Is there a legit comparison to Kobe and MJ?

In light of Kobe's recent history-making outburst, this would be a good time to mention the nail that writer Scoop Jackson hit squarely on the head in the latest issue of Sole Collector that was passed out for free at the Jordan Brand Experience at Vegas All-Star Weekend last month.

In an interview by Anthony Gilbert, Scoop answers the question of a legit comparison to Kobe and MJ quite effectively:

Yeah, easy...like tracing paper. Xerox machine. KINKOS. As much as the replication looks, seems and feels like the original, it's not. There's always some resolution that gets lost in the process. But that's just in basketball...they are totally different as people. And that affects the outcome of their games. Kobe is not as personable and charming as Mike. It's not in his nature, that's just not who he is. Part of MJ's greatness was his ability to be cool with everyone, teammates, and victims. Dudes that played with [MJ] would kill for him, he was able to draw that much love from others. Kobe's never been able to do that and because of that I think he hasn't been able to reach MJ's level of brilliance. He has too many people around him that will never love him...It's like, imagine how differently Barry Sanders' career would have been if his offensive line hated him?...They would not block or fight as hard as they could for them to get those yards, which in the long run affect's Barry's...greatness."

ESPN.com's Chris Broussard today writes that Kobe's starting to "get it" (Insider subscription required), that he's finally maturing...

The sad thing is that if Kobe had "gotten it" years earlier, he might have left the game with more titles than MJ.

Can the right amount of maturity ever put Kobe on MJ's level? Scoop's theory seems to be the correct one, not Broussard's.

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