Kobe Bryant: The Best And Last of the Jordan Pretenders

As you watch Kobe Bryant make yet another run at the NBA Championship, you can't help but marvel at his incredible skill and potential place in history. In today's game, his competitiveness and will to win are unmatched. His basketball IQ is off the charts and his fade-away is poetry in motion.

This year, he will be attempting to win ring number five at the age of 31. Someday, Bryant will go down as one of the great champions and athletes that the NBA has ever known. He could potentially be gearing for a second career three-peat next season. If he does happen to win that second three-peat next season, Kobe should deserve consideration as the greatest player the NBA has ever known.

Unfortunately, Kobe Bryant will never get this type of recognition because he will never surpass the legacy of Michael Jordan, whom Bryant is unjustly compared to at every phase in his career.

Whereas Jordan is basketball's primary God, Bryant is just seen by many as a very talented upstart. It is almost coincidental that Bryant came in at the time that he did. Kobe Bryant entered the league in 1996 when Michael Jordan was on his way to winning his fifth ring over the Utah Jazz.

Really, you can't find a more Jordan-like player in the game's history than Bryant. They are essentially the same size and they both possess top-notch killer instincts and competitiveness.

Even their playing styles are vastly similar. You watch Kobe's fade-away from the corner and you almost wonder to yourself, "Didn't MJ use that fade-away against the Jazz over and over again in the Finals?"

When you see Kobe hit the game-winner against Phoenix in the '07 playoffs and you say, "I'm pretty sure MJ used that exact same shot against Atlanta for his first game-winner of '95."

Sometimes Kobe will come down and throw down a thunderous reverse windmill slam over multiple defenders, very similar to MJ's wicked reverse against Manute Bol. Their games are eerily similar. If you ever desired a carbon-copy of Michael Jordan, I think that the first player that would come to mind is Bryant.

Kobe's name will forever be linked to Jordan's no matter what he does during the rest of his NBA career. This is what has derailed Bryant for his entire illustrious career: he hasn't been able to carve his own legacy. Some still view him as a Jordan wanna-be. No matter what Bryant does, he will be overshadowed by the heroic legacy of The Greatest.

So here Kobe is in his 14th career NBA season without a clear spot in NBA history. I would venture to even say that Kobe is underrated by a lot of NBA fans. We almost disregard Kobe's rings from 2000-2002 and simply deem them as Shaq's victories. We say that his ring from 2009 isn't noteworthy because it happened at the expense of the Magic and not LeBron's Cavs. What Kobe has done is impressive. He has done far more than many have given him credit for.

Jordan set an impossible standard to match with his charisma, marketability, and unbelievable play when his team needed him most. I'm not saying that Kobe is better than Jordan. Perhaps nobody will ever be better than Jordan. But because of his inevitable connection to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant will never be appreciated for what he is: The greatest basketball player of today.

The end of Kobe Bryant's career will also mean the end of an era. For years after Jordan's retirement, people sought to place the label of the next-Jordan on some new young player. Penny Hardaway failed, as did Grant Hill and Vince Carter. But then there is Bryant, the enigma who has become the best guard since Jordan's retirement. In the past few years, fans have grown increasingly wary of where to place the label of the "next Jordan."

While Bryant has lived up to a lot of the hype surrounding him while doing some very Jordan-like antics in the process, he will never replace Jordan's place in the game. We now can fully realize the greatness of Michael Jordan. If Bryant couldn't replace Jordan, then nobody can. Jordan is an American hero, revered by basketball fans around the world. He brought the game to its highest heights, higher than Bryant will ever bring it.

NBA history seems to have been divided into two periods: before Jordan and after Jordan. Currently we are going through the post-Jordan era, a somewhat rough patch in NBA history. Basketball fans are earnestly searching for something that will revitalize the NBA to its state in the 80's and 90's. We all hoped for the Kobe-LeBron Finals matchup, something that may never happen. We want a legendary rivalry or a sports figure as compelling as Jordan.

By searching for new excitement, we have overlooked the greatness of Kobe Bryant. We are not to simply see him as a cocky guy who consumes championship rings like they are chocolate chip cookies, as he does in the "Three Rings" commercial.

As we watch Bryant ease his way through the playoffs, we should try to admire his skill without comparing it to somebody else's. If he hits a fade-away game-winner, don't say, "Jordan's already done that thousands of times." And if Bryant holds up five fingers after the buzzer goes off in the final game, don't disregard it by remembering that Jordan won SIX rings.

For all we know, Bryant could win a 4-peat and re-write basketball history as we know it. But I doubt that anyone would consider them legitimate enough to knock Jordan off his pedestal. Bryant has been fighting with all of his might for his entire career to gain the title of "The Greatest."

Unfortunately, that title has already been claimed permanently by someone else.