It’s the NBA offseason, which means the league’s players are involved in some legendary pickup games. Videos have circulated the internet from games in NYC, Vegas, and LA featuring the biggest names in the game. Warriors rookie Jordan Bell, a plus defender, got his indoctrination into guarding LeBron James at UCLA last month.
Bell spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area to share his thoughts, after playing “the best defense of his life.” Nothing like seeing 6’8″ and 250+ coming at you full speed. Bell apparently was surprised at the physicality of Bron, saying television doesn’t show how big, strong and fast he really is. This was good practice for Bell as he will likely see time guarding Bron in next year’s Finals.
See Bell’s full comments below.
It’s different than what you see on TV. It’s waaaay different.” […]It’s crazy how big he is, how quick he is for his size and how smart he is. He was standing straight up, and I’m thinking he can’t go by me if he’s standing straight up. I’m in a good defensive stance. He’s not crouching.
But there he goes. I’m not going to say he got by me, but I didn’t realize he was so quick. For him to be standing straight up, there’s no way he should be able to move that fast. I’d understand that quickness if he got lower, but I’ve never seen anybody so quick while standing straight up.
I thought I did a pretty good job on him, but he obviously hit some shots. But he would get on the block, and I’m containing him, not letting him back me down, and he would fade away from the block to the 3-point line — and make it. And I just played the best defense of my life. It didn’t matter.