Kobe Bryant was widely credited for making basketball beautiful again after Michael Jordan retired, with his incredible footwork and unparalleled technique on the offensive end of the floor. That often overshadowed his defensive skills for his fans, who were busy fawning over his fadeaway jumpers from the baseline or the top of the key.
In a recent appearance on the Club 520 podcast, Kobe Bryant’s former teammate Matt Barnes spoke about how Bryant’s offensive prowess overshadowed his defensive skills. Upon his discussion with Jeff Teague, the former NBA player, Barnes went as far as to say Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are the best two-way players in NBA history.
“But see, I only saw a clip, so I might have missed the context. Yeah, I was like, you know what I mean? But that motherf***er can play defense, though,” said Barnes hilariously as Teague recalled claiming Kobe Bryant did not get his flowers for his defensive skills.
“I also think maybe because the scoring overshadowed the kind of work he was putting on defense, you know what I mean? And I would agree. Yeah, I mean obviously I think younger in his career, as he was trying to get started, he was more locked in on D, cuz he had to be,” Barnes further added.
“And I think as the team kind of became his and he grew, he was still locking on D, but he went and got people like Ron Artest. He went and got people like me, like we used to really fight because Ron and I would take the best players.”
“So we’d have to argue with bro like no, we got them bro, you save all that energy for offense, and we’ll handle this. But he was definitely a competitor… Playing against him for a long time and then playing on the same team as him, you just got to see a whole other side of just his dedication and just how sick he was of trying to be the greatest.”
“And he said, “MB, I got to get six.” He’s like, “I got to be able to sit at that table with MJ.” Like, he was so dead set on being able to get that one more ring so he could be in that table and that conversation with MJ. But he was a sicko when it came to just getting to it daily. Period.”
“I would put him and MJ as probably the best two-way players,” said Barnes in conclusion.
Some great two-way players in NBA history include the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. But they arguably did not have the offensive prowess and technique that modern era players like Jordan and Bryant worked hard to develop. They were dominant due to their size and were naturally gifted with unconventional ways of scoring, like the hook shot.
Each duo has its own drawbacks in this comparison. While Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain could become rim protectors inside the paint, they could hardly defend on the perimeter. On the other hand, the Bulls and Lakers guards were excellent perimeter defenders, but their size often put them at a disadvantage inside the paint.
But when it comes to pure technique in footwork and ball handling, they were nowhere close to Jordan and Bryant, who used that to leave their opponents stumped on both ends of the floor. Hence, I agree with Barnes that Jordan and Bryant are the best two-way players in NBA history.
