ESPN Interview Robert Horry-"Michael Jordan Is Far The Best Basketball Player"

[BoxOutBOXOUT]

Horry's opinion is biased. He played alongside Kobe. He DIDN'T play alongside Jordan. He saw all of Kobe's faults and shortcomings but never had the opportunity to see Jordan's. His view of Kobe is based on reality while his view of Jordan is based on hype and fantasy. Unfair assessment. I'd like to hear what someone like Ron Harper, Dennis Rodman, etc. has to say about it, not some guy that jerks it to MJ but never actually shared the court with him.

[SavageMode]

Seasons over 30 points per game:
Michael Jordan: 8
Kobe Bryant: 2

Seasons over 32 points per game:
Michael Jordan: 5
Kobe Bryant: 1

In NBA history, there are 13 50 point games with under 50% shooting, and Kobe Bryant is responsible for 6 of them.

Kobe Bryant also has:
2nd worst known game score for a player scoring 10+ points. (5-21 shooting)
2nd worst known game score for a player scoring 30+ points. (11-29)
Worst and 4th worst known game scores for a player scoring 40+ points. (17-47, 12-30)

Regular season
Seasons under 50% shooting
Kobe Bryant: 14
Michael Jordan: 9

Seasons under 48% shooting:
Kobe Bryant: 14
Michael Jordan: 5

Seasons over 50% shooting:
Kobe Bryant: 0
Michael Jordan: 6

Seasons over 52% shooting:
Kobe Bryant: 0
Michael Jordan: 4

Regular season
Games with under 50% shooting
Michael Jordan: 489
Kobe Bryant: 623

Regular season
Games with under 48% shooting
Michael Jordan: 458
Kobe Bryant: 599

Regular season
Games with under 46% shooting
Michael Jordan: 388
Kobe Bryant: 530

Regular season
Games with under 44% shooting
Michael Jordan: 296
Kobe Bryant: 452

Regular season
Games with under 42% shooting
Michael Jordan: 234
Kobe Bryant: 393

Regular season
Games with under 40% shooting
Michael Jordan: 158
Kobe Bryant: 317

Regular season
Games with under 35% shooting
Michael Jordan: 88
Kobe Bryant: 192

Regular season
Games with under 30% shooting
Michael Jordan: 41
Kobe Bryant: 97

Regular season
Games with 60% or better shooting
Michael "Air" Jordan: 173
Kobe "Bean" Bryant: 123

Regular season
Games with 50% or better shooting
Michael "Air" Jordan: 556
Kobe "Bean" Bryant: 393

Regular season
Games with 20 shots made on 60% or better shooting
MJ: 16
Kobe: 3

Rookie of the Year
Michael Jordan: Yes
Kobe Bryant: No

In his rookie year, Michael Jordan led his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. Kobe Bryant wasn't good enough to beat out Eddie Jones for the starting spot his rookie year.

All-Rookie First Team
Michael Jordan: Yes
Kobe Bryant: No

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with 12 or more assists
Michael Air Jordan: 32
Kobe Bryant: 19

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with 10 or more assists:
Michael Air Jordan: 87
Kobe Bean Bryant: 74

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with 5 or more assists:
Michael Air Jordan: 663
Kobe Bean Bryant: 593

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with less than 3 assists:
Michael Air Jordan: 179
Kobe Bryant: 261

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with less than 2 assists:
Michael Air Jordan: 61
Kobe Bryant: 142

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with 0 assists:
Michael Air Jordan: 7
Kobe Bryant: 57

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with at least 15 rebounds:
Michael Air Jordan: 10
Kobe Bryant: 5

Regular season & Playoffs combined
Games with at least 12 rebounds:
Michael Air Jordan: 66
Kobe Bryant: 29

Percentage of points scored on free throws:
Michael Air Jordan: 22.9%
Kobe Bryant: 25.1%

Record in games with 30+ shot attempts
Michael Air Jordan: 72-57 (.558)
Kobe Bean Bryant: 46-61 (.368)
Michael Jordan shot his team to wins, Kobe Bryant shoots his team out of wins.

