Michael Jordan created a mold for future NBA superstars to follow, and nobody fit into it better than the late Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba took more than a few pages out of His Airness’ book, and according to Will Barton, perfected them to a level that even Jordan couldn’t.
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Barton was on ‘Ball Don’t Stop’s podcast when he spoke about the NBA’s greatest shooting guards. “He [Bryant] took the previous GOAT, you know, who I believe is the best ever, took his [Jordan’s] game and not only mastered it, but I think, he was a little bit better at it.”
The CBA guard admitted that Jordan’s athleticism was always a league above Bryant’s, but he believed that Kobe more than made up for it with his mastery of the fundamentals. He lauded the Lakers legend for his footwork and how it translated to his scoring, both in the paint and in the mid-range.
“You look at the jabs, the post work, the middy work, the finishing around the rim. Making and taking tough shots. And to do it that often and be that polished…And they’re not rolling around the rim, going in, I mean these are swishes,” Barton explained.
“Kobe Bryant mastered what he learned from Michael Jordan and made it a little bit better. He redefined it and added a little more flare to it. I always go Mike and Kobe, then everyone else”
– Will Barton on Kobe Bryant pic.twitter.com/hKKFCDS36C
— Ball Don’t Stop (@balldontstop) November 20, 2024
As a shooting guard himself, the 33-year-old values putting the ball in the basket above all else. The way in which the ball goes into the basket however, is a discussion that revolves around the ‘art’ of basketball. The minutiae of Kobe’s game was much more meticulously thought out than Jordan. Every step, pivot, and shrug had a purpose.
This isn’t to say that MJ was a ‘slouch’ when it came to this. Watching clips of Jordan backing down defenders in the mid-post with decisive movements and turning around and fading away on them is a sight to behold for all basketball enthusiasts. However, Bryant took what MJ presented to him and elevated it.
Barton certainly feels this way. He took it a step further when he claimed that Bryant may just be the greatest to ever do it on NBA hardwood.
For Will Barton, Kobe Bryant is the best to ever do it
Barton never faced the Black Mamba in his prime, but he got to play against his favorite player 7 times after the Portland Trail Blazers selected him 40th overall in 2012. Even during his final years though, Kobe had enough juice in the tank to drop two 40-point games on Barton during the 2012-13 NBA season. He averaged 27 points per game during those 7 matchups with the Memphis alum.
Those experiences just affirmed what Will Barton already knew – that the Black Mamba was a pure and unstoppable scorer. “Could you imagine guarding the most talented player ever, the best player ever, with a super green light? And he’s always just trying to use that green light every time. You can’t guard it,” Barton said in an older interview.
He viewed Bryant as a ’10’ in all areas of the game – from the three-level scoring to the ball-handling and the playmaking. Interestingly, it was the latter that led Phil Jackson to giving Bryant the nod over MJ.
“I asked him [Jordan] to be a playmaker when he was doubled or tripled. But Kobe has to set up the offense, to advance the ball, to read the defense, to make other players happy, and he’s doing a great job of that,” the 11-championship-winning head coach said.
Though Mike did average more assists than Kobe during their careers, Jordan was rarely tasked with bringing the ball up the floor and creating advantages for his teammates. His gravity as a scorer enabled him to exploit defenses when they over-committed on him, but he was not given the same responsibilities as Bryant.
