Michael Jordan is the best

To accurately vote on this poll one must understand what all greatness entails. Stats, are big part of being a great athelete, but Michael Jordan went beyond stats. He completely rejuvinated basketball at a time when people were quickly loosing interest. He had an aura of greatness with him. From his style of play to the way he made fans feel connected to the game, he was simply great. Uncle Eli has already posted his stats, the only legitimate argument against him being the greatest player of all time is that he doesn't hold the scoring record. Kobe was not included because he is currently playing, and we honestly aren't sure he should be included in this question. In my opinion the current greatest player is probably Lebron James. While I wasn't alive or at least not very aware during Jordan's days as a basketball player, his leagacy is still present. I'm not sure about there not being good players in the 90's, Jordan's team wasn't very good. Jordan had an amazing love for the game of basketball, in one game he had the flu and Scottie Pippen literally had to carry of the court but he still competed and dominated his opponents, in his tenure with the Wizards, he scord over 50 in one game and was selected to the All-Star team, two major accomplishments for anyone, but especially when you're over 40.Kobe does not have the flash and glamour Jordan did and Lebron does. While Kobe shoots turn-arounds and fade-aways, MJ and Lebron are making defenders look silly as they drive past them for dunks and lay-ins. You don't get the nickname of His Airness for nothing. MJ was a great clutch shooter, defender and ball distributer. You also can't forget his jaunt with the Chicago White Sox, while he wasn't exactly an awesome baseball player, he was just as good as some current professionals, which is remarkable. You never see professional atheletes change sports like he did and be decent at the second sport. The Jordan brand of apparell only serves to further show his greatness, no other player in any sport that I'm aware of has had as much success selling shoes and clothing as Jordan has. I doubt any player sells as much in a year during his career as Jordan does even though his career is finished. Kobe has won a total of one championship by himself, the others were with a center named Shaquiel O'neal on his team, who was completely dominating, Robert Horry who had an uncanny knack for hitting huge three-pointers, especially against the Blazers, Derek Fisher who was also an excellent three-point shooter as well as being very capable of running the Lakers' offense and others that created more than just a supporting cast, they created a team that would have been very succesful without Kobe. Another thing is Michael Jordan didn't whine every off-season about wanting to be traded or demanding that someone else on the team be traded. Michael Jordan is by far the best, and I don't think Kobe is in the top five, probably not in the top ten. I don't think Kobe is even the best current player. The reasons Kobe isn't on the poll is one he doesn't deserve to be and two he is currently playing, we may do a poll on the best current player later in which Kobe would be included. I won't deny the fact that I don't like Kobe Bryant, I rather strongly dislike him, but as you should be able to see there are legitimate reasons why Kobe is not on the poll.
-Andrew