Lakers

Lakers News: Scottie Pippen Opens Up About Kobe Bryant

For NBA fans, the GOAT debate is an ongoing discussion every single day. But the one name that often gets left out of the discussion is Kobe Bryant.

The fans who haven’t watched Kobe play leave him out. The NBA players who have played against Kobe say he was one of if not the toughest player to guard. Most of the NBA players, current and former, say that you can’t have a GOAT debate without Kobe in it.

For me, there isn’t just one GOAT. There are different greats in different eras. For example, in the 1970 era, the GOAT was Kareem, 1980 Magic, 1990 Jordan, 2000 Kobe, and the present-day great is LeBron. They are all greats in their respective eras.

One player who had battles with Kobe during the playoffs was Jordan’s former teammate, Scottie Pippen. Pippen recently said:

“Kobe strived so hard to be Michael Jordan. When I go back, and I look at his videos, and I say to myself, ‘Damn he was better than Michael Jordan.’” Pippen added, “He worked so hard. This kid came out of high-school. He didn’t go play for North Carolina under a Dean Smith.”

This is high praise from Pippen. If anyone would know how talented of a player and person Kobe was, it would be Pippen who was part of that historic Kobe to Shaq lob in Game 7 of the 2000 playoffs against Pippen’s Blazers.

Pippen reflects on how he regretted to tell Kobe what a great player he was. Pippen said:

“Kobe was a very intelligent guy, and he believed in striving to be the best. I really hate that we didn’t tell him how great he really was.”

Pippen also described his love for Kobe and brought up how great of a person Kobe was. Pippen stated:

“Kobe would call me and pick my brain. It was amazing to know that he did that to a lot of players. He did that to people in all parts of life, whether it was a movie producer or a best-selling author.”

Kobe had legendary accomplishments on and off the basketball court, from winning five championships to winning an Oscar and being a family man before all else. Kobe was a great father, husband, and person.

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