Kobe Bryant On Michael Jordan: 'I Don't Get Five Championships Here Without Him'
Michael Jordan was skeptical.
It was the 1998 NBA All-Star game and a young Kobe Bryant was a bit too confident, a bit too eager.
In the locker room, Jordan, a five-time NBA champion, trash-talked the 19-year-old during his All-Star debut.
"That little Laker boy is going to take everybody one-on-one," Jordan said in episode five of "The Last Dance." "He doesn't let the game come to him. He just go out there and take it."
Jordan went on to say that if they were teammates, Bryant wouldn't get any touches.
"After the first four attempts? If I was his teammate, I wouldn't pass him the f---ing ball," Jordan said. "You want this ball again, brother? You better rebound."
Jordan ribbed Bryant publicly, but privately he was there for him.
"I had a question about shooting this turnaround shot, so I asked him about it," Bryant said in an interview for the documentary. "He gave me a great, detailed answer. But on top of that, he said, 'If you ever need anything, give me a call.' He's like my big brother."
Bryant took that offer a bit too literally for Jordan's taste.
At Bryant's public memorial after he tragically died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26. Jordan said that Bryant used to bother him with questions in the middle of the night.
"He used to call me, text me, 11:30, 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning, talking about post-up moves, footwork, and sometimes, the triangle," Jordan said at Staples Center on Feb. 24. "At first, it was an aggravation. But then it turned into a certain passion. This kid had passion like you would never know."
Those conversations had a big impact on Bryant.
Bryant struggled a bit when he entered the league as a 17-year-old straight out of high school. Jordan was his hero. And he was determined to make him his mentor.
"It was a rough couple of years for me coming into the league because at the time, the league was so much older," Bryant said. "It's not as young as it is today. Nobody was really thinking much of me. I was the kid who shot a bunch of airballs, you know what I mean."
Bryant studied Jordan. He emulated him. He picked his brain. And he eventually may have surpassed him.
Jordan recently said Bryant is the only person who could've beaten him in a game of one-on-one "because he steals all of my moves."
Bryant proudly acknowledged the thievery.
"What you get from me is from him," Bryant said. "I don't get five championships here without him because he guided me so much. He gave me so much great advice."
