Rumors

LeBron James: When you talk about inspiration, there was nobody more inspiring to me than Michael Jordan. For me, I think our games would have complemented each other well. MJ was a flat-out scorer. He had a scorers mentality if I had to pick him. But I know I can't pick him because I know how social media works. You're gonna be like, "Oh, you want to play with Michael Jordan, too? You get to play with everybody else. God damn it." I didn't ask the question. I'm only answering it, guys. I didn't ask the question. But MJ was inspiration. Penny Hardaway was inspiration to me. Grant Hill was inspiration to me growing up. Like that point forward Scottie Pippen, that point forward. Guys like Penny, like Grant Hill, like Scottie, those guys kind of inspired me because I kind of wanted to be that point forward. I can see the headline already. LeBron wants to play with Michael Jordan. Like, I see it already. That's weird. Don't be weird. Don't be weird. Don't be weird. I was going to say Kobe Bryant, but I actually played with Kobe in the Olympics, so rest his soul. Great Kobe. Great Kobe.

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Kyrie Irving on Kobe Bryant: He had also a history already built in on his foundation of being Jelly Bean’s son. Yeah. You know, so his father already had history in the league and that helps. That's one of like being son of an NBA player and being able to be around the environment and early on, you know. Jaylen Brown: That's one of my biggest regrets in life, never got to meet Kobe. He did a detail on me in like 2018. Kyrie Irving: Did it surprised you that he did it? Jaylen Brown: It did. I was so hyped. I was so hyped.

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Q. There's a lot of podcasts out there now, a lot of former players doing shows and… Olden Polynice: Bums! Q. I’ve never seen so much slander on Kobe in my whole life, and all of it is just trash. What's your thought on this? Olden Polynice: I agree with you wholeheartedly. And the problem that I'm having is bums are talking. And I'm not saying that Tracy McGrady or whoever, Jeff Teague, are bums, okay? But it's a bum mindset to criticize this man. And he's not here to defend himself. You didn't say any of this bullsh*t when he was alive. Not one of y'all opened your mouths and said, "No. Oh my god, I love you. I love your shoes and everything else." No. Let the man rest in peace. I'm sick and tired of this crap with these people. It's some bullsh*t. Excuse me. And you know I ain't never cussed until now cuz now I'm offended. It's some bullsh*t. The man is dead, man. And y'all are going to be criticizing. Come on, man. That's one of the things I hate about this damn world, man. Everybody's using certain opportunities. They're being opportunistic because this man's no longer here to defend himself. But you guys loved him. You love his shoes. You love everything about him, and now all of a sudden, ‘Oh yeah, I was way better.’ No, you were not. Stop with the bullsh*t. I'm serious. This is whack, man. Get the hell off the air.

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Bleacher Report: TOP 100 NBA PLAYERS OF ALL TIME🐐 1️⃣ MJ 2️⃣ LeBron 3️⃣ Kareem 4️⃣ Magic 5️⃣ Russell 6️⃣ Shaq 7️⃣ Duncan 8️⃣ Bird 9️⃣ Wilt 🔟 Steph 11 Kobe 12 Hakeem 13 KD 14 Oscar 15 West 16 KG 17 Jokić 18 Dirk 19 David Robinson 20 Dr J. Shaquille O’Neal: Kobe at 11 is criminal.

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Kenyon Martin on Kobe Byrant: In this era, if he played in this era, if he played in this era today, this man would average 75 points. 

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The other thing that matters: neither the Mavericks nor Cooper Flagg sounded concerned about his debut. Summer League performances rarely foreshadow NBA excellence or failure. But one important Mavericks figure saw a positive development as he observed Flagg’s shots clank off the rim. “You kind of have to think of the Kobe Bryant arc,” former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban told a small group of reporters. “It took him some time to get it right. I don’t want to curse him by comparing him to Kobe because they’re not the same. But Kobe didn’t come in right away as a polished player. It took him two years to get it.”

SportsKeeda

“I think the difference is that Cooper can pass,” Cuban said. “He can play the game. He can defend. So you can put him in any NBA game.” Aside from Flagg’s poor shooting numbers, the Mavericks walked away actually impressed with how the No. 1 pick fared. Flagg added six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. He often assumed ball-handling duties. He ran the floor well in transition. He performed that job description in 32 minutes, though Cuban joked it felt like “90 minutes.” “He’s only 18 so you can play him 90 minutes in a summer league game,” Cuban said. “Even if you could tell he was gassed, he still made the right play. He didn’t try to do too much and say, ‘Hey, I’m the No. 1 pick. Let me try to show you why. He played basketball the whole time.’ And he’s 18. My daughter just graduated from high school last month, and he’s younger than her.”

