Phil Jackson had an insightful comparison when asked about the difference between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant — the two NBA icons who played under him for a good portion of their careers.
“I think Michael had such great success in his previous four years as a basketball player in the NBA, that he knew what he could do in a squad with two to three guys,” Jackson said on LA Live with John Salley.
“But when it came to those two and three guys, the word Detroit Pistons, which was the best defensive team in the league at that time, you know he got beat up, he got knocked down, he got the O’s mothered. And consequently, we failed and we went five games one year, six games one year, seven games one year, and lost in the playoffs to the Pistons.”
He further added: “So there had to be a next step, and the next step was he had to take fewer shots, we had to do a better job moving the ball to the other people and use him as a decoy.”
When talking about Kobe, Jackson said at the time, the Black Mamba hadn’t really hit his stride yet. “With Kobe, he was still expanding his game,” he said.
“He really hadn’t stepped into his full flush as a basketball player, so he still saw Shaq and saw how great he was, It wasn’t in him having the staff come down to meet his standards, but he always wanted to be there. ‘I’m going to get there. I’m not there yet, but I am gonna be there because I am going to be one of the greatest players ever.”
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While Kobe and MJ were practically as different as chalk and cheese, there was no doubt that the former molded his game just like the Bulls legend. Some of their on-court moves had striking similarities, and while Kobe did fall short of surpassing MJ in the scoring department finishing fourth behind LeBron James, Jordan, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — there was no doubt that he was a prolific scorer.
Phil Jackson Believed Michael Jordan Had The Edge Over Kobe Bryant
Addressing the debate about who was greater between the two superstars, Jackson sided with MJ in his memoir Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.
“Michael was more charismatic and gregarious than Kobe,” Jackson said. “He loved hanging out with his teammates and security guards, playing cards, smoking cigars, and joking around.”
He added that Kobe made conscious efforts later on in his career. “His inclination to keep to himself shifted as he grew older,” Jackson explains. “Increasingly, Kobe put more energy into getting to know the other players, especially when the team was on the road.”
On the game aspect, “Michael was a tougher, more intimidating defender,” he said. “He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense.” He later said that Kobe modeled his game and picked up tricks from MJ. This echoes our take on Jordan winning the MJ vs. Kobe debate.
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