Some excerpts from the book. On their personalities:

"Michael was more charismatic and gregarious than Kobe. He loved hanging out with his teammates and security guards, playing cards, smoking cigars, and joking around," Jackson said in the book, which was obtained in advance by The Times.

"Kobe is different. He was reserved as a teenager, in part because he was younger than the other players and hadn't developed strong social skills in college. When Kobe first joined the Lakers, he avoided fraternizing with his teammates. But his inclination to keep to himself shifted as he grew older. Increasingly, Kobe put more energy into getting to know the other players, especially when the team was on the road."

Translation = Michael was a card playing dick that would make fun of you as you were losing the hand. Kobe was a stuck-up, spoiled, anti-social prick that after seeing Shaq win a ring without him started to become "friendlier" with the other lowlifes called teammates on the Lakers.

On their defensive abilities, and why Kobe's defense was overrated:

While Jackson coached, he often jabbed at Bryant's seemingly annual appearance on the NBA's All-Defensive team. Now we know why.

"No question, Michael was a tougher, more intimidating defender. He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense," said Jackson, who coached Jordan to six championships and Bryant to five.

"Kobe has learned a lot from studying Michael's tricks, and we often used him as our secret weapon on defense when we needed to turn the direction of a game. In general, Kobe tends to rely more heavily on his flexibility and craftiness, but he takes a lot of gambles on defense and sometimes pays the price."

Translation = Michael Jordan was the greatest 2 way player in the history of the league. Kobe often imitated Michael on the defensive end, but benefitted from having Shaq, Bynum, Pau, and Artest having his back, and allowed him to gamble more on defense.

On when their shot wasn't falling:

"Jordan was also more naturally inclined to let the game come to him and not overplay his hand, whereas Kobe tends to force the action, especially when the game isn't going his way. When his shot is off, Kobe will pound away relentlessly until his luck turns. Michael, on the other hand, would shift his attention to defense or passing or setting screens to help the team win the game."

Translation = Despite Jordan's gaudy scoring average, knew their was 4 other guys on the court, when the shot wasn't falling. Kobe would wait for the 4th defender coming his way before passing out.

On Bryant's sexual assault charge:

It "cracked open an old wound" because Jackson's daughter was the victim of an assault while on a date with an athlete in college.

"Brooke expected me to get angry and make her feel protected. Instead I suppressed my rage as I'd been conditioned to do during childhood by my parents it left her feeling alone and unsupported. (In the end, after filing a report with the police, Brooke chose not to press charges.)

"The Kobe incident triggered all my unprocessed anger and tainted my perception of him. ... It distorted my view of Kobe throughout the 2003-04 season. No matter what I did to extinguish it, the anger kept smoldering in the background."

Translation = Once a rapist, always a rapist.

On the biggest difference between the Jordan and Bryant:

Still, though, Jackson probed Bryant's leadership deficiencies compared to Jordan.

"One of the biggest differences between the two stars from my perspective was Michael's superior skills as a leader," Jackson said. "Though at times he could be hard on his teammates, Michael was masterful at controlling the emotional climate of the team with the power of his presence. Kobe had a long way to go before he could make that claim. He talked a good game, but he'd yet to experience the cold truth of leadership in his bones, as Michael had."

Translation = Kobe's all bark, no bite. All talk, no walk. Mental midget.

Good stuff from the Zenmaster!

Allanfan20 wrote:Why it was necessary for Phil to do this is beyond me. Sounds like he was bored.

Sell more books? Get some baggage off his chest while he's at it.

I don't think there's much of an argument to say Kobe should be remembered as equal, let alone better than Jordan.

The only statistical areas where he exceeds him are 3pt shooting (33.6% vs 32.7%) and FT% (83.8% vs 83.5%). Jordan shot 49.7%FG for his career; Kobe's currently at 45.4%, albeit taking nearly 2.5x as many 3s, lowering his FG% a bit.

To Kobe's credit (or perhaps discredit), many of his teams were notably better than stocked with talent than Jordan's. His first 3 titles were with Shaq, playing an absurdly great 2nd fiddle. His next 2 titles with Gasol/Bynum/Odom as his wingmen were impressive, as the unquestioned lead threat on the team.

Jordan was a complete player on both ends of the floor, a DPOTY-quality defender, strong rebounder, passer, etc.

Even if Jordan never played the game, I'd group him in the upper echelon, but not necessarily the #1 swingman to play the game. A number of other candidates also come to mind.

technomaster wrote:Fascinating.

I don't think there's much of an argument to say Kobe should be remembered as equal, let alone better than Jordan.

The only statistical areas where he exceeds him are 3pt shooting (33.6% vs 32.7%) and FT% (83.8% vs 83.5%). Jordan shot 49.7%FG for his career; Kobe's currently at 45.4%, albeit taking nearly 2.5x as many 3s, lowering his FG% a bit.

To Kobe's credit (or perhaps discredit), many of his teams were notably better than stocked with talent than Jordan's. His first 3 titles were with Shaq, playing an absurdly great 2nd fiddle. His next 2 titles with Gasol/Bynum/Odom as his wingmen were impressive, as the unquestioned lead threat on the team.

Jordan was a complete player on both ends of the floor, a DPOTY-quality defender, strong rebounder, passer, etc.

Even if Jordan never played the game, I'd group him in the upper echelon, but not necessarily the #1 swingman to play the game. A number of other candidates also come to mind.

Tell that to LA Fanwagon, I mean Lakers fans. Also, younger fans that grew up watching bball just recently.

They don't know what true greatness was during the 80s and early to mid 90s with MJ, Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Dr J, Bird, Isiah, Magic, Kareem, Ewing, Olajuwon etc...

All that Generation Y knows is Kobe, KD, and Lebron.

DurzoBlint wrote:I loved Jordan but, the whole greatest thing bothers me with I consider Wilt and Kareem.

Yeah, it's tough to say who's the greatest. You have to break it down to certain positions.

But I look at it this way.....Who impacted the NBA the most?

I don't get the comparisons, other than the chip count.

Kobe's managed to only reinvent himself. He would really have won chips with Pippen and Dennis Rodman?

blkexec wrote:

DurzoBlint wrote:I loved Jordan but, the whole greatest thing bothers me with I consider Wilt and Kareem.

Yeah, it's tough to say who's the greatest. You have to break it down to certain positions.

But I look at it this way.....Who impacted the NBA the most?

there is NO QUESTION about that. Mike took the NBA Global. There were WARS in Asia that actually went on Pause during Bulls games.

Nalod wrote:I don't think Phil is throwing Kobe under the "Buss" like Chuck is.

Just saying they are different. Kobe knows he ain't Mike. To be discussed is honorable enough.

I think the fact that he admitted that his personal issues got the better of him after the Rape issue. Said they colored his perception of Kobe which, might explain the scathing remarks he made about Kobe in his first book. After he returned to the Lakers which, must have been awkward at first

I don't think it speaks well of a "spiritual Master".