Why was Kobe compared to MJ?

[uberhikari]

I know this might seem like a silly question but I'm being serious.

After researching how Kobe played, and especially after seeing Ben Taylor's Greatest Peaks series, it's clear that MJ and Kobe weren't similar on offense.

MJ maximized his efficiency by having very strong tendencies, specific go-to moves as he aged, and certain areas from which he liked to attack. Given Phil's triangle, MJ was tactically positioned to attack from specific spots on the floor.

However, Kobe attacked from everywhere equally. He's like a perimeter Hakeem Olajuwon on steroids. Kobe didn't really have "go-to moves" as people say. He had an infinite number of countermoves that he unleashed from anywhere. Kobe's shooting release wasn't even standardized. Because he shot into double/triple teams or from awkward angles, he frequently altered his shot to put more arc on it to get it over defenders.

There's no way people could've seen Jordan in '98 and Kobe in '01 and thought they had similar games.

[HeartBreakKid]

Every great guard was compared to MJ at the time when Kobe broke in and he had the best longevity amongst them.

He was a similar size as well, a big time scorer, and a mega star like Jordan.

[ceoofkobefans]

It’s because both were mid range oriented SGs that were extremely athletic and all time dunkers that were also very good on ball defenders. When you look into their games more Indepthly the differences in their games become more clear but at a glance to a causal they seem pretty similar. Kobe was also the first ATG SG since MJ and was seen as his prodigy which made the comps more common

[1993Playoffs]

I agree that they actually weren’t that similar in play style. But for the casual fan they were similar and Kobe was the best of the Jordan clones.

[IG2]

Ummm why not?

2 6'6 SGs who were very athletic, mid-range dominant, loved the fadeaway and had identical mentalities. You're also completely exaggerating the difference in their playing styles. Kobe's entire footwork and method of attack from '03 onward is directly lifted off 90's MJ. And even more so from '06 onward once he became the #1 option in the triangle.

[uberhikari]

Ummm why not?

2 6'6 SGs who were very athletic, mid-range dominant, loved the fadeaway and had identical mentalities. You're also completely exaggerating the difference in their playing styles. Kobe's entire footwork and method of attack from '03 onward is directly lifted off 90's MJ. And even more so from '06 onward once he became the #1 option in the triangle.

No, it's not. Not even a little bit. There's literally no similarity between MJ's and Kobe's "method of attack." MJ rarely took pull-up jumpers. Kobe didn't just take them; he took them from everywhere on the court with about equal frequency from every spot.

As for footwork, MJ's and Kobe's footwork look nothing alike. The only similarity is between their fadeaway jumpers and that's it. MJ didn't even have any footwork in the mid-post besides the occasional up-and-under. Kobe's footwork looks more like Bird.

Did you actually watch any footage of them playing?

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Kobe was the 2nd best offguard ever after Jodan.
Kobe could probably do Jordan things things better than anybody but Jordan although, LeBron, Peak Vince Carter and Clyde Drexler could do some Jordan things. Kobe goes arround people better than LeBron, Carter and Drexler but those guys may go over people better than Kobe. Kobe had the pull up jumper better than those other guys. Jordan did not have LeBron’s size.

[70sFan]

I get that once you start looking deeper, they played differently and you start to see these nuances, but come on... Kobe definitely tried to copy Jordan games in many ways and at first look it's very natural comparison.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Ummm why not?

2 6'6 SGs who were very athletic, mid-range dominant, loved the fadeaway and had identical mentalities. You're also completely exaggerating the difference in their playing styles. Kobe's entire footwork and method of attack from '03 onward is directly lifted off 90's MJ. And even more so from '06 onward once he became the #1 option in the triangle.

No, it's not. Not even a little bit. There's literally no similarity between MJ's and Kobe's "method of attack." MJ rarely took pull-up jumpers. Kobe didn't just take them; he took them from everywhere on the court with about equal frequency from every spot.

