“Kobe will never be MJ”. As a Chicago Bulls fan, those are some of the earliest strong sentiments I can remember having about Kobe Bryant; the kid born in Philly and raised in Italy that was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996 just to be flipped to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac.
After all, he was just some (admittedly really talented) high schooler. How could he possibly be the next to challenge His Airness? Bryant sitting behind Eddie Jones to start his career made it a lot easier to hold firm to these beliefs.