If Kobe was a Bulls man and Jordan played for the Lakers (Part 2)
Continuing our article about achievements of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, if they were to switch places, with Kobe being in the Bulls, and the extravagant and extremely talented Jordan, in the Los Angeles Lakers. Experts try to figure out who is the better of the two and who would have edged out on the other so as to be known as the greatest of all.
Michael Jordan in Los Angeles Lakers
Michael Jordan would have been an overall 13th pick in the 1994 NBA draft, drafted by his home state of Hornets. The extremely talented and exciting player would have then been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers as a 17 year old kid, who would have had high expectations. This player would have come off the bench during the first half of his rookie season and managed to make his way into the starting line-up as Eddie Jones moved from the Lakers. This player would have been able to maintain an average of 12 points per game during this time. Not only this, but the extravagant player would have been able to crawl his way into the All-Rookie second team according to experts.
As time goes on Jordan would have teamed up with the great Shaq to form a formidable duo that devastated teams all around and wouldn’t have let any team over power them in any department. The Lakers, however, would have had problems with coach, Del Harris, and this would have been the case for most of the post seasons. However, there would have been a solution and in this case it would have been Phil Jackson coming into the Lakers in 1999. Phil Jackson, who himself wouldn’t have been able to win any championship rings with the Bulls, came to the Lakers with high hopes of boosting up his career as a coach and bagging achievements with one of the best teams that the NBA has ever seen.
With Jackson in his first year at the franchise, Jordan would have been able to win the MVP award for the first time and guide the Lakers to an NBA title. Not only this, but the splendid player would have been able to become the MVP of the NBA Finals as well. The next season would also have seen bagging the individual awards during regular as well as the Finals season and guide the Lakers to a second consecutive NBA title.
Then Shaq would have been traded as he would have been tired of being the sidekick to Jordan, bringing in Jason Kidd and Penny Hardaway. Kidd would have played the role Scott Pippen did and this would have resulted in six more consecutive titles for the Lakers making it eight titles in a row for the Lakers from the 1990-00 season to the 2006-07 Season. Jordan would still have been playing today as a fast forward for the Lakers to date.
At the moment he would have been a 32-year old player, who would have had loads and loads of achievements according to the experts, with eight NBA titles which would have made him the greatest player in the history of NBA. Added to this would have been eight MVP Finals awards, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, 12 appearances in the All-Star team and not to mention, a superb average of 35-points per game and a record that would have seen him break the 100 points in a single game record set by Wilt Chamberlain. The scary part would be that his career would have been far from over yet.
The conclusion that the experts reach is that when it comes to the statistics, achievements, and ability to play in all types of environments, then Jordan is probably the best player in the NBA. But then again, who knows maybe Jordan might not have been as successful, or Kobe might have excelled during his time with the Bulls.
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