31 year old kobe is better then 25 year old Kobe. 31 year old Kobe is a way better player. Not as physically talented, but everything else is better.

The subtitle changed he has made to his game over the past year or so to make up for his aging has been pretty damn impressive.

I haven't read most of this thread, but how could MJ be considered a compiler type?

Not really. He is a much more savvy player these days but he was better a few years ago.

hell of a game on tonight, vs my mavs

So you don't want to read the thread you prefer I go back and do the work and summerize it here? No thanks.

He's more savvy, even more clutch, a better leader and his ability to overcome some pretty crazy physical adversity and rise up like he never has before and you want to categorize all that as compiling and think he was a better player earlier in his career. OK

To each there own. That's why they call them opinions. I am not really interested in breaking down the definition of compilation with you. Ever since Kobe came in the league there has been a group of people who came out and said nobody will ever be greater than Jordan as if they had an investment in that fact. Kobe won't win a Championship. Kobe will never win a championship without Shaq. Kobe will never come close to have the 6 championships Jordan had. Now if exceeds everything it's just compiling and no indication of his greatness as a player. Whatever.

My comment about whatever previous arguments were raised in this thread about MJ being a compiler is mostly just blowing it off as a poor argument for whoever raised it.

I'm not arguing that Kobe isn't an elite player nor one of the best at his position that the game has seen. His ability to play at that high of a level and how he has changed his game over the past few years to make up for the slight loss of athleticism has been damn impressive.

Still at his peak is doesn't quite measure up to Jordan which isn't a knock on how good of a player he really is.

One of the reason's Kobe fails in comparison is because Jordan dominated basketball for pretty much a decade. He was by far the best player in the league and his team won 6 out of 8 titles and probably would have one 8 in a freaking row if he didn't decide to go play baseball during 2 of his prime years. Jordan was viewed as the champ that took on all comers and never lost (He wasn't the same guy playing against the Magic) once he won the title. The dude quit for 2 years and came back and won 3 more titles. Kobe and the Lakes don't have the same period of dominance that Jordan had in the NBA. You really can't even count the titles that Shaq lead the team to, because Kobe wasn't the guy that led the team and Kobe already lost 1 NBA finals. Once Jordan was "Jordan" he was no doubt the best, and nobody ever took that title from him. Kobe had the chance but couldn't get past the Celtics.

the competition jordan faced could be said to be inferior. his team never faced a dominant center in the finals nor was there another player that had another alpha dog on the same team at the same time. plus the guy who "quit" for two years maybe was expelled from the league by stern for gambling issues. maybe
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It would have been interesting if he hadn't taken that time off and faced the two years of the Rockets with Hakeem at his peek.

I do think that measuring titles or who had the better supporting cast is a bit weak when evaluating a player. It is part of the equation but not the trump card that everyone makes it to be.

No it's only part. Or we would be including Robert Horry in the discussion :)

Greatest mediocre player to be a total badass when it mattered.

He faced a HOF dominant center year after year in the eastern conference finals, a pretty damn good 2 guard in the finals in Drexler, a HOF power forward and HOF point guard on the same team for a few years and a HOF small forward another year. He seen it all bro.

Just not Hakeem and Bob ;)

so u admit that no other team at the time had two players that would be considered alphas playing together? like kobe faced against the celtics?
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True, but they were not as good as any of the 6 teams Chicago beat IMO.