As for footwork, MJ's and Kobe's footwork look nothing alike. The only similarity is between their fadeaway jumpers and that's it. MJ didn't even have any footwork in the mid-post besides the occasional up-and-under. Kobe's footwork looks more like Bird.

Did you actually watch any footage of them playing?

Mj took tons of pull up Jumpers especially older MJ. Kobe took deeper pull up jumpers. MJ’s drives were more mind blowing and made better highlight material but MJ was a high volume shooter of pull up jumpers.

If you don’t see the similarity between Jordan and Kobe perhaps you should watch more Jordan game film because something is wrong with your perception.

You should not be talking like an authority because you clearly don’t know what you are talking about.

I suppose you could be defining pull up jumpers different from me. Jordan did not shoot pull up jumpers in transition offense that much because if the defense was not set Jordan would be going all the way to the rim. But I call half court jab step pull up fade away jumpers pull up jumpers.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I get that once you start looking deeper, they played differently and you start to see these nuances, but come on... Kobe definitely tried to copy Jordan games in many ways and at first look it's very natural comparison.

They played differently but who played more like Jordan than Kobe? Sprewell? Oscar? David Thompson? Wade? Clyde? I think Kobe is the guy who played most like Jordan.

I think Jordan said that David Thompson was the guy that he was imitating growing up. People were asking him if he was imitating Dr J and his answer was no, I am imitating David Thompson.

[70sFan]

I get that once you start looking deeper, they played differently and you start to see these nuances, but come on... Kobe definitely tried to copy Jordan games in many ways and at first look it's very natural comparison.

They played differently but who played more like Jordan than Kobe? Sprewell? Oscar? David Thompson? Wade? Clyde? I think Kobe is the guy who played most like Jordan.

I think Jordan said that David Thompson was the guy that he was imitating growing up.

I think Wade isn't a bad choice, for differenr reasons.

Thompson is also interesting comparison, but he was far less versatile offensive player than Jordan.

[ceoofkobefans]

It’s because both were mid range oriented SGs that were extremely athletic and all time dunkers that were also very good on ball defenders. When you look into their games more Indepthly the differences in their games become more clear but at a glance to a causal they seem pretty similar. Kobe was also the first ATG SG since MJ and was seen as his prodigy which made the comps more common

Forgot to mention this but I also think that BT overstates the whole athleticism ability to get to the rim thing. He makes it sound like Kobe was some average athleticism guy that couldn’t get to the rim because he couldn’t beat Guys off the dribble when I don’t think that’s as much of the case. Kobe had all time athleticism and still was elite in that aspect by 06-09 but he played in a lot of packed paints thanks to 2 center lineups with mediocre spacing and has arguably the most gravity ever so he’s having to do alot more to get to the rim. He had the most counters ever and was able to beat you in a lot of different ways but he had that in 01-03 as well back at the peak of his Athleticism it’s just more refined by 06-09 which I think is more a result of being in the league longer and him constantly improving his game. He’s still able to get the rim relatively easy and shot at the rim about a quarter of the time even in 06-09 (23.3% from 01-03 21.7% from 06-09 in the RS and 25.2% Vs 20.7% although it’s 22.7% in 08)

[Frosty]

I mean Kobe came into the league directly imitating Jordan’s moves. He even did the tongue thing for awhile.

Before he entered the league he talked to Reggie about Jordan and Reggie wouldn’t call Jordan ‘Michael Jordan’ he only called him the Black Cat. Kobe responded that he wanted to be known as the ‘Caramel Cat’ as he was going to be the next Jordan. Yes Kobe could be lame AF.

Sweatband on the arm, tugging on the shorts, copied his fade away, jumper basically mimic’d everything MJ.

It was impossible for them not to be compared, Kobe wanted to be like Mike

[OhayoKD]

I know this might seem like a silly question but I'm being serious.

After researching how Kobe played, and especially after seeing Ben Taylor's Greatest Peaks series, it's clear that MJ and Kobe weren't similar on offense.

