He's very knowledgeable. That's the one advantage that I see in Kobe Bryant's career compared to Michael Jordan. Ten years into Kobe Bryant's career, we're seeing a very polished 27-year-old player who's probably got another seven or eight great years ahead of him.
Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan. Not more successful. Hasn't had a bigger economic impact. Hasn't won more MVPs. Hasn't won more titles. But he's a better player.
I always wanted to be on the same court as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
I wore the number 24 in high school my freshman, sophomore year because of him. I wore Kobe Bryant basketball shoes because of Kobe Bryant. Every time I laced up my basketball shoes, I felt like I had Kobe Bryant with me. I had a little part of him - I had his jumper, his fadeaway.
Kobe was hell-bent on surpassing Jordan as the greatest player in the game. His obsession with Michael was striking. When we played in Chicago that season, I orchestrated a meeting between the two of them, thinking that Michael might help shift Kobe’s attitude toward selfless teamwork. After they shook hands, the first words out of Kobe’s mouth were, ‘You know I can kick your ass one on one.’
The best players are always in the thick of the action. (Michael) Jordan did it with the Bulls, (Kobe) Bryant does it with the Lakers and Leo does it here. We want him to stay with us because he's the best and we wouldn't swap him for anyone.
There are some rappers out there that I listen to, that I'm like: "You are really good but you could be like the Michael Jordan of rap if you applied yourself." There's a lot of people who are better at basketball than Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan just wanted to be Michael Jordan, more.
I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
If I would compare anybody to Michael Jordan, it would be Kobe Bryant.
When you're Kobe Bryant, you've got every little young guy coming at you every night, and it's you who's still got to carry the team. When he tore his Achilles... I just felt bad. I knew he was going to come back and be Kobe Bryant.
A lot of players will tell you, 'When I was a kid, I watched Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and I wanted to be just like them.' For me, it wasn't like that at all.
He reminds me of Michael Jordan. "You look and they have similar games where they want to lead their team to victory, no matter if they have to shoot the ball every time or if they have to rebound or pass, they're going to find a way to win." I've always said that Kobe Bryant is the best scorer in our game today and he's definitely proving himself.
Kobe Bryant was the reason I started playing basketball - always was and will be my favorite player of all time. I love the way he could get his shot off, his footwork down in the post, just his determination to be the best player.
I want to be a winner. But you can see Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky - that kind of people - where you can see and say yeah, this is players who win everything. I want to be in this page, too.
I don't really celebrate victories. Kobe Bryant just kept playing. Michael Jordan just kept playing.