SportsKeeda

The long-awaited design for the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kobe Bryant bobblehead night was unveiled Thursday. The Los Angeles Lakers legend's figurine is in a batting stance and sporting a gold No. 24 Lakers jersey. The bobblehead appears to have been inspired by a photo of the five-time NBA champion during Lakers media day in 2009. Bryant is also wearing the Zoom Kobe 6 Protro "Dodgers" sneaker, which was officially released in May.

ESPN

Bryant's bobblehead will be given away to the first 40,000 ticketed fans of the Dodgers' home matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 8 -- aka 8/8, doubling down on the number Bryant wore during the first half of his 20-year NBA career.

ESPN

Jeff Teague: And I’ma tell y’all something about All-Defensive teams — they just put anybody on them after a while. Like, if you made it once or twice, three times, they just start putting you on there. Like 12 times? I played Kobe, bro. He wasn’t guarding like that. He wasn’t, bro. Yeah. Maybe the first four or five years he was. After that, he wasn’t guarding like that, bro. Go look. Paul Pierce and them used to cook. Joe Johnson used to cook.

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Jeff Teague: It’s a persona. Like the first couple times he made it, he was locking up, he was killing, strapping up. He probably did that for two or three seasons, and then it just became a thing: “Kobe plays defense.” But Tony Allen and them dudes played defense. So you think Kobe Bryant, who’s shooting 40 shots, is also out here playing defense? He was competitive. But that don’t mean he was locking up. That’s why they had Metta World Peace — ‘cause when the best players start cooking…"

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Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: “Having been teammates with both Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving, how would you compare their work ethic and leadership styles? Earl Clark: I think they’re similar with their work ethic and their love of hoops which means that they’re not just going to work out in the gym. They’re going to go home and watch film, they’re going to break down — I think Kobe’s a little bit more psycho when it comes to winning. Like, he can’t lose too many games, you know what I’m sayin’? And I’m not saying that Kyrie’s a loser or he likes losing but I think it affected him [Kobe] more, you know? I think Kobe’s a more vocal leader. When I was with Kyrie, he was younger trying to establish himself, get his deals, get and keep taking control of the team and keep building, you know? Because he was the head of the snake. So I think that was the difference between them.

ScoopB.com

Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson: Did you ever see Kobe lose his temper in practice or in games? What was that like? Earl Clark: I mean, every day we competed in practice, you know? I was on the White Team with me, [Devin] Ebanks, Jordan Hill… and they are coming off a back-to-back [NBA Championship] but we didn’t care about that shit, we’re trying to get some minutes so, we’re going at them! And you know of course Kobe’s gonna go hard EVERY TIME! But it’s a few guys that are tired and tend to take days off. So one time in practice we beat them a few games and we’re talkin’ smack, you know what I’m sayin’? And he just flipped, bro! He ended practice, flipped the table and told everybody on his team, “We gotta tighten up! We can’t get better like this!” and he just left, you know what I’m sayin’? But it’s a LOT of times when he would just blow up, flip the table and just leave and practice is over, you know what I’m sayin’? That’s the thing that people get misunderstood about Kobe too is like that I’ve never been around Kobe where he’s been like, a super jerk or talk down to his teammates. What he doesn’t like is soft guys. So if you’re not doing your job and he gets on you and you shy away and you curl up, he’s not really going to trust you in basketball games, you know what I’m sayin’? He wants to see who the dogs are so when it’s time to win and go out there and fight, he knows who can be out there with him.

ScoopB.com

Jimmy Jackson on 2006 Lakers-Suns Game 7: "And it was crazy, because before you knew it, the game was over. You look at the stat sheet — he didn’t shoot the ball. We were like — but in real time, you didn’t realize it, 'cause the game was going. But then you knew something was off — like, “Kobe ain’t really being aggressive. This ain’t Game 7.” But I think it was — in just my opinion — proving a point to the coaching staff. That was what was so crazy about it. It wasn’t like he was getting trapped and doubled and the ball had to get out of his hands. He was invitingly swinging it. No — he was like, “Oh, you think you can win it? You think you can do this? Go ahead.” That’s what I think more of it was — that aspect of it.

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