Go into any barbershop in the country (or porn/sports/gossip forum) and mention the following things to start a heated argument:
- Jay Z vs. Nas
- PS3 vs. XBox 360
- Biggie vs. Pac
- Booty Pop vs. Real Booty
But if you really want to start a near riot just mention:
Jordan vs. Kobe
It isn’t a fair discussion for a couple of reasons. Kobe’s legacy isn’t complete and their career timelines are totally different. But common sense goes out of the door when you bring up MJ and Bean.
No lie! I have seen men come to blows over this, while I was sitting eating some Red Hot Riplets.
While Jordan was out promoting NBA 2k11 they asked him to rank Kobe on the all time list, here is what he had to say:
“It’s so hard to say,” Jordan told USA Today. “I think he is always going to be within the conversations of some of the greatest players who’ve played by the time he is finished. Where does he rank among those, if you are talking about positions? If you are talking about guards, I would say he has got to be in the top 10.”
Jordan also noted that Bryant’s commercial for the new game — mentioning bringing Jordan to the Lakers — got him thinking a little bit about what might’ve been.
“I thought that was the coolest part,” Jordan said. “If you get to a certain level now I can play on different teams, which in reality I never got to that, other than the Wizards and I’m not talking about that. When I saw the ads with Kobe, I thought that was really unique.”
It is good to see Jordan (like the rest of the free world) is trying to forget he was ever with the Washington Wizards. I simply don’t even speak on it. In my mind, Jordan’s career ended in 1998 with an arm extended.
Jordan answered the question about Kobe like a politician, and since it is obvious that Kobe is one of the top 10 guards of all time, he didn’t say anything of substance. Good to see that some things never change.
For the record here are my Top 10 NBA players of all time:
- Jordan
- Magic
- Wilt
- Russell
- Kobe
- Bird
- Oscar
- Kareem
- Shaq
- Dr. J