com/2007/03/tex...kobe-vs-mj.html Tex Winters might be the best person to ask when comparing the two. I'll post the part where he describes how Kobe stacks up to Jordan. According to Tex, the main difference is he feels Kobe doesn't maintain his position in the post as well, and he thinks Kobe coasts too much on defense. Funny, I remember Jordan used to also play way off his man and do that "one-man zone" defense. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">This week I again raised the issue with Tex Winter, who spent years coaching each man. “I tend to think how very much they’re alike,” he replied. “They both display tremendous reaction, quickness and jumping ability. Both have a good shooting touch. Some people say Kobe is a better shooter, but Michael really developed as a shooter as he went along. I don’t know if Kobe is a better shooter than Michael was at his best.” Observers like to point out that Jordan played on a Chicago Bulls team with no great center, but Winter always countered that Jordan was a great post-up player and in essence was the premier post weapon of his time. Bryant himself came into the NBA with amazingly good post skills, but there was never room for him to play in the post with Shaquille O’Neal occupying the lane during their years together with the Lakers. In a lot of ways, Bryant is Jordan’s equal as a post player, Winter said, except for one critical element. “What’s happened to Kobe and his post play — and he is a great post player — is that he’s catching the ball just out of the lane and the defenders are forcing him out toward the wing. “It’s hard for him to get a deep post position,” Winter explained. “Michael had a knack for holding his ground a little better than Kobe. Those strong defenders force Kobe out of there. When that happens, we need to go away from Kobe, instead of challenging the defense there. You don’t want him to start on the post and end up out on the wing.” The situation leads some to wonder if Bryant’s difficulties in the post don’t lead him sometimes to an over-reliance on the 3-pointer. “I like to see him take 3s when he’s got ‘em,” Winter said. “He’s an excellent 3-point shooter. I like to see him take them when the floor is spaced and the defense is not closing out fast enough. If the ball is moved quickly, then he has a chance at a good look. Plus defenders foul him on the close-out and he gets a chance at a four-point play. He would get more four-point plays if officials called it when defenders fouled him on the 3.” Bryant also gets a lot of excellent looks when he charges up in transition and the defense is slow to react to him, Winter said. “He’ll bring the ball up. If they back up on him, he’ll move right to that 3-point line and hit it.” Bryant has always faced questions about the quality and quantity of his shots. “We study the tapes,” Winter said of Bryant’s recent scoring binge. “Actually, for the most part, he’s not forcing up a lot of bad shots. When he gets hot, he does take shots that would be questionable for other players. But a lot of the shots he’s taken go in.” What constitutes a forced shot for most players is not necessarily a bad shot for Bryant, Winter explained. “He’ll take shots that not many other players are going to be able to hit, and he hits them.” Long known as the innovator and developer of the triangle offense, Winter acknowledges that of recent Bryant has done much of his scoring while “not really running the triangle sequence options” that define the offense. “But he is running out of the triangle format and making use of the offense’s spacing and ball movement,” Winter offered. When the team does run the offense, Bryant finds most of his success at small forward, which allows him to work “behind the defense,” as Winter has often explained. “He gets the ball in position where he’s isolated and can attack the basket a little better. He gets more isolation that way. The triangle creates opportunity for him and he knows that.” Even with all of Bryant’s offensive success, Winter said the team needs to keep the ball moving, that Bryant’s teammates still defer to him too much. The main message that Winter, a Lakers consultant, would like to get across to Bryant is that the problem is not his offense. “I’d like to see him play better defense,” Winter said, adding that he had addressed the issue recently with Bryant but didn’t come away with the idea that Bryant was intent on changing his approach. “You know Kobe,” Winter said with a chuckle. “He has his game plan. I think he heard me. But he feels there’s a certain way he’s got to play the game. But it doesn’t involve a lot of basically sound defense.” Because the Lakers need so much of his effort at the offensive end, Bryant has adopted a save-energy plan on the defensive end, Winter said. “He’s basically playing a lot of one-man zone. He’s doing a lot of switching, zoning up, trying to come up with the interception. “The way Kobe plays defensively affects the team,” Winter added. “Anybody that doesn’t play consistently good defense hurts the team. That’s not only Kobe. Our other guards tend to gamble and get beat. Another problem is that the screen and roll is not played correctly.”</div>
Jordan was a stronger player than Kobe is, hence why he is great at also keeping his position in the post (as well why is he was argueably the greatest finisher). Kobe had more foot speed, but his defense is still behind Jordan by...a lot. Although, Jordan was an overrated defender by the time he was 32 or so and didn't deserve to be all-defense 1st team.
I think Kobe's problems with being forced out of the post isn't because he lacks strength that Jordan had... its more because the guards and forwards in the league are stronger than they used to be.
<div class="quote_poster">Fiyah Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I think Kobe's problems with being forced out of the post isn't because he lacks strength that Jordan had... its more because the guards and forwards in the league are stronger than they used to be.</div> Yeah, that's a great point.
i gotta disagree, Jordan was the superior finisher Kobe was, that exemplifies great strngth and body control. However,Kobe's got to be one of (if not, THE) most graceful player to ever step on the court.
