Thursday, January 17th, 2013 at 4:35 pm  |  263 responses

Kobe Bryant Says He’s the Greatest One-on-One Player Ever


When it comes to going mano-a-mano on a basketball court, few in NBA history have ever done it better than Kobe Bryant. And he knows it. So much so, that Bean claims he’s the greatest of all time in that department. Per a fun, lengthy Q&A with ESPN: “Who would you most like to play one-on-one, either active or retired? ‘Jordan. No question.’ What would happen? ‘I’m not sure, but he would win some and I would win some in a seven-game series. It would probably come down to the last few shots.’ You versus LeBron? Who wins? ‘Me. No question. As far as one-on-one, I’m the best to ever do it.’ Damn. That’s pretty confident. ‘LeBron is a terrific all-around, five-on-five basketball player who’s an all-time great. But I’d get him.’ Who could get you? ‘Kevin Durant is the guy that would give me the most trouble. With his length and ability to use the dribble, he’d be tough.’ I always wanted to see you play Tracy McGrady. ‘I played T-Mac. I cooked him. Roasted him. Wasn’t even close. Ask him, he’ll tell you. When I was about 20, we were in Germany doing some promotional stuff for that other sneaker company and we played basketball every day. We were in the gym all the time. We played three games of one-on-one to 11. I won all three games. One game I won 11-2. After the third game he said he had back spasms and couldn’t play anymore.’ [...] What about Kyrie Irving? ‘[Huge smile, laugh.] Kyrie’s my boy, but he knows he doesn’t have anything for me. He doesn’t want to see me. But it would be fun. I’ve beaten a lot of guys one-on-one, like Reggie Miller and Grant Hill. I used to play Caron Butler all the time in practice when he was with the Lakers. When I was a rookie I used to get Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones. They know. They’ll tell you. They used to come at me hard but I wasn’t having that. I love going one-on-one with someone. That’s what I do. I’ve never lost. It’s a whole different game, just to have them right in front of you and be able to do whatever you want.’”

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  • anonymous

    kobe is slow dude

  • anonymous

    whats a Jorstan?

  • makoface

    They wanted to do this back in 1995, after the 1994 finals. It was suggested a pay-per-view 1 on 1 event. The main event was Hakeem V Shaq, the undercard was no.1 pick Joe Smith Vs Kevin Garnett was the middle weight bout and the lightweight fight was Kenny Anderson Vs Nick Van Excel. It progressed real far but then injuries postponed it- I think however, egos got in the way ultimately – hence it was never re-scheduled.
    Basketball players by nature- of playing team sport all their life arent as thick skinned as say tennis players or boxers- being so exposed would be a terrifying prospect to most players in the league i d say. Well thats the generalisationg i make these days anyway- back in the 80s and 90s it might have happened, players were playas then. They were more game – and didnt have massive “brands” to try and protect. You had to make a name before u got a personal shoe- not the other way around- so people wanted to make a name.
    I mean if we cant get the best into a dunk comp- for fear of rep damage- what cahnce do we one on one.

    http://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-29/sports/sp-51412_1_hakeem-olajuwon

  • makoface

    Pippen.

  • makoface

    the man guarded the greatest scorer in league history every day – one on one. that kind of trial by fire, and conditioning was perhaps pippens greatest advantage- the chance to practise against mj, and likewise- mj against pip, like tool against tool- they sharpened each other to be the best at what they did that we ve seen.

  • http://www.facebook.com/evan.boland Evan Boland

    Lmao. AI has no chance against Kobe. I’ll just go ahead and discredit your opinion now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/evan.boland Evan Boland

    Hm. Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won one or two in a series against Jordan. Granted, this is because Michael knows he will beat him the next game. Know what I’m sayin’? Kinda like he did with the Bulls in the L.

  • http://www.facebook.com/evan.boland Evan Boland

    Not even close, dude. Kobe might think he has a chance against Jordan, but the GOAT aint got any confidence issues. He knows he’d KO KB. And Kobe, is my favorite player of all-time, I grew up watching him. Just finished watching the second half of the Portland game because I had an exam in the morning, I knew they won, I couldn’t resist checking. Had to see Mama roast em like that. Pau Dwight and Kobe goin hard as a trio. Gotta hope Nash can come back and push em over the edge, looks like we’re facing OKC round 1. Let’s get it on.

  • http://www.facebook.com/evan.boland Evan Boland

    Dude. You ever watched MJ? I’m just asking, ’cause I see a lotta guys from my generation bring up irrelevant reasons Kobe would be MJ, but no. Watch them. MJ dominates. Everyone. He is so much stronger than Kobe. He would bully Kobe.

  • http://www.facebook.com/evan.boland Evan Boland

    Cosign

  • jonathanhakim

    How is it that Kobe says self-centered crap like this constantly, but if Lebron even hints that he’s a good player, he gets roasted for being “arrogant”?

  • jonathanhakim

    Melo would be a horrible one-on-one player. You actually have to defend someone to be good one-on-one. Lebron, Kobe, Chris Paul – they can be elite defenders when they want. Melo? Really?

    Harden would be awful on defense too.

  • asdgasdg

    apparently he always thinks five on fives as one on ones as well

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