Bulls played plenty of great teams. The sweeping of the Bad Boys in '91, Knicks in the first 3-peat who played the Bulls extremely tough, the Phoenix Suns in '93 who rivaled the Rockets until being eclipsed by them at Hakeem's peak.. And the 2nd 3-peat a Sonics team that one 64 games, the Jazz, Pacers when the Bulls were showing their age. I just wish the Bulls would have had the chance to play that Rockets team. They accomplished many of the same feats. Sweeping the Magic w/ Shaq and Penny, beating Knicks in 7 games.. But anyway, no great teams the Bulls beat?
The Lakers biggest challenges were mentally weak but stacked teams like the Kings and Blazers. Then there was the Spurs who beat them when they had some role players around Duncan but again another mentally weak team. There was that Pacers/Lakers series which was played really hard but Pacers were overmatched. And then a tough, physical, TEAM, like the Pistons that embarassed them.
Anyway, this Kobe/MJ argument for now is over. Kobe at this age is the closest thing to MJ, no doubt. But MJ overall at 25 had shooting percentage, point per game, athletic ability, and straight dominance over Kobe at this point. MJ at that age was a spectacle that single handedly held basketball's attention as the top offensive force in the league at that time. Nobody seen anything like Jordan. Kobe Bryant has yet to come to reach that plateau. He's amazed many at times but not as consistently and he shares that spotlight with Shaq. MJ was the Bulls and what you went to see. Lakers are Shaq and Kobe.
Still, the argument should be on delay now. You can compare the 2 but to think or expect Kobe to follow the way Jordan's career went is pretty stupid. Sure, players get better as they mature but not everyone can be expected to overcome everything that's plagued them before. Like MJ and the Bad Boy Pistons. He eventually overcame that and became the greatest but its closer to an exception than a law for a player to reach new heights and overcome their past faults. Whether or not Kobe carries his own team eventually to a title can even be speculated for now. Michael Jordan holds that above Kobe right now and the comparisons should stop there.
I remember everyone talking about Penny Hardaway's potential and how good he was supposed to be but at some point it just stopped. Lebron James is supposed to end up being the NBA's best one day but once again you can predict how much potential a player will fulfill. That's just my thoughts on the whole thing
