Steve Kerr: Kobe Bryant reflects ‘modern version’ of Michael Jordan

After one and a half years of retirement, Kobe Bryant will be honored at the Warriors-Lakers game Monday. The Lakers will hold a ceremony where they’ll retire both his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys.

Last week, Bryant admitted that he underestimated Michael Jordan’s abilities before their first on-court meeting. Bryant thought he would “destroy” Jordan, but the outcome was exactly opposite of that.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was Jordan’s teammate and has played several games against Bryant. During a morning practice on Monday, Kerr talked about the similarities of the two players.

Kerr said the two both have “ferocious” mentalities. “Assassin” and “I’m going to rip your throat out with my shooting” were two ways Kerr described Jordan’s and Bryant’s attitudes.

“Kobe just reflected the modern version of what Michael was,” Kerr said.

Kerr also imagined what it would be like to watch Bryant and Jordan play each other in a one-on-one game.

“It’d be fun to watch. Like I said, very similar games,” Kerr said. “Kobe shot a lot more threes. But in Michael’s era, the threes weren’t as big a part of things. I’m sure he would have worked a lot harder on his threes if he played in the modern era. But so similar in terms of the footwork, reverse pivot, fadeaways. And I’m sure Kobe got a lot of that by watching Michael. Yeah, that would have been fun to watch.”

You can watch a snippet of Kerr’s interview with the media below:

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