Kobe and Jordan “neck and neck?” No Way! But Lebron’s is in my Top Five…..

“He’s the greatest of all time. His skill is second to none. Him and MJ are neck and neck as far as skill,” Durant said. “Kobe is the top two best ever in just having skill, footwork, shooting the 3, shooting the pull-up, posting up, dunking on guys and ball handling. Kobe and Jordan are 1 and 1A.”  I have to respectfully disagree with that KD, although I do understand why he would come up with that conclusion. Kevin Durant is only 25 years old and probably grew up watching Kobe throughout his career the same way I did Jordan. I understand how seeing all those amazing feats Bryant has pulled off for the first time can leave a lasting impression. But Kobe is in no way shape or form “neck in neck” with Jordan; I’m sorry he is not. I’m not going to turn this into a Kobe and Jordan showdown because it is not fair.

On the other hand, listening to Durant’s comments and the Mount Rushmore comments from Lebron James had me thinking over my top five all time NBA list. You see my top five players remain the same with the exception of one player: Lebron James. Yes King James is already in my top five by knocking off “Larry Legend” at my small forward spot. I already wrote an article comparing Bird to Lebron which you can read here. Other than that it’s still Kareem, Duncan, Jordan and Magic. I have my explanation for those picks in an previous article, which you can read here. I must say it is refreshing to see Kevin Durant and Lebron James not only recognize history but chase it. It should be fun as a fan of the game to see these guys etch their names in the history books. As for Kobe Bryant he is in my top ten, I regard him as the second best shooting guard behind Jordan. If you need an official ranking with that, it puts him as the sixth best player but not number one or “1a” as KD likes to call it.