michael jordan stats compared to kobe bryant

MICHAEL JORDAN STATS COMPARED TO KOBE BRYANT FREE

Bryant isn’t exactly careless with the ball, but Jordan’s combination of a high usage rate, great shooting efficiency, a good assist rate and a microscopic rate of turnovers is what makes him arguably the best offensive player of the NBA’s post-merger era.Įven when coupled with usage rate, it’s possible for individual efficiency numbers to belie a player’s true offensive contribution. Between the ages of 21 and 34, Jordan turned the ball over on just 9.3 percent of his possessions, the best rate ever among players with such a high volume of shooting. Jordan also protected the ball much better than Bryant. (Even though a much larger proportion of Bryant’s shots came from three-point territory, Bryant’s rate of drawing fouls per shot attempt - a good proxy for how close to the basket a player is taking his shots - was higher than Jordan’s.) This means Jordan’s shooting advantage was almost totally driven by a better success rate on 2-pointers, where he crushed Bryant 52.0 percent to 48.5 percent despite the high likelihood that Bryant has taken more shots closer to the rim than Jordan did.

MICHAEL JORDAN STATS COMPARED TO KOBE BRYANT FREE

556 - and that number even includes Bryant’s superior three-point shooting (particularly by volume) and a slight edge to Bryant at the free throw line as well. Why? Jordan shot the ball more accurately than Bryant, with a true shooting percentage of. In other words, with essentially the same volume of the offense being directed through each player, Jordan was just a lot more efficient than Bryant at turning possessions into points. (This is why Steve Kerr and Fred Holberg aren’t better offensive players than Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, for instance.) But Jordan’s and Bryant’s roles were of roughly the same, so it’s a fair comparison between the ages of 21 and 34, Jordan used 31.9 percent of the Chicago Bulls’ possessions while on the floor, while Bryant used 31.6 percent of the Lakers’ possessions when he was in the game. For a top scorer like Bryant or Jordan, an offensive rating boost of six points per 100 possessions can mean an extra four wins for his team in an 82-game season.īecause of an effect known as “ skill curves,” it can be misleading to directly compare efficiency numbers between players with different offensive responsibilities. After translating both Jordan’s and Bryant’s stats to a league-wide offensive efficiency level of 106 points per 100 possessions to account for the changes in the game (the NBA’s overall average since it merged with the ABA in 1976), Jordan posted an offensive rating of 118.4 between the ages of 21 and 34, while Bryant put up a rating of 112.4. Offensively, Bryant can’t hold a candle to Jordan, mainly because of a disparity in efficiency. So their overlapping years are 21 to 34.) Kobe entered the NBA at age 18, and he’s 36 now Jordan played from age 21 to 34, retired and played again from age 38 to 39. (This is true even if we restrict both players to the same block of seasons by age so we’re comparing apples to apples. According to most advanced metrics, Jordan was better than Bryant at both ends of the floor.

Statistically, though, there’s never really been much of a comparison. In the minds of many fans, Bryant is the closest to Jordan the game has seen since Jordan retired for good in 2003. Bryant’s championship count, five, even rivals Jordan’s six. The two men play the same position (shooting guard), are built similarly (both stand 6 feet 6 and weigh about 200 pounds), seem to possess the same maniacal work ethic, and even have similar- looking games. Jordan has always been an easy comparison for Bryant. And after a 32-point outburst Tuesday night, Bryant moved to within 30 points of Michael Jordan and third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list - meaning Bryant could pass Jordan in the Lakers’ Friday night game against the San Antonio Spurs. In one game last month, he picked up his 20th career triple double and became the first player in league history to record 30,000 career points and 6,000 career assists. While the Los Angeles Lakers have endured a ( predictably) poor start to the 2014-15 season, their future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant continues to rack up individual milestones.

Michael jordan stats compared to kobe bryant