Former Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings star Jason Williams talked about the late Kobe Bryant during his recent appearance on the Flagrant podcast. Asked about the toughest player that he ever faced during his 12-season NBA career, Williams claimed that it was none other than the LA Lakers legend. He talked about how his team would come up with detailed game plans in order to contain someone like Kobe Bryant.
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Williams explained the situation by claiming that instead of conceding 30 points against the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan along with 25 from Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili each, his team would be better off conceding 50 from Duncan and trying to restrict the other 2 to below 10. While Williams saw a range of game plans being made in order to stop Bryant as well, Kobe was simply on a different level.
Williams revealed how Kobe was so “cerebral,” that he would be done figuring out their game plan against him within 4 or 5 possessions.
“For sure it’s Kobe against. Just because he is just so cerebral like, all these game plans for stars, like game plans are made for guys like that. We are going to not try to stop this guy just limit, you know what I mean?” he said, before
Williams talked about the San Antonio Spurs, claiming that not containing the stars would mean they would have his team’s “head drugged.”
“Like when we played the Spurs, you can’t let Duncan get 30, and Parker get 25, and Ginobili get 25. Just go ahead and let Duncan get 50, and try to keep Parker and Ginobili under 10, got a better chance winning that way because of all three of them getting 20 and 30, you are getting your head drugged,” he said.
Talking about Bryant himself, Williams said the Lakers legend would watch more film than they did while preparing for the player.
“Kobe was like, we put these game plans for guys like that, and Kobe specifically by the 4th or 5th position, game plan is out of the window, he’s done figured the b***h out. These guys are too good, he has watched too much film, he is done seen every type of defense, every type of pick and roll cover. There is levels to everything bro,” Williams claimed.
Hence, despite how teams would prepare themselves before taking on the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, Kobe himself was on a different level. His IQ and the kind of research he did by watching films meant that he was more than well-prepared for any new challenge that was thrown at him.
Jason Williams does not believe Kobe Bryant is the greatest player to play for LA Lakers
Jason Williams, back in March, had gone in detail about the kind of impact Kobe Bryant had on the NBA, and the LA Lakers. Claiming that Kobe was the greatest Laker of all time, he went on to say that that did not necessarily mean he was the greatest player to play for them, according to Basketball Network.
“My thinking was that we were talking about ALL the greatest NBA players EVER who wore the Laker purple and gold jersey for at least ONE season. I wasn’t talking about the greatest LAKER ever,” he said.
Williams explained his take by taking the example of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. He claimed that while Wade was the greatest Heat player of all time, LeBron James was the greatest player to ever play for the Miami Heat.
“Kobe Bryant is the greatest Laker of all time, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the greatest basketball player that ever played for the Lakers. You know what I mean? It’s kind of like if I said D-Wade was better than LeBron [James]. LeBron is a better basketball player than Dwyane Wade, but when you think about the Miami Heat, who do you think of?,” he said.
Williams effectively meant that while Kobe’s contributions mean that he is the greatest player in Lakers’ history, that does not mean Kobe is the best player to play for the LA Lakers. A number of other players might be warranted to that title, even if the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James, and Kareem Abdul-Jababr might not have spent their best years with the franchise.
