Kobe Bryant and his family were in attendance for a thrilling Women’s Final Four showdown between the No. 1 UConn Huskies and No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday night…
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Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson has offered insight into what separated Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as NBA players.
Speaking at a Utah tech company’s annual conference Wednesday, Jackson was asked about the differences between Jordan and Bryant.
“There was something coachable about Michael that Kobe didn’t have,” he said, via Liesl Nielsen of KSL.com. “But Kobe had an irrepressible fire.”
Jackson elaborated by noting there were times when he would take Jordan out of games for trying to do his own thing instead of focusing on the team.
“He’d know what he’d done,” Jackson said. “He had a conscience.”
On the other side, Jackson said Bryant hovered around him to get back into games due to his “incredible competitiveness.”
Regardless of which NBA legend Jackson was coaching, the relationship was beneficial for everyone involved. The Bulls won six titles in eight seasons from 1990-98 with Jackson and Jordan.
The Lakers won five championships in Jackson’s two stints as head coach from 1999-2004 and 2005-2011.
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Appearing on Thursday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant talked about the time he got into a fist fight with Shaquille O’Neal during scrimmage.
Kobe said Shaq threw the first punch and he threw one back before others involved in the scrimmage broke it up:
Bryant said he fought back to show Shaq he wouldn’t back down and added that he scored every point for his team after the fight en route to winning the scrimmage.
Kobe first brought up the fight during a discussion with Shaq on TNT in February:
Bryant said the scrimmage took place during a lockout (1998-99 season) with he and O’Neal on opposite teams.
Kobe added that Shaq said, “Take that, little b—h” in reference to him, which was one of the catalysts of the altercation.
Bryant and O’Neal became teammates in 1996-97 after the Lakers signed Shaq in free agency and acquired Kobe in a draft-night trade with the Charlotte Hornets.
They played alongside each other for eight seasons until Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat.
During their time together, Kobe and Shaq led the Lakers to three championships, and they were among the most successful duos in NBA history.
O’Neal is already a Hall of Famer, and Bryant is a lock to join him as a first-ballot choice in 2019.
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Former NBA swingman Matt Barnes had nothing but praise for Kobe Bryant after the Black Mamba took home the Oscar for best animated short Sunday at the 90th Academy Awards.
“I think it’s dope,” Barnes told TMZ Sports of Bryant’s win for Dear Basketball. “He’s breaking down barriers, still being great. So he’s definitely paving the road for the rest of us.”
Barnes, who retired from the Association in December, is set to make his own foray into film as he prepares to produce a biopic about Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton.
“We’re assembling the cast, talking to a few directors right now,” he said. “We’ve got the funding, the script, so we’re definitely coming with that pretty soon.”
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Kobe Bryant has one more NBA championship and now one more Academy Award than former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal, and the big man joked he was jealous following Sunday’s airing of the Oscars:
Bryant won the award in the animated short film category for his role as the executive producer of Dear Basketball. The short film takes audiences through Bryant’s basketball career, starting from when he was a child and into his NBA superstardom.
It is based on the poem he wrote in 2015 for the Players’ Tribune and was clearly more critically acclaimed than O’Neal‘s Kazaam given the Oscars win.
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Kobe Bryant was honored with an Academy Award Sunday night, and he used the stage to discuss the recent controversy of players discussing social issues.
“I mean, as basketball players, we’re really supposed to shut up and dribble,” he said during his acceptance speech, per CBS News. “I’m glad we do a little bit more than that.”
Bryant and Glen Keane won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short for the film Dear Basketball.
ABC News captured the former NBA star’s speech:
Bryant’s opening comments reference the recent controversy between Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
After James and Kevin Durant discussed a variety of social topics, as well as their opinions on President Donald Trump for Uninterrupted, Ingraham said that players should “shut up and dribble,” via Sports Illustrated.
Bryant refuted this premise during his acceptance speech, showing the use of his voice for creative purposes.
His film, Dear Basketball, described his love for the game from his youth playing days until the end of his 20-year NBA career.
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Add another accomplishment to Kobe Bryant‘s illustrious resume: Oscar winner.
Bryant took home an Academy Award in the animated short film category Sunday for his work as the executive producer of Dear Basketball. The piece journeys through Bryant’s basketball career, starting when he was a child and venturing into his stardom with the Los Angeles Lakers.
It was nominated for the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, alongside Garden Party, Lou, Negative Space and Revolting Rhymes.
Bryant was nominated with animator Glen Keane, who is known for his work with Disney on films such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
Dear Basketball is based on the poem the Lakers great wrote in 2015 for the Players’ Tribune.
Bryant expressed his appreciation on Twitter at the time of the nomination:
There is no questioning Bryant’s achievements on the basketball floor: He’s a five-time NBA champion, the 2007-08 NBA MVP, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, a 15-time All-NBA selection, a two-time scoring champ and an 18-time All-Star. And he wasted little time finding success after his retirement.
Attention for the Oscar winner will now turn to what’s next: ESPN announced in January it had teamed with Bryant’s Granity Studios for a new basketball show called Detail, which Bryant will write, produce and host.
On Saturday, Bryant discussed his future projects with Kelley L. Carter of The Undefeated:
“They all center around sports. How do we take sports and tell beautiful tales, beautiful stories that connect to human nature? If you look at sports as a whole, it connects people worldwide, on a global scale. Much like music does. But what separates music from sports is that sports is something that unites people, something people do together.”
Dear Basketball worked out well enough for Bryant, suggesting there may be more success to come for the future Hall of Famer.
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Bryce's Notebook 