Obviously Kobe isn’t quite as good as Jordan whose either #1 or #2 but Kobe himself is within the 8-12ish range all-time and his resume speaks for itself.
There have been no shortage of Kobe disciples from the last 15 years till now. The best of those bunch is probably DeMar DeRozan who is a very good player but nowhere near the career of Kobe.
There’s Tatum too, but he doesn’t really play like Kobe. When he tries to, it’s easily the worst part of his game.
There’s also been no shortage of chuckers who try to emulate Kobe but actually just shoot even worse while providing no defense or playmaking.
Why can’t these 6’4-6’7 guards who idolize Kobe not copy him to incredible success like Kobe was able to do for Jordan?
Main reason is the lack of BBIQ and playmaking.
Lots of people who imitate Kobe only imitate his scoring techniques and nothing else. Kobe was a very cerebral player and was the lead guard for 7 Finals teams.
It’s hard to replicate.