Phil Jackson remembered how young Kobe Bryant was when they first met, as he stood on stage to pay tribute to the late player at his statue’s dedication on Friday.
His age was 22. Bryant wanted to be a celebrity right then and there, but Jackson urged him to wait.
There were times I would pull him to the sideline and say, don’t try to take over this game. It’s not time. Don’t try to take over this game. But he was dying to do so, and he was ready to do so.
Kobe Bryant statue unveiled recently
Jackson decided to speak with Bryant, who was already becoming something of a legend, by calling a former Chicago player.
FULL SPEECH: Phil Jackson speaks at the Kobe Bryant statue unveiling pic.twitter.com/F9LEftuNh1
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He asked Michael Jordan to come along and “give him a little impression of how to handle being in a restricted basketball system that relied on passing the ball to available teammates and wanting to go one-on-one with this guy in front of you.”
Phil said,
So I arranged, we had a little meeting in the cigar room off the bar downstairs, and Michael and I were sitting there, and Kobe walked in after his shower and the press and whatnot, and he sat down, and he said, “Michael, I can take you one-on-one.” And Michael said, well, I think you might. I’m 37, you’re 22.
As the times went by, Kobe eventually won 5 titles with Michael Jordan.
