Kobe Bryant never believed in anybody but himself and his abilities. There was no way that you could tell that slander 17-year-old kid who was drafted as the 13th pick by Charlotte Hornets in 1996 that he’d not be able to achieve the things Michael Jordan did.
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Bryant was obsessively studying Jordan since the time he was too young to drive a car or have drinks with his friends. And the learning never stopped even after becoming a superstar.
And as Kobe had modeled his game after the Bulls’ legend, he only accepted a version of him having the capability of defeating him one-on-one.
Who could beat Kobe Bryant 1v1? Only a version of Michael Jordan!
You have to be one of the top names in basketball while taking your name with Michael Jordan in a single sentence. Only a few have that privilege and among them is the 6ft 6’ legendary shooting guard of LA who had a 20-year NBA career that gets as close to MJ’s as possible.
Bryant might not have won half as many scoring titles as Jordan, but did have 9x All-Defensive First Team Selection which should be enough to make you understand how good he was when it came to stopping some of the legendary guards against scoring.
And so the man had confidence that only the best version of Mike might defeat him one-on-one and nobody else in the entire history of basketball.
Jeez!
Also Read: When Kobe Bryant Shared the Most Important Lesson He Learned From 20 Years in NBA
How good was MJ 1v1?
There are stories of a 45-50-year-old Jordan destroying a 21 PPG player in practice and by the timeline of it, it should be Stephen Jackson who once played for MJ’s Charlotte Hornets.
Now, there’s another story by Jackson himself, in which, an old Jordan with the second unit of the Hornets took on the first team and defeated them as well while making a dunk. Just imagine how would it be like if he actually played with the next generation to that of the one he actually played.
