Mark Jackson had the not-so-easy job of picking what abilities he’d prefer to get from several NBA legends. The former Golden State Warriors head coach is one of the most entertaining media members with his catchy phrases, but he also knows a lot about basketball and what it takes to be successful in the league.
Recently, he sat with former NFL player-turned-analyst Shannon Sharpe to discuss a variety of topics. One of the best parts of this one-hour-long interview happened when Sharpe asked the guest to pick between a series of abilities.
Jackson first selected Kobe Bryant’s mentality over LeBron James’ basketball IQ, explaining that Kobe’s mentality would help him succeed in more aspects of life besides basketball.
Moreover, he also was asked to pick between four players who are synonyms of success around the association.
Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan are all dominant players who impacted the league as soon as they made it. These four are always considered GOATs in their respective positions, but not everybody is a fan of what they brought to the table.
Jackson first had to pick between Curry’s shooting and Jordan’s athleticism.
“That’s an easy call for me. I would take Steph’s shooting. Because we haven’t seen guys with Jordan’s athleticism, but we’ve seen athletes at the playground that never made it. If you can shoot like Stephen Curry, you’ll be alright.”
Then, he chose Shaquille O’Neal’s dominance over Tim Duncan’s fundamental.
“Give me the dominance. Give me Shaq’s dominance,” Jackson replied while laughing.
Sharpe really picked tough questions for Jackson, and the ESPN analyst gave that to the Fox Sports talent. He selected very good questions that would put everybody in a bad position.
Fortunately, Jackson sorted them out and selected what he thought would bring more benefits for him in a hypothetical scenario. Still, who wouldn’t like to have at least one of these characteristics? At the end of the day, these players won multiple championships and became legends with their uniques abilities.
