Michael Jordan: "I would beat Kobe in my prime"

Kobe led Redeem team

hahaha. is this one of your asian jokes again...

ha?..Kobe is the leader of this Redeem team along with Jason Kidd and Lebron James..what's your problem dude?..Coach K told that.. :roll

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Yeah..I really have to admit that 92 Barcelona team is the best team ever assembled..all the superstars, as in SUPERstars were there except for the two college players perhaps..unlike today,you can only count in fingers those true blue SUPERstars..Kobe,LBJ,Melo,Wade,Kidd and others are just up and coming superstars..

Man this thread is fucking gold....matthew vs. benji & cyanide had me literally rolling on the floor. 1994!!

..Coco., is trying to be funny by saying kobe somehow leads the redeem team but is failing.

Kobe led Redeem team

hahaha. is this one of your asian jokes again...

ha?..Kobe is the leader of this Redeem team along with Jason Kidd and Lebron James..what's your problem dude?..Coach K told that.. :roll

that was exactly my point. only some ppl see him as the true leader of usa team so why say "kobe led team" when ur trying to compare to Jordan(truly) led usa team.

michael, magic and charles were the centerpieces back then i believe..

I'd take the original Dream Team. If anything, I think they've become a little underrated throughout the years. The rest of the world has caught up and their opponents were intimidated to say the least but that doesn't mean that 1992 team wasn't a formidable collection of talent capable or that they'd struggle to win today. However, there seems to be this notion that they only won because their opponents were in awe of them.

Ignoring that (which is true) there was one other aspect to the Dream Team that a team until this years (but far far less still) doesn't have. Everyone on the Dream Team was willing to not be "the man" and have their role changed by Chuck Daly. We can't forget that Charles Barkley was made the centerpiece of the offense because Daly decided nobody in the world could stop him from scoring. I'm sure half the team was pissed about this, but they didn't let it bother them on the court, they deferred to Charles as the first option. Other than Barkley, nobody else scored over 15ppg, not even Jordan. Both Jordan and Pippen agreed to be primarily perimeter defenders.

Most of these guys came up having to play on "teams" not being the man since they stepped foot onto an AAU team where everyone deferred to them. Plus they had those guys like Robinson, Stockton, and Mullin (even though he was fourth (!) on the team in scoring and led the team in rebounding) who were more than willing to take a back seat and just do what they can to help. Sorta like Kidd is doing now, barely shooting let alone scoring at all. As well, you had Jordan-Pippen, Malone-Stockton...Bird and Magic came up, as basketball players, together essentially, Barkley and Jordan were friends.

You had these high scorers like Malone and Jordan, high possession guys like Magic and Ewing who had no problem not getting 30 touches a game. On that 2002 team, especially, you could tell a good number of the players had a serious problem with that aspect. I could even imagine them thinking the whole affair would be like all-star games.

One thing notable is that Chuck Daly never called a single time-out during that tourney.

you better believe i would pick the dream team, easily the best team ever put together. its just too bad bird was at this end then and didnt get to play as much as i would have liked

Agreed. His back was so bad at that time, but when he did get on the court, there were flashes of brilliance. The dude's the most skilled player who can't "run" or "jump."

yeah the man was amazing, loved watching him more than any other player ever. it was still really fun to see him with the dream team and i especially loved the stories about how they all spent thier nights there lol

What's really fun to watch is a Larry Bird dunk. I mean, whenever you think of Larry Bird you think of the shooting, the cold blooded threes and all the game winners, the 360 degree pivot, the championships and so on and then you see him dunk in the middle of a highlight reel and it's kind of mind blowing because you just don't expect it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdMn3i9FZKg[/youtube]

yeah i always loved watching bird dunk lol, its one of those things that people almost assumed he could not dunk, just cause he could shoot? anyway he has had a few good dunks over his career....

I mean, whenever you think of Larry Bird you think of the shooting, the cold blooded threes and all the game winners, the 360 degree pivot,

Don't forget the classic Larry Bird pump-fake, get fouled, nail the shot, then go to the free-throw line. Saw that plenty of times at the Garden.

Much as I despise Michael Jordan(I'll always believe Wilt was the best ever), Kobe is not on his level. Sorry, Kobe fans, but it's the truth. Will Kobe get there eventually? I don't know.

yeah i always loved watching bird dunk lol, its one of those things that people almost assumed he could not dunk, just cause he could shoot? anyway he has had a few good dunks over his career....

I guess it's just because he wasn't known for it or for having tremendous athleticism. Still, at 6'9" it's not like he needed a 40 inch vertical leap to throw it down.

That douche, Stephen Smith, interviewing Kobe Bryant.

It's Stephen A. Smith, you douche.

Apologies.
I forgot to add the A, for the asshole that he is.

Heres an audio excerpt from Phil Jackson's book , The Last Season (naratted by S.Hoye), in which Phil is talking about Kobe. He mentions how Kobe grew tired of being Shaq's sidekick and how he could of been the next Jordan if he had learned to play within the system.
LastSeason.mp3

I guess Kobe wanted to be MJ & not Pippen.

michael, magic and charles were the centerpieces back then i believe..

memory may not serve me so well but barkley was the best player in those olympics. i would say it was pretty much said by everyone that it was the big 3(jordan,magic,bird) that were the centerpieces even though bird didnt play much. it was the 3 some consider the best 3 to ever play the game on one team at once however it was barkley who did the best and was pretty much unstopable(if i recall correctly)

He did lead the team in scoring during that tournament.

the whole game change since Jordan Retired which defense is alot tougher than today. Nobody can stop or guard Jodan in that tough era. Jordan is complete package player at one point where he play PG in 88-89 that he leading in assist.

the biggest difference is, in todays game the rules are geared toward the offense, and guards in general, back then it was a much more defensive minded rule set