So the 2008 NBA Finals are here. The Boston Celtics lead the Los Angeles Lakers 3-1 in the series. The Lakers have one more shot. But on a side note from this series, we must ask ourselves an important question: Is Kobe Bryant or Magic Johnson the truer talent?
Well first one has to look at their defensive talent. Kobe Bryant has made the NBA 1st Defensive Team eight, count them, 8 times. He has also made the 2nd team twice. How many times did Magic make it you ask? Well surprisingly, he made it zero times. Put that one in the win column for Kobe.
Now let's take a very short peek at offensive talent. Kobe is the second greatest scorer of all time (Jordan is 1st). He has scored over 21,000 points over his 12 year career and he ain't done yet. How is he in the playoffs? Well Kobe averages just under 25 points per game in postseason play compared to Magic's 19.5 point-per-game average both in regular and post seasons. If you just watch one game of Kobe you can see that he is a supreme 3-point shooter, much better than Magic.
So let's tally it all up. Defense: Kobe 1. Magic 0. 3-Point Shooting: Kobe 2. Magic 0. All-around scorer: Kobe 3. Magic 0. I think we've come to a conclusion: While Magic really does help out his team in many ways, Kobe is just purely amazing. Kobe's not only better than Magic, but is comparable to Michael Jordan himself in more than one way.
