I recently heard a good point made in this never-ending comparison of Kobe with Jordan – if Jordan came after Kobe, would Jordan be compared to Kobe as Kobe is being compared to Jordan? Or would Jordan be automatically made the better of the two because of his supposed all-round skills?
I know you cannot compare two players from different eras, but still, if you *have* to compare, would Jordan be compared to Kobe?
And a second angle to this whole thing is that Kobe has *always* been hated by general public. They just don’t get him and he does not do anything to improve that image/reputation. Just like Barry Bonds, Kobe likes to stay aloof and mind his own business. But because of the stories that he drove Phil Jackson, Shaq and chances of another championship out of LA and of course because of his Colorado experience, his reputation is quite low today.
But Jordan’s reputation was not spotless either – there were rumors that he had some issues in his life which made him leave basketball and start playing baseball, there were some betting issues, etc. But that did not dent his reputation much, did it? Why give him some special treatment and kick Kobe to the curb?
Romit's Stream 
Maybe because Kobe raped a girl and Jordan was a gambler. A little bit of a difference
and how has kobe always been hated by the general public. He used to be on all kinds of tv commericals. I used to wear his jersey until that Colorado thing.
@katie: well, according to the judge, he did not rape the girl. It could have been someone try to make a quick buck, no?
Just making the point, i used to actually be a huge kobe fan but that whole colorado thing put a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t know if he really did it or not but he wasn’t the kind of guy i thought he was. That is why Kobe will never be the poster boy he once was.
@katie: Yes, I do believe (and agree with you) that his reputation has forever been tarnished. And that is of course one of the points that go against him in the comparison vs Jordan. But frankly, even before that incident, even though he had the talent, no one was giving him his due. Everyone kept saying that he is good but only because he has Shaq in the team. No one considered that Jordan was a ball hog too, and he had good players around him, much more so than Kobe and his Lakers.
the biggest difference is that kobe had all the talent around him early in his career while Jordan had all the talent around him late in his career. My dad always told me that early in Jordan’s career people believed he was too selfish to win the big one. Hard to believe now.