Andrei Kirilenko was asked to name a starting 5 including himself comprising of his former teammates. Speaking on The Knuckleheads podcast, Kirilenko immediately picked Kobe Bryant through the loophole of having played with him in the All-Star game once. He then picked Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur to round out his squad, and named Kyle Korver as his replacement for Kobe Bryant.
“I would pick Kobe for sure. I’ve been his teammate once in the All-Star game… I’ll take D-Will [Deron Williams] because a majority of my career went with him. Even though John Stockton and Mark Jackson would be there…”
“D-Will because we played a little bit longer, he was in his prime back then. I would take Carlos Boozer, and I would pick Mehmut [Okur]. We got those four guys right there. We had a great relationship off the court, always been together… I would put Kyle Korver there (in place of Kobe). He was a menace, and couldn’t miss a shot. It was impossible to play against him.
(1:08:08 onwards)
Kirilenko tried to pull a fast one on the hosts by picking Bryant on the basis of the one time they played together in the 2004 All-Star game. But that just goes to show how much respect he has for the five-time NBA champion.
In the same interview, Kirilenko was asked to pick between Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James in a game of start-bench-trade. Surprisingly, despite his admiration for Kobe, he chose to start Michael Jordan and bench LeBron James, reasoning that Kobe Bryant was too similar to MJ, and he couldn’t pick Kobe over Jordan.
Kirilenko Picked A Great Squad Of Teammates
With or without Kobe Bryant, Kirilenko’s squad of his former teammates is a formidable one. Kirilenko, Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur were all great players for the Utah Jazz, and with Kirilenko, they became a formidable dark horse team in the Western Conference.
Ironically enough, despite Andrei picking all of these players to be in his all-time starting five, the trio of Williams, Boozer, and Okur was the reason for Kirilenko’s initial frustration with the Utah Jazz. These players started to shine after Kirilenko’s All-Star appearance in 2004, and he had to take a back seat to them in the offense.
It was reported that Kirilenko wasn’t happy about this, and in 2007, it led to him demanding his release so he could return to Russia and play basketball there. He would have to wait about four more years to return to Russia, but he was able to in 2011, playing for CSKA Moscow and winning the EuroLeague MVP award.
But if these comments are anything to go by, Kirilenko has put the past behind him and has found some internal peace over what was surely a difficult time for him in the NBA. Hopefully, the Utah Jazz can reunite the quartet one day at a game, and let them make amends in person.
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