In a recent debate on ESPN First Take, Stephen A Smith said that “Kobe Bryant is a better shooter than Michael Jordan ever was… that is just a fact. Michael Jordan was never that shooter.”
Interestingly, Skip Bayless did not disagree with him.
So is this just a fact? Is Kobe undisputedly a better shooter than MJ?
The statistics tell a different story. For his career, Jordan’s field goal percentage of .497 is much higher than Kobe’s. Entering the 2015-16 season, Kobe’s career percentage is .451. So how can Kobe be a better shooter than MJ when his career field goal percentage is so much lower?
A common argument is that Jordan, especially early in his career, scored most of his points from drives, dunks and layups. It is often suggested that Jordan did not have a reliable jump shot until late in his career.
This is a myth that is perpetuated by those who either didn’t see or can can’t remember Jordan’s early years and rely on the highlight videos which show Jordan soaring for spectacular dunks and athletic drives. The truth is that even in his first few seasons, Jordan scored the majority of his points with jump shots. Take for example his 63 point game against the Celtics in the 1986 Playoffs where 15 of his 22 field goals were from jump shots. Jordan had only one dunk, three layups and 4 field goals from drives in that game.
You could also argue that Kobe relied more on his drives and spectacular dunks during his younger years too. Kobe’s two best seasons for shooting percentage were 2001-02 (.469) and 1999-2000 (.468) which would support the case that Kobe shot a higher percentage earlier in his career because he attacked the basket more frequently than relying on jump shots as he does now.
But even if we do assume that Jordan scored most of his points from drives in his first few years, it still does not explain why his field goal percentage is so much higher than Kobe during later seasons.
Consider Jordan's stats post-baseball (from 1995 to 1998). During that period, most would agree that Jordan relied predominantly on his jump shot rather than his drives. Still, Jordan shot high percentages of .495 in 1995-96 and .487 in 1996-97. Even in his worst statistical full season as a Bull (1997-98), Jordan shot .465 from the field. Overall, Jordan averaged .482 during those seasons, much higher than Kobe’s .447 career percentage and even higher than Kobe’s career high field goal percentage of .469.
Free throw percentage
So while field goal percentage suggests that Jordan is a much better shooter than Kobe, what about some other shooting stats?
Free throw percentage is probably the one category that no one can dispute. Every player must shoot from the same distance and players cannot be affected by defense, double teams and other variables.
Kobe and Jordan have remarkably similar statistics in free throw shooting. In the regular season, Kobe’s free throw percentage is .837 and Jordan’s is .835. However, in the playoffs Jordan’s free throw percentage is .828 to Kobe’s .816.
Kobe and Jordan are clearly both great free throw shooters. It is too close to call to say that one is a better free throw shooter than the other.
Three point shooting
Most would say that this is one area that Kobe has the clear advantage. Certainly Kobe shoots more and makes more three pointers than Jordan did in his career. Kobe’s career high three pointers in one game (12) is almost double what Jordan’s career high is (7).
But again the stats tell a different story. In the regular season, Kobe’s 3 point percentage is .329 and Jordan’s is .327. Perhaps even Stephen A. Smith is not aware that Kobe’s 3 point percentage is only .002 higher than Jordan’s.
In the playoffs Jordan’s 3 point percentage (.332) is actually higher than Kobe’s (.331), although by the smallest possible margin.
While, you could definitely make an argument that Kobe is a better 3 point shooter than Jordan, it is not clear cut as some might think.
Conclusion
I think Stephen A. Smith was wrong. While you might be able to argue that Kobe is a better three point shooter than Jordan, you certainly cannot definitively say that “Kobe Bryant is a better shooter than Michael Jordan ever was.” If anything, the disparity between the field goal percentage shows that Jordan was actually a much better shooter overall than Kobe Bryant.
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