Michael Jordan created such an amazing legacy in the NBA that even though he has been retired for many years, he is still the idol of most players. If that’s the case right now, you can imagine the magnitude of MJ’s impact on the players that entered the league during the late 1990s or the early 2000s.
The late NBA legend Kobe Bryant entered the league through the 1996 NBA Draft. There’s arguably no one who studied Mike’s game better than Bryant. It was visible from the fact that he modeled his entire game around Jordan.
It’s safe to assume that Kobe was the closest player ever to Mike that we have seen play in the league. Evidently, it’s no surprise that Kobe believes Michael Jordan is the GOAT of basketball while claiming that he doesn’t care about the GOAT debate.
Kobe Bryant Effortlessly Explained Why Michael Jordan’s Game Was Special In 20 Seconds
Since Bryant based his entire game around Jordan, it was a little bit easier for him to explain the specifics of Mike’s skills to others. The 5x NBA champion did just that in a video. And the best part about it is the fact that Kobe pointed out some great reasons why Mike’s the GOAT in just the first 20 seconds of the clip.
“He was, you know, a great teacher and mentor for me, but Michael was very tactical and very efficient, and with his movements, there was no wasted space. There weren’t any wasted dribbles, I mean, he was very surgical with how he approached the game, and you can see it he made the game look so easy. It’s very difficult to do.”
Making the game of basketball look easy is one of the highest honors any player can ever receive. Mike used to do that on a nightly basis, and it’s one of the reasons why he’s considered the best basketball player to ever enter the league.
But considering Kobe almost had the exact same skill set as Jordan, it was amazing for fans to see the two players play against each other. While we didn’t get to see that matchup for many years, their limited number of games against each other were too good for fans.