Seasons with at least 200 steals:
Michael Air Jordan: 6
Kobe Bryant: 0

Seasons with at least 150 steals:
Michael Air Jordan: 9
Kobe Bryant: 2

Seasons with at least 100 blocks:
Michael Air Jordan: 2
Kobe Bryant: 0

Seasons with at least 75 blocks:
Michael Air Jordan: 4
Kobe Bryant: 0

Defensive Player of the Year awards
Michael Jordan: 1
Kobe Bryant: 0

Michael averaged 35 points per game when he won defensive player of the year. The next closest scorer to win it had 27 ppg. Guards rarely receive Defensive Player of the Year. Think about the level of energy it takes to lead the league in scoring, and be the league's best defender.

Regular season & Playoffs combined
40 point or higher games
MJ: 211
Kobe: 115

Regular season & Playoffs combined
30 point or higher games
MJ: 671
Kobe: 415

Career Player Efficiency Rating
Michael Jordan: 27.91
Kobe Bryant: 23.50

Olympic Gold Medals
Michael Jordan: 2
Kobe Bryant: 1

Michael Jordan is one of three players to win an Olympic gold as both an amateur (1984) and professional (1992). The other players are Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin, who did it with him.

All Star Game:
Jordan’s 40 points in 1988 is still the second most points in an All-Star Game behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 42. Jordan also recorded the only All-Star Game triple double in NBA history in 1997.

Scoring titles
Michael Jordan: 10
Kobe Bryant: 2

Of course Jordan has the most scoring titles in NBA history. He also led the league in total points his rookie season, but was third in scoring average. He is the only player besides Wilt Chamberlain to score 3,000 points in a season.

Steals titles
Michael Jordan: 3
Kobe Bryant: 0

Jordan was the first player in NBA history to lead the league in both scoring and steals. He achieved this feat three times. The only other player to do it is Allen Iverson.

Jordan was the first player in NBA history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season. He performed this feat in back-to-back seasons, making him the only player to achieve it multiple times. Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen later achieved 200 steals and 100 blocks in one season.

Jordan is the fourth player in NBA history to win a scoring title and an NBA championship in the same season, which he did all six times.






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[UwishUhadWall]

Jordan being the GOAT is no different than the sky being blue. The sooner some can just accept the fact, the sooner they'll stop making themselves look retarded little fanboys.

And that's not taking anything away from Kobe. He's an all time great and a legend. HE'S JUST NOT MICHAEL JORDAN GREAT. Nobody is. Get over it.

(Don't get me started on Lebron. He doesn't belong in this discussion.)

[jlauber]

Good post.

I think Hakeem is only over-rated if you put him in the top 5. Which is just absurd given what we know and saw as you stated above.

Hakeem is tough for me. He's locked in at number 9 for me and I don't see that changing anytime soon....Lebron will probably pass him all time on my list as long as Lebron wins a title or two.

I watched pretty much Hakeem's entire career. There aren't many other players in history I would rather build a team around. He could do everything on both ends and was a great team player. He was a victim of unfortunate circumstances though so we'll never really know what he could have been.

At his peak, he led the worst team to win a title in the last 30 years.
his playoffs in 95 are just absurd:

33 points 10 boards 5 assists in 22 games.

I rank Duncan over Hakeem because I think Duncan was the more sound defender. Hakeem often gambled for blocks and didn't really anchor the defense the way he should.

However, I'm not sure what Hakeem would have done playing alongside a hall of famer like Magic or Bird for 8 years.

So, like always, circumstances just play too big a role for me to accurately define Hakeem as a player.

#9 is EXACTLY where I rank Hakeem myself...behind Kobe and ahead of Bird. Now, I have said it before...you can interchange those three if you want...but by the time Kobe's career is over, he will be ranked ahead of both. Hakeem had that sensational playoff run in '95, but that was ONE damned season...in 18 (and yes, he was great in the '04 playoffs as well)! And once again, he never put up what I would term a truly GREAT season. Hell, Robinson had better years.

You can argue the quality of his teammates, but why do those that do, never acknowledge that Chamberlain played with far crappier rosters in the first half of his career, and was NEVER outplayed in ANY of his post-seasons? And before some idiot claims that Wilt had HOF teammates early in his career...one of them was Tom Gola, who not only has no business being in the HOF, he was arguably the WORST post-season HOF player EVER. And Wilt's other HOF teammate, Arizin was at the end of his career, and he too, played poorly in Wilt's post-seasons.

Olajuwon never came close to Chamberlain's over-all IMPACT on the game. In fact, Russell, Kareem, and Shaq were all more dominant, and Duncan was more consistent.

