Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are perhaps the 2 most similar NBA superstars of all time. After all, the former did model his game after MJ.
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Often labeled as the closest thing to MJ, Bryant was a phenomenon unto himself. He captivated audiences and basketball fans worldwide with his play – even more so because of his similarity to His Airness.
Bryant copied nearly all aspects of MJ’s play as a youngster looking to traverse the GOAT path. He would give the same head fakes, do the same shimmies and displayed the same scoring mentality.
Their turnaround fadeaway jumpers look eerily similar in their perfection. Bryant’s jumper had a little less lift, but they had the same fakes when they went into their shooting motions – right up until the follow-through.
Bryant would even stick his tongue out while making some moves to embarrass his defenders, just like MJ. He had the same shrug, the same strut on the court, and he even copied MJ’s celebration.
Ty Lue comments on the similarities between Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was recently a guest on the Pivot Podcast. Lue is one of the few people in NBA history to have worked with all 3 of Kobe, Jordan and LeBron James.
Lue credited MJ and Kobe for displaying the real meaning of hard work as a professional to him . When asked about what he saw differently among these 3 legends, Lue commented that Bryant and Jordan were replicas of each other – even in terms of mentality:
“(There’s) no difference. Their will to win, their will to wanna kill you every single night and take your heart. Their will to miss 9-10 shots in a row and think the next 10 are going in. Just that killer instinct…Those 2, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Those two are spitting images. Both 6’6″, the frame they’ve got, the athletic ability, the mid-post game. The passing ability – though they didn’t wanna pass as much. They wanna come in the game and be like ‘I want 50 every night’. That’s their mentality.”
“You know LeBron is like ‘I wanna come in and get 30 points, maybe 10 assists, 10 rebounds’, maybe make the guys around him better. But Kobe and Jordan were more of ‘I wanna win, but I wanna kill you and take your heart out every single night’.”
Ty Lue and LeBron James have a special connection
Lue was roped in as the Cavs’ head coach after they fired David Blatt in early 2016, stepping in from the role of assistant coach. The advent of Lue triggered the Cavs to make a run to the #1 seed in the East in the last 3 months of 2015-16.
They went on to win the NBA Finals that year, staging the only 3-1 comeback ever made at that stage. LeBron and Kyrie were definitely the main stars for the team; however, Lue’s strategy of switching them onto Steph was really commendable and helped their cause tremendously.
Lue made 2 more Finals runs alongside James before the latter bolted for the Lakers. Many speculated that LeBron would try and recruit Tyronn there, but Lue went with the Clippers in an assistant role instead.
