Kobe Bryant Can Never Live Up to the Legacy of Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant is no Michael Jordan.

Nobody is.

It's not Bryant's fault that he'll never live up to the legacy of Michael Jordan, and frankly, the comparison between the two is too readily discussed as a jumping-off point for discussion.

It's not that Bryant's talents are inferior to Jordan's, and it's not about Jordan having one more championship ring to his name than the Black Mamba currently does.

It's about how we perceive the game of basketball.

I recently received a comment from someone whose opinion I value regularly. He told me that basketball hasn't been the same since Jordan hung 'em up.

Since His Airness retired a few times in his career, I asked him to clarify when, and he provided remarks that were clear: since Jordan's real retirement—before he began playing with the Wizards.

Interestingly enough, the discussion progressed to the point where we began discussing what Bryant's legacy would look like if he were to join another team for the final seasons of his career, after the next three years on his current contract expire.

After a back-and-forth bantering session, he and I reached a point of agreement that we both emphatically stood behind: No matter what Bryant accomplishes, he won't be catapulted ahead of Jordan.

Even if Bryant winds up with more titles in his collection than Jordan, to use that as the primary measure of judgment would be irresponsible. Robert Horry has seven rings to his name, and he's not even in the top 50 players of all time for the large majority of people.

Let's take a look at the individual accolades between the two:

Jordan: Five-time regular season MVP, 14-time All-Star, six-time NBA Finals MVP, three-time steals champion, nine-time All-Defensive First Team, 10-time All-NBA First Team, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, three-time All-Star MVP, two-time Slam Dunk Contest champion, All-Rookie First Team, All-NBA Second Team.

Bryant: Two-time NBA Finals MVP, regular season MVP, 13-time All-Star, nine-time All-NBA First Team, nine-time All-Defensive First Team, four-time All-Star Game MVP, Slam Dunk Contest champion, two-time All-Defensive Second Team, two-time All-NBA Second Team, two-time All-NBA Third Team, All-Rookie Second Team.

While each has certainly had a fair share of impressive accomplishments to date, no matter how one slices it, Jordan's accomplishments absolutely dwarf what Bryant has done.

Both players may have an equal number of All-Defensive team selections, but that's awfully misleading. Jordan won Defensive Player of the Year and was a three-time steals champion—both feats that Bryant has never accomplished during his tenure.

Additionally, Jordan's five MVP awards are four more than Bryant currently has in his collection, and with a loaded Lakers team currently accompanying him, it's unlikely that he will warrant serious consideration to put another one in the collection any time soon.

This isn't meant to serve as an anti-Kobe piece, because that's not what it is.

I'm just tired of people automatically placing the two shooting guards in the same sentence because they're so "comparable."

While I agree there are some eerie similarities, there really is no comparison to Jordan.

Bryant is a fantastic talent and one of the best basketball players that I've ever had the pleasure of watching live, but if we continue to compare his legacy to Jordan's, we're going to keep robbing ourselves of the opportunity to appreciate Bryant's abilities while he's still playing.

We hadn't seen anything like Jordan in the NBA when he broke onto the scene, and that's exactly why everybody exploded with passion about his game.

While Bryant comes close to imitating it (almost to perfection) at times, it's simply not the same.

These are two men from separate eras on different teams.

We can't use one of them as the measuring stick for the other's success—especially when Jordan is incomparable to any other that has ever played the game.