[Round Mound]

Duncan more consistant than Hakeem?

Hakeem was so much better than Duncan that its not even funny.

A healthy D-Rob was also better than Tim Duncan

[HighFlyer23]

He also said Hakeem is better than Shaq and Duncan!

Saying who is the best is subjective. You can probably bring up arguments to support you claim to say who has the better case in the argument, but it is mainly subjective on the final conclusion.

LOL is this a joke? Hakeem was way better than Duncan ever was. Shaq is arguable but Hakeem was the better defender than him.

And come on jlauber, we all know Wilt would barely make it to the league today and Russell who was the size of Kevin Durant wouldn't even be in the NBA. None of those 60s scrubs would ever become stars in todays league.

I mean look at his highlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrMw...eature=related

Kendrick Perkins would shut him down

[jlauber]

Duncan more consistant than Hakeem?

Hakeem was so much better than Duncan that its not even funny.

A healthy D-Rob was also better than Tim Duncan

Duncan's impact goes beyond the numbers, much like Russell's. He elevated the play of his teammates, and his team's have almost always been among the best defensive team's in the league. Hakeem may have had a better peak, but Duncan's CAREER has been better IMHO.

And a PEAK SHaq was quite simply a more dominant player than either.

[Alhazred]

Horry's opinion is biased. He played alongside Kobe. He DIDN'T play alongside Jordan. He saw all of Kobe's faults and shortcomings but never had the opportunity to see Jordan's. His view of Kobe is based on reality while his view of Jordan is based on hype and fantasy. Unfair assessment. I'd like to hear what someone like Ron Harper, Dennis Rodman, etc. has to say about it, not some guy that jerks it to MJ but never actually shared the court with him.

You know Horry joined the NBA in 1992, right? He played against Jordan multiple times during the second three-peat. I think he knows what he's talking about.

[ginobli2311]

Duncan's impact goes beyond the numbers, much like Russell's. He elevated the play of his teammates, and his team's have almost always been among the best defensive team's in the league. Hakeem may have had a better peak, but Duncan's CAREER has been better IMHO.

And a PEAK SHaq was quite simply a more dominant player than either.

This exactly.

You have to think of Duncan in terms of the Russell standard. Nothing Duncan does jumps out at you. He's just a great player that knows how to play the game and impact it in so many ways.

He is arguably the most fundamentally sound defensive player of all time besides Russell.

Hakeem had more flash, but I'll take Duncan.

[HighFlyer23]

You know Horry joined the NBA in 1992, right? He played against Jordan multiple times during the second three-peat. I think he knows what he's talking about.

Horry's opinion > Kobe stans opinions

[BoxOutBOXOUT]

You know Horry joined the NBA in 1992, right? He played against Jordan multiple times during the second three-peat. I think he knows what he's talking about.

You're a f*ckin' nut-gobbling idiot. I never said Horry didn't play AGAINST Jordan. I said he never played WITH him. Being someone's teammate exposes their weaknesses. When you're around someone so much you can see all their faults. Playing against someone a few times, on the other hand, shows you nothing. If that someone kicks your a$$ you'd think "Wow, he's amazing!" when in reality you probably just suck.

And Savage, only idiots make their text big to try getting their point across. If your words can't speak for themselves without the gimmick of oversized type then maybe you should go back to the sh*thole you crawled out of and leave the posting to the big boys. Your stats don't mean sh*t anyway. Jordan played in a sh*t era. Kind of easy to score 30ppg when you're being guarded by the likes of Jeff Hornacek on a nightly basis. Kobe would've averaged 40ppg if he had played in that weaksh*t era.

[ginobli2311]

#9 is EXACTLY where I rank Hakeem myself...behind Kobe and ahead of Bird. Now, I have said it before...you can interchange those three if you want...but by the time Kobe's career is over, he will be ranked ahead of both. Hakeem had that sensational playoff run in '95, but that was ONE damned season...in 18 (and yes, he was great in the '04 playoffs as well)! And once again, he never put up what I would term a truly GREAT season. Hell, Robinson had better years.

You can argue the quality of his teammates, but why do those that do, never acknowledge that Chamberlain played with far crappier rosters in the first half of his career, and was NEVER outplayed in ANY of his post-seasons? And before some idiot claims that Wilt had HOF teammates early in his career...one of them was Tom Gola, who not only has no business being in the HOF, he was arguably the WORST post-season HOF player EVER. And Wilt's other HOF teammate, Arizin was at the end of his career, and he too, played poorly in Wilt's post-seasons.

