Michael Jordan became the poster child for modern basketball in the late 80’s and remained that for the entirety of the 1990’s. After Jordan retired Kobe Bryant took over the mantle as the league’s premier player and even crafted his playstyle after Jordan. They both were elite offensive players, both shooting guards of the highest order. But their talents shone the brightest in 1v1 situations.
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However, many years later it remains unclear as to who the superior isolation scorer among the duo was. A guard for the Nets in the 90s, Kerry Kittles had a unique take on the subject when asked about it a few years ago. Kittles was taken by the New Jersey Nets with the 7th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft and happened to also be draft mates with Bryant. He came into the NBA as a highly touted two-way shooting guard and for the same reason had to invariably match up with Bryant and Michael Jordan.
During an interview in 2021, the Nets legend recalled his matchups with the duo and even provided an analysis of why Kobe proved to be a tougher matchup. Kittles said, “With Kobe, you didn’t know what he was going to do because he didn’t know what he was going to do. That’s the most dangerous player when you think about it. As far as trying to guard him one-on-one, you didn’t know what he was going to do.”
“With Kobe, you didn’t know what he was going to do because he didn’t know what he was going to do. That’s the most dangerous player, when you think about it. As far as trying to guard him one-on-one, you didn’t know what he was going to do. At least with Mike, you had a little… pic.twitter.com/H7qObbSiJ3
— NBAinthezone™️ (@NBAinthezone) July 20, 2024
Kittles didn’t think Jordan was necessarily an easy defensive assignment either. Jordan proved unstoppable just like Bryant, but the former Nets guard explained that everyone knew where Jordan was trying to get to on the floor. Bryant on the other hand played more on the fly, reacting to defenses as he went downhill.
In all fairness to MJ, the Bulls legend laid the groundwork on which Bryant built his playstyle and mentality. Even Kobe admitted that without His Airness they would never have gotten “Kobe Bryant” the basketball player. Even then No.23 thought that Kobe could take him in his prime and gave his reason for why he thought so.
MJ revealed his take on taking Bryant 1v1
Jordan sat down with ESPN and ‘First Take many years ago and answered questions about his career and the state of the NBA. In the same interview, he was asked if there was a list of players that he hadn’t got to play against that he would want to play one-on-one, given the opportunity.
MJ instantly replied, “That list is very long.” He first gave a shout-out to LA Lakers stars Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Jordan then named Heat legends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and finally topped off his list by adding Bryant’s name to the mix. Interestingly, His Airness was confident that he could beat every one of the people listed above, except for the late Los Angeles Lakers legend. He said,
“I don’t think I’ll lose, other than Kobe Bryant because he steals all my moves,”
But Bryant hadn’t dismissed No.23 allegations, instead on multiple occasions, Kobe has admitted to copying Jordan’s moves. For Kobe, MJ wasn’t a peer but an older brother-like figure and hence kept his ego at the door when he got to learn from the game’s best player. He even admits that without Black Cat there would be no Black Mamba, and that speaks of Jordan’s never-ending impact on the league.