MJ maximized his efficiency by having very strong tendencies, specific go-to moves as he aged, and certain areas from which he liked to attack. Given Phil's triangle, MJ was tactically positioned to attack from specific spots on the floor.

However, Kobe attacked from everywhere equally. He's like a perimeter Hakeem Olajuwon on steroids. Kobe didn't really have "go-to moves" as people say. He had an infinite number of countermoves that he unleashed from anywhere. Kobe's shooting release wasn't even standardized. Because he shot into double/triple teams or from awkward angles, he frequently altered his shot to put more arc on it to get it over defenders.

There's no way people could've seen Jordan in '98 and Kobe in '01 and thought they had similar games.

sg's who belong in "best in the league" conversations are extremely rare, so there's that. Both were famed "tough-shot makers", had reps as "lock-down" man defenders, and were on the handful of nba teams to successfully pull off a three-peat. Both were also coached under phil-jackson and both operated in his triangle.

It's really not too hard to see comparisons here if you're not going out of your way to avoid them. Jordan ends up doing significantly better due to an advantage in athleticism, size, and bigger hands(Kobe sported advantages as a passer and a 3-point shooter, but that didn't lead to much of anything as prime Jordan was able to exploit illegal d and his athleticism/first-step to significantly out-create kobe anyway), but comparing the two was pretty understandable.

[mysticOscar]

Simply because Kobe was a very good player of similar position, size and playstyle that was coming up in the league and everyone knew MJ was coming to the end of his career.

Jordan was the face of the league and a lot of the upcoming players coming up to the league wanted to imitate Jordan. Kobe wasn't the only one touted as the next MJ. But Kobe took it to the next level.

Kobe had the most similarities as Jordan post his retirement and he was the face of the NBA after MJ....so its natural he was compared to him the most.

You can look and zoom in on the intricate details of there craft and yell out the differences....but that's not how these type of comparisons were made in the first place.

I don't think many claim that MJ and Kobe are 100% the same

[IG2]

MJ rarely took pull-up jumpers. Kobe didn't just take them; he took them from everywhere on the court with about equal frequency from every spot.

The guy who is generally considered the GOAT mid-range shooter "rarely took pull up jumpers"? TF?? MJ did prefer the catch-n-shoot over the pull up, but it's ridiculous to assume a guy with his mid-range volume didn't have to take a lot of those shots after putting the ball on the floor. Especially once his athleticism began to fade (1993) and he was no longer as active off-ball. Watch any MJ game from that point on and it will be littered with pull up jumpers. Kobe did take them from further out though, true. Also on higher frequency because he never had the same level of athleticism to penetrate as consistently.

Here's a playoff game from 1993 by MJ:

Watch on YouTube

MJ didn't even have any footwork in the mid-post besides the occasional up-and-under.

Don't know why you're reducing this down to post footwork. I'm talking about overall footwork and Kobe's entire arsenal from the triple threat is taken off MJ. Especially from 2003 onward.

Did you actually watch any footage of them playing?

Pretty sure I've seen and re-seen more MJ than anyone here. And a lot of Kobe too.

[tsherkin]

MJ didn't even have any footwork in the mid-post besides the occasional up-and-under. Kobe's footwork looks more like Bird.

Tell us you haven't watched MJ without telling us you haven't watched MJ...

[Heej]

Yea this is all a little too much r/iamverysmart for me lol. If you don't see similarities on their game it's because you're being purposely obtuse, rather than said similarities being few and far between.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Yea this is all a little too much r/iamverysmart for me lol. If you don't see similarities on their game it's because you're being purposely obtuse, rather than said similarities being few and far between.

Bro really said it perfectly

[NO-KG-AI]

Nobody is an exact replica of anyone else, but he literally came in right as Jordan was winding down, was virtually the exact same size and body type, patterned his game and mannerisms after Michael, and was a big star in a huge market that won a lot, dunk champion, fierce competitor, coached by Phil Jackson, etc etc etc.

This is just a case of trying to overthink and get way too cute.