Olajuwon never came close to Chamberlain's over-all IMPACT on the game. In fact, Russell, Kareem, and Shaq were all more dominant, and Duncan was more consistent.

well, we both agree that wilt is seriously under appreciated here and in many places in the basketball world.

titles are too important. the reason i have hakeem over kobe is because given their respective circumstances, i think hakeem would have had significantly more success in both.

no way kobe leads any of those rockets team to titles....maybe not even the finals.....and i'm not sure hakeem would have less than 7 or 8 titles if he had played with kobe's help his entire career.

obviously its not an apples to apples comparison as they play different positions, but just comparing the overall talent and coaching i think hakeem would come out on top.

then i would look at which player does more. hakeem was a force on both ends and on the glass.

if we are ranking careers, i'd put kobe over hakeem. if we are ranking players, can't put kobe over hakeem.

[jlauber]

This exactly.

You have to think of Duncan in terms of the Russell standard. Nothing Duncan does jumps out at you. He's just a great player that knows how to play the game and impact it in so many ways.

He is arguably the most fundamentally sound defensive player of all time besides Russell.

Hakeem had more flash, but I'll take Duncan.

Agree 100%.

What is difficult for me, is where to rank Hakeem, Bird, and Kobe. Hakeem was, by far, the best post-season player of the three. Bird had a higher regular season peak than any of them. And Kobe has had a better combination of regular season and post-season success. Those that rip Kobe for his Finals shooting need to acknowledge that he has been a great post-season scorer (nearly 30 ppg since 2001.) And Kobe was the main reason that the Lakers beat the Spurs in those years, too. Bird's post-seasons just don't stack up to either, and his shooting in the Finals, all of which came in the "defenseless" 80's, was just as bad as Kobe's when compared to league average.

[HighFlyer23]

You're a f*ckin' nut-gobbling idiot. I never said Horry didn't play AGAINST Jordan. I said he never played WITH him. Being someone's teammate exposes their weaknesses. When you're around someone so much you can see all their faults. Playing against someone a few times, on the other hand, shows you nothing. If that someone kicks your a$$ you'd think "Wow, he's amazing!" when in reality you probably just suck.

And Savage, only idiots make their text big to try getting their point across. If your words can't speak for themselves without the gimmick of oversized type then maybe you should go back to the sh*thole you crawled out of and leave the posting to the big boys. Your stats don't mean sh*t anyway. Jordan played in a sh*t era. Kind of easy to score 30ppg when you're being guarded by the likes of Jeff Hornacek on a nightly basis. Kobe would've averaged 40ppg if he had played in that weaksh*t era.

Yet he shoots .433 FG% against Hornacek

[jlauber]

well, we both agree that wilt is seriously under appreciated here and in many places in the basketball world.

titles are too important. the reason i have hakeem over kobe is because given their respective circumstances, i think hakeem would have had significantly more success in both.

no way kobe leads any of those rockets team to titles....maybe not even the finals.....and i'm not sure hakeem would have less than 7 or 8 titles if he had played with kobe's help his entire career.

obviously its not an apples to apples comparison as they play different positions, but just comparing the overall talent and coaching i think hakeem would come out on top.

then i would look at which player does more. hakeem was a force on both ends and on the glass.

if we are ranking careers, i'd put kobe over hakeem. if we are ranking players, can't put kobe over hakeem.

That about sums it up. Kobe has been blessed with more talented teams. Still, Kobe's post-season career gets ripped based on his FINALs performances, but he was BRILLIANT against the Spurs in several seasons.

And those that claim that Hakeem didn't have talented teammates overlook his 96-97 season, when he had Drexler and Barkley (who was still a 13.5 rpg guy.) IMHO, Hakeem gets WAY too much credit based on TWO Finals performances, and even in one of those, against a young Shaq, I didn't come away thinking he was any better than Shaq. And yes, Hakeem badly outplayed Robinson in '94, but over the course of their MANY H2H games throughout their CAREERS, Robinson more than held his own. I would claim that at the very worst, Robinson was Hakeem's equal. It is only those TWO rings as the main man that separates him from D-Rob.