Kobe Bryant idolized Michael Jordan growing up and as he modeled his game after his idol, it ended up being the one that resembled Jordan’s the most. That led to both men being compared with each other, with some even believing that Bryant was the better player. Gilbert Arenas doesn’t believe that, though, and on Gil’s Arena, he delivered an interesting take on the Jordan-Bryant comparison.
“Kobe was nothing like Mike,” Arenas said. “The only things that Kobe resembled from Mike, was Mike 2nd 3-peat. Kobe was not even capable to compare ’84 Mike, ’85 Mike, ’86, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3… That Jordan was not even capable of being reached.
“When people say he’s a carbon copy of Michael Jordan, please just say the old n***a when he was on his three-peat run because you think about putting him against the 80s Michael Jordan, it wouldn’t be no competition with that man,” Arenas concluded.
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If you look at what Jordan accomplished before he retired for the first time, it was truly incredible. From 1984-85 to 1992-93, he averaged 32.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game for the Chicago Bulls and shot 51.6% from the field.
Jordan won three titles, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, a DPOY, and seven scoring titles in those nine seasons. Arenas said no one was capable of reaching that level he was at and while you might argue for someone like LeBron James, I don’t think Bryant was ever that dominant.
In his entire career, Kobe won five titles, two Finals MVPs, an MVP, and two scoring titles. He also averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game and while all that is very impressive, it’s just not as impressive as what Jordan accomplished. There is no denying that in terms of style, Kobe was the closest to the great man, but in terms of greatness on the court, there was a bit of a gulf between them.
Kobe Bryant’s Thoughts On The Comparisons With Michael Jordan
While Kobe is no longer with us to share his thoughts on all the comparisons, he obviously did speak about them at length in the past. Bryant explained why the comparison with Jordan didn’t work.
“I appreciated them, but after a while it just got old,” Bryant told ESPN. “They eventually faded away because I was putting together my own identity. But I’ll never forget how much I learned from MJ. I got so much from him. I knew what he did, I knew his moves and I used them.
“But for me the comparisons didn’t work because our situations were totally different,” Bryant continued. “I came straight out of high school and played with a dominant big in Shaquille. Man, I was so young when I got to the NBA. What was I, like, 17? I mean, 17! The more you think about it, my situation was completely different than MJ’s, so the comparisons were just, you know, I stopped paying attention to them.”
That was an interesting way to look at this topic. Their situations were indeed so different, with Bryant entering the NBA out of high school and playing second-fiddle to Shaquille O’Neal while Jordan was the main man right away after spending three seasons in college.
Despite Kobe not believing the comparison worked and not paying any attention to it, it never stopped others from bringing it up from time to time. That’s not going to change in the future either.