Because basketball at that level is all about winning period!!! And when you are the best player on your team that means you are judged more on winning than any other stat.

Ok Baller, on that logic Kobe has won 2 titles as the best player on his team vs Jordan's 6.

It all depends on this year's free agent class. Remember when Shaq signed with LA as a free agent? It changed the shape of the league. This year's class, with all the rumours that 2 or more of them may join up together at an already established team (eg Chicago) means the championship could be decided in July for many seasons to come.

Think about the Lakers even now. Shaq's signing gave them pieces to trade and trade and trade that other teams just didn't have.

MJ is the G.O.A.T
His career is like some hyped up hollywood movie/ fairytale. Kobe has all the attributes that MJ possesed- especially his killer instinct,
Kobe has a better team around him and I feel the lakers have gone through harder teams than the bulls had to.
Kobe can get 7 with this team, Definetly the title is going through LA for a few years yet. although like Moses said: Lets see where Lebron goes. The 2011 season is going to be awesome!

Lakers have gone through harder teams? certainly not for the last 2 championships. You're telling me the Jazz that didn't put up a fight, or the Suns that were undersized and outmached, or the inexperienced (though talented) Thunder team were ever going to beat the Lakers four times?

And last year? shit...a 4-1 drubbing against a side that was basically just the best of a bad conference? (yeah, go on Cavs fans, hate me!) a Denver team that, again while talented, didn't have the consistency or firepower to win a conference final?

The Rockets last year and the Celtics this year are pretty much the only challenges the Lakers have had for the past 2 seasons anyhow...

LA will keep winning if Phil Jackson sticks around. It will be interesting to see how that squad goes with a different coach. He is the X factor! Kobe is not as good to watch as jordan was but does play to win. his 15 boards in game 7 is testament to that whilst his J was sucking.

Michael Jordan is the GOAT. He played as a guard in an era where defences were able to play more physical, and he almost single-handedly put basketball o the global map on his way to winning 3 consecutive titles, followed by a brief stint in the baseball minor leagues, followed by another 3 titles upon his return to basketball full time.

Kobe however could realistically win up to 7 NBA titles. However this will still not make him the GOAT, although his name would be high up on the list.

Kobe can keep winning titles provided Gasol stays with him.

Regardless of how good Kobe is, they've only been winning titles since Gasol got traded and he took up the slack.

I was disappointed when Kobe got the MVP over Gasol. Just another case of "if they score the most, they somehow get the MVP trophy".

JOaRiDrAN- I agree with you to some extent. I think this '10 title was probably more hard fought than MJ's past title; this is not saying MJ's titles were easily fought but this particular was harder fought by Kobe. Other ones? it's about the same...

Funny that now Kobe's creeping up to MJ people starts to say championship don't mean he'll be greater. I remember few years back one argument was MJ's got 6 championships to Kobe's 3 and Kobe'll never get another one etc.

I think pure basketball-wise Kobe is as close to MJ as you can get. but in combination of marketing, career success etc. all the side stuff you can think of, Kobe is no match to MJ.

Personally I think Kobe'll end up with 7 or 8 rings.

The proof Jordan is/was/and always will be better than Kobe (who is indisputably the greatest offensive force of this era) is precisely that no team could ever even take MJ's squads to a 7th game.
Those Phoenix, Jazz, Laker, Blazer squads MJ's Bulls despatched were stacked with hall of fame types but they could never stop Jordan.
He won 6 titles and was Finals MVP 6 times.
Let's be honest. MJ NEVER stank as badly as Kobe did offensively in a series-deciding game.
The evidence is so great, it's probably not worth even disputing.
Sorry LeBron fans (and I love the guy) but Kobe is today's best. But he is no Jordan and never will be.

I think you guys need to see Kobe beyond his shooting, there are other facets such as rebounding which were gold.

Skill-wise the two are close if not same leveled. The primary difference is mentality, MJ flows with the game while Kobe forces the game.

I think if you want to make the comparison in terms of skills between Kobe and MJ, Kobe will be right up there with MJ. But MJ will better Kobe on almost all other facets.

Also remember something about Kobe, he does have a better perimeter game than MJ and he does base his game a bit farther away.

I guess if GOAT is based on championships, Robert Horry is better than both of them, he has 7.

Personally I think anyone who says Jordan (or anyone for that matter) is the greatest player in NBA history is a sure sign that they haven't truly thought about it very hard. I don't understand how anyone can say, without a shadow of doubt, that any one player is the best ever, despite all the factors that make deciding it almost impossible.

How do you make up for the difference in eras? Mikan's era could not have been more different to Russell's era, which could not have been more different to Magic and Bird's era, which was very different to Jordan's era, which was very different to today's era.

How do you make up for the differences in postions? The centre position is a totally different game than the small forward. Point guard is totally different to shooting guard. I think it would be hard enough to say who the best point guard or centre of all time is, not to mention how hard it would be to say who the best player full stop is. How do you seriously compare Jordan to Russell with any degree of intellectual rigour? How do you compare Jordan to Magic? Or Jordan to Kareem? Totally different players, totally different approaches, totally different positions, totally different mindsets, totally different games.

Jordan and Kobe are probably easier to compare because their eras run side by side, so the game is not radically different. And they play the same position. I think LA Boy hit the nail on the head with his statement about Jordan going with the flow of the game and Kobe forcing the game. That's the reason Kobe's FG% is some times horrid while Jordan's rarely got that bad (though he had some shocking shooting games in the finals against the Sonics in 1996, but people forget that.) Kobe and Jordan are about the same in almost every other part of the game. The fact that Kobe forces his game is his biggest weakness. Perhaps his only true weakness.

So, I do think Jordan has the edge over Kobe but I think its very slight. But to say Jordan is the best player is just way too simplistic.

Junga, on Jordan's side would be that the SG spot is very, very popular (fewer bigs running around at various levels, everyone dreams of being a scorer), that he played in an intensely competitive era and how consistently dominant he was.

GIMME A BREAK... Kobe's only got 2 out of 5 Finals MVPs to date. Jordan had won an unanimous 6 of 6 Finals MVPs. When Kobe gets 6 Finals MVPs (1% chance given his age), let's start comparing him and Jordan at that point. Keep in mind that Jordan retired for two years between his 6 championship rings... he could have theoretically won 8 straight.

To say the Lakers have had a harder time than the Bulls is a joke. Lakers have arguably one of the best centres in the league and a scary backup in Bynum. Not only that they have DPOY Artest, Odom, and a great supporting cast. But most importantly, they have the greatest coach of all time Phil Jackson dealing with all the egos and making sure chemistry is high.

Kobe MAY be able to win 1 or 2 more titles with the Lakers, but he will NEVER win 6 Finals MVPs