Firstly, let me state for the record that I LOVE Kobe he's brilliantly beyond talented, exciting, efficient, and even more important to me "clutch". Although Eagle, CO has nothing to do with bball it certainly truncated his fame because endorsements add to one’s overall stature. Secondly, if you don't think Jordan is head and shoulders above the guys listed above, there's something wrong with your barometer. Thirdly your point, although often made is very well taken, one cannot fairly compare a completed career to one that's in progress...but comparison is always to the present date as the future can only be predicted and never conclusive because of potential’s propensity to be short-circuited in a variety of ways known and unbeknownst to the public. A few examples that come immediately to mind:
- The aforementioned Penny and G. Hill, along with Grandmama, D. Manning, S. King, R. Sampson, etc.
- Damon Bailey, #1 sixth grader in the country according to SI
- Kournikova
- Bosworth
- Big Louie
Side bar:
Oh and as for your comment “Rookie of the year : Of course Kobe doesn't have this because he came straight out of high school, You think MJ would have won rookie of the year coming out of high school, of course not.” ROY is a static measure (based solely on stats) and whether Mike would have gotten it out of H.S. or not is immaterial, he did win it. The bigger point here is that it is a valid measure of the first year player who himself decides league readiness, and thus further validates measure. A far better argument would be that Kobe’s premature entrance usurps Mike’s early college exit because he was a younger league competitor, but this too fails because, Lebron won it against collegians. Making the larger question for you, "Does Kobe really deserve the MJ comparison or does Lebron?" Again we have the time differential as the latter’s career is nearly 3x the span of the former (11 to 4) yet the accolades again "To Date" are very similar minus the titles, which one must admit were Shaq supported…hmm.
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