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.
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.
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.
Kobe Bryant will be better than Michael Jordan
I always wanted to be on the same court as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
I think there's a lot of different ways to win. You've seen teams that win championships with a super-duper star like Kobe Bryant. Those championship teams with Michael Jordan certainly had a great, great player.
I don't want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I'd be happy.
Michael Jordan on his worst day is ten times better than Kobe Bryant on his best day.
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.
If I would compare anybody to Michael Jordan, it would be Kobe Bryant.
I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
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.
Kevin Garnett was a great player, but he wasn't Kobe Bryant.
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.
When I was 12, 13 years old, I fell in love with the game. I saw Kobe Bryant play. I wanted to be a part of it.
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.
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.’