What do people expect? Someone to clone jordan? We have someone as skilled 
and talented as Kobe Bryant, only 21(!) and shouldn't be discredited for what 
he is, the next "Kobe Bryant." The way I see it, Kobe Bryant has more than a 
possibility of becoming much greater than Jordan was. He is a basketball 
phenom. Since it's too early to tell, we can only speculate. Kobe has been 
molded through basketball, it's his life, that's all he does, he's what you 
refer to as a specialist. With the possibility of the Lakers getting Brian 
Grant along with the Shaq and Kobe combination, we are looking at a 
player who could actually end up with more rings than Jordan. I also think 
Kobe Bryant is much smarter than Jordan was at 21. Kobe knows the game well 
from all aspects and that's rare in such a young player. His knowledge is only 
gonna get better with time; imagine Kobe in his prime, around 28, which is 
when Jordan won his first championship. Are you kidding me?

Although Jordan and Kobe might look the same on the court, their games are 
vastly different. Jordan was great at intimidating others and being 
aggressive on the court. Kobe is just now beginning to get that respect, but 
he has a long way to go. Jordan was a much better outside shooter than Kobe 
is right now, but it's obvious that Kobe's jumper has improved every season; 
his form is flawless - he'll get that radar that the great shooters have with 
time. One thing I noticed is that Jordan was pretty much straight forward - 
meaning, you knew what he was gonna do in most instances but 
you couldn't stop it. The only person that could stop Jordan was Jordan. This 
is big because knowing that, you look at someone like Kobe, Garnett, shaq, I 
didn't incude Vince because I don't believe he has that quality, but anyway, I 
see the same attribute in those players because they can't be stopped when 
they are at their best. Jordan was almost always at his best and thats what 
made him so great.

A special quality that Kobe has that Jordan never had was that creativity and 
flexability to shift side to side dribble like a globetrotter and find a way 
to score even in tough situations. Living in Italy must have given him a 
different touch to basketball - more finesse and skill. Once he has his game 
polished things will become much easier for him. Repetition never hurts. It 
actually can drastically improve your game if you are smart and you have that 
determination to perfect something. I see a lot of that in him, maybe thats 
why he is so confident, he sees something ahead of him that we don't.

By Johnny Kornder

Late June, 2000
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