The former professional basketball player, Kwame Hasani Brown, who had the glorious opportunity to play alongside Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant, has opened up about what makes them different from each other and similar in some cases. This, I can say, is an honest thought because he played with both.
According to Kwame Brown on the B High Atl podcast, Kobe Bryant and Michale Jordan were “extremely” similar on the court, and watching Bryant play was like the younger version of Jordan. But then, they had different personalities.
“On the court, they are the exact same personality, and in the locker room, Kobe couldn’t do what MJ did. I don’t know how MJ was able to move around without security. You could see MJ in the local casino, a local bar with this little short guy. Kobe, on the other hand, not so much, and I didn’t get to see him on a personal side like that. It’s almost like Kobe studied MJ cause they were so similar in practices and when we went for dinners, but that is about that. MJ is just a regular dude; he is a regular guy that can hoop.”
39-year-old Kwame Brown also talked about the media painting a wrong picture of him while on the B High Atl podcast. Here is what he had to say:
“That was just the media game because I was supposed to get traded for Elton Brand. MJ and Doug Collins don’t play young guys, and so the media knew that. It was the business thing, and that is why I never said anything; there was no point in saying nothing. Elton Brand that year was averaging 22 & 12 or something like that, so from a business standpoint that made sense. You move the young guy, get a couple of draft picks, Elton Brand, and now you got MJ, and you have a chance of winning it. That is what they were thinking. They didn’t draft me to play me; they drafted me to trade me.”
Coming into a team with Jordan being your teammate, Kwame used the opportunity to challenge him one-on-one in practice, but there was one rule in place that limited Kwame from the get-go. He couldn’t back down Jordan and had to play him straight up, which meant any advantage he could’ve used to beat him was pretty much gone.
“We ended up playing basketball one-on-one, and it was a fun game, a good game. I jumped down on him quickly, but soon as he started doing the MJ thing, the fadeaways and everything. He wouldn’t let you back him down because of stipulation, so there was no backdown.”
It isn’t surprising that Jordan would cheat during 1-on-1. The man was obsessed with winning by any means necessary.
Flip to the next page to watch the video of Kwame Brown talking about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
