Kobe Bryant clutched his fist and jumped in the air.

The buzzer had sounded and the L.A. Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic 99-86 to capture the franchise’s 15th NBA title. Along the way, Bryant picked up his first finals MVP award and his fourth career championship.
 
With the win, Bryant has truly evaded the shadow of Shaquille O’Neal, who was his teammate during the Laker three-peat (1999, 2000, and 2001).

But 24 hours after winning the championship, the media now wants to know how Kobe Bryant will differentiate himself from Michael Jordan.

“Bryant could be the best player in NBA history,” wrote Chicago Tribune’s Rick Morrisey. “But he never will be looked at that way for one simple reason. You can't out-Michael Jordan Michael Jordan.”

Morrisey continued: “When he retires, Bryant will walk away as one of the five best players ever to have laced on a pair of gym shoes. He's not a pale imitation of Jordan. He’s a phenomenal imitation of Jordan. But he's an imitation nonetheless, a mini-Mike.”

In a survey posted on KansasCity.com, web readers were asked to vote for who they thought was the best player among the two shooting guards. Jordan raked in an amazing 94.3 percent of the votes and Kobe got the remaining 5.7 percent.

Ask yourselves, is this fair for the 30-year-old?

First he had to be faced with eliminating his “Robin” status to O’Neal’s “Batman.” And now that he’s finally Batman, you pit him against an impossible foe: history.

Morrisey wrote, “If Bryant were under the influence of truth serum, he would admit he has patterned his entire career after Jordan's, speech cadence and all. Nothing wrong with that. You would rather he patterned his career after Jud Buechler’s? If Kobe walks like MJ and talks like MJ, then ... sorry, no, it doesn't follow that he is MJ. There's only one of those, and that's the problem for Bryant.”

Originality is something that will never be given to Kobe and that’s why it’s hard to see him as who he really is. Because when people look at him, admit it or not, they see Michael Jordan.

Whether this motivates Kobe Bryant (as the Shaq clause did in the 2009 finals) to win more championships remains to be seen. Whether more championships will allow Bryant to evade the Jordan shadow remains to be seen as well.