The NBA's greatest players blazed their own trails to reach the top. However, for Max Kellerman, Kobe Bryant was not doing himself any favors by trying to pattern his game and career after Michael Jordan .
Kellerman saw it as a risk in Bryant's part, although it turned out just fine.
"Michael Jordan, to me, is the greatest athlete who ever lived in his sport," Kellerman said on "The Bill Simmons" podcast. "The next guy who came into the conversation, who actually made it an argument, has to do something different. It was LeBron; he was the first post-modern player where he's like, 'I'm Magic and Michael.'"
"Kobe was the only guy really wth the guts to try to do the same thing the greatest of all time did, better than the greatest of all time did. I don't think he got there, but he was basically Michael Jordan. He was like Michael Jordan without a hair, but damn, that's good," added the veteran sports commentator.
Bryant looked up to Jordan as a mentor and patterned his game after him. He would ask him questions about the nuances of his post-up game or midrange work, and eventually struck a friendship that ran deeper than just basketball.
However, as a competitor, Bryant obviously wanted to be better than Jordan. The Los Angeles Lakers legend refused to be compared to anyone else, and in the early part of his career, he was on his way to the pinnacle. Even some experts believed Kobe was better and more developed than Mike at the same age.
In every sense of the word, Bryant emulated Jordan.
"People misuse 'emulate' all the time. They think it's 'imitate,' but really it means 'imitate in a way that surpasses. You're trying to surpass the original," Kellerman explained.
Of course, as Kellerman noted, he couldn't quite get there. The late Lakers icon" only" managed to have five rings, one less than His Airness. Jordan had five MVPs and six finals MVPs, while Bryant had one and two, respectively.
However, skill-wise, Kobe could probably do more on the court than Mike. The early 2000s Lakers three-peat teams relied more on Bryant from a creative standpoint, bringing the ball up, and initiating the Triangle. He was also a more willing 3-point shooter than Jordan ever was.
"Kobe took what MJ was and enhanced the skill set," Tracy McGrady stated in an interview with Shannon Sharpe. "He had a better handle. MJ didn't shoot threes like that, so Kobe took it upon and added a 3-ball to his game because that's where the game evolved to. But skill-wise? I mean, the moves, the footwork, he had it all."
Bryant's choice to pattern his game after the consensus GOAT was a competitive gamble. He took on the pressure of a direct comparison, knowing his every move would be measured against the gold standard.
Most players avoid it; Kobe welcomed it.
Kellerman's thoughts on Bryant in that context highlight the courage of such a choice. Competing with Jordan's legacy is daunting enough, but doing it using the same style as the man he was chasing made the climb even steeper. Bryant went on anyway.
Ultimately, he was unable to cross the summit, but he climbed far enough to be included in the discussion, at least to many of Bryant's peers. For a player who built his identity on taking all challenges head-on, that may have been the point all along.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
