I voted for Lebron as the greatest player right now. Kobe has his big scoring nights, his rings, and last year apparently was MVP. But as for the better "basketball player" I pick Lebron. Kobe excels in scoring, and I spose you can say at the end of the day the game is about having a higher score than the opposition at the final buzzer. But to me Lebron's a better passer, rebounder, and a comparable defender. When Kobe's shooting is off, he usually struggles to impact the game, not so with Lebron. And as for the rings, he has three, right? Yet from those the championships, how many finals MVPs does he have? Zero, while Shaq has 3. If Lebron wins this year while picking up Finals MVP and regular season MVP, thats worth more than 1 of Kobe's rings as pretty much recognised second-fiddle. Doesn't mean Kobe's not a hell of a scorer, and if the Lakers win this year with Kobe the FMVP, it'll go a long way to elevating his all-time ranking. As for him being Jordan-like, when Jordan was approaching, in and just leaving his prime, the only time anyone else got a ring was when he retired. Not so with Kobe. He can be Jordan-like on his big nights, and does have a similar style of play, but as far as ranking close to Jordan based on their body's of work, no...