Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this bonus episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Wednesday the 26th of January marks the second anniversary of Kobe’s death. I remember waking up 2 years ago, grabbing my phone and dropping it in shock of the news I just read. I cried, I’m sorry, balled my eyes out for a good ten minutes before I could compose myself to find out what actually happened. I still tear up every time I hear someone reminisce about their time with Kobe. To remember him, we have put together a special episode where we look at 5 players in today’s league that used Kobe as their example, 5 players in which the Black Mamba continues his legacy. Obviously, there are more players in the league that could be added to this list but for the sake of this podcast, we had to make some tough choices. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of Kobe’s!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns. Booker was a rookie in Kobe’s last season in the league and a lot of people branded him as Kobe’s natural successor. Book is pretty much the same size, weight and plays the same position as his childhood idol. He can be just as inventive on the court and channels the Black Mamba focus, like when he played with a broken nose last season in the Playoffs. Obviously, they are not identical players with Kobe being more athletic around the rim but also more calculated and methodical in picking apart his defenders. Then again, Kobe did not get to play with Chris Paul, but it was close, something that has evolved Booker’s game completely since that rookie year.
In the last game Booker and Kobe played against each other, Kobe did something incredible for the rookie. After the game he signed Booker’s shoes, writing “To Book, be legendary” on the right and “To the young gun” on the left. A small gesture that has influenced Book in a massive way, tattooing “be legendary” on his arm four years later. He refuses to make the comparison with Kobe himself, but as he improves every year, he just turns more and more into a carbon copy of Kobe, but in his own way. Just like the Black Mamba, Booker lives in the mid-range but in today’s league only the best are allowed to live there.
Book is in his 7th year in the league, averaging just over 23 points, just under 4 rebounds and about 4 and a half assists per game. In the first few years, he was accused of putting up great numbers on a bad team and that he would never be able to lead this team when it counted. And then, in November 2020, the Suns traded for Chris Paul and everything changed. All of a sudden, the Suns were a great team and nearly took it all the way, only falling in the NBA Finals against an incredible Giannis. Those who didn’t believe in Booker were proven wrong. Book CAN lead his team when it counts and I’m convinced he will win a title one day. And when he does, he will carry Kobe on his arm with him.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz. Of all active players in the league, Donovan Mitchell is probably the one player that emulates Kobe Bryant’s playing style the most. Mitchell is acrobatic, powerful, fast and unstoppable when necessary. Even though is only 25, he already has 13 games on his tally of 40 points or more, 9 in the regular season, that’s almost 2 per season so far, and 4 in the Playoffs. Who can forget that legendary series against the Nuggets where Mitchell traded 50+ games with Jamal Murray? Mitchell drew the short straw in that series but with a 57 point game, he played himself into the history books at a very early age.
With Kobe’s passing, a lot of knowledge for young players died with him. Kobe had only just entered the phase of his life where he really started mentoring young players and passing on the Mamba Mentality. For players like Mitchell, this is a huge loss. Luckily, he can draw that information from a very close second, someone who was very close to Kobe. Someone who knows his game in and out, who battled with him on numerous occasions, someone who even broke Kobe’s nose during an All-Star game. That someone of course, is Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat Shooting Guard superstar, who is now a minority owner of the Utah Jazz and Donovan Mitchell’s personal mentor.
And the Jazz can use Wade’s help. The 3-time NBA Champion needs to help Mitchell and his defensive superstar Rudy Gobert break through their second round ceiling. And the Jazz are sort of committed to the group they have now. They don’t have many pieces to make another move, expect maybe the expiring Joe Ingles. The last 2 Playoffs they suffered massive collapses, losing against Denver after being up 3-1 and the Clippers after leading 2-0. If the Jazz can learn to keep their cool, they could make a run this year. Especially because the competition at the top in the West this year is thin. If they can get past the Warriors and the Suns, anything is possible.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets. Of course it is extremely early to punt on Jalen Green to be the next Kobe, the kid has only played 32 games in the NBA. But there are some similarities. For starters, Green decided to skip college to pursue a professional career in basketball. Granted, Kobe went straight to the NBA, Green went to the G-League. But much like Kobe, Green’s mindset was that he was too good for college and wanted to play with the big boys. And he was right, in his 15 games in the G-League he averaged nearly 18 points per game, 4 rebounds and nearly 3 assists per game. He made a huge impression, which led to the 2nd pick in the draft.
Green doesn’t shy away from big moments. As the Rocket’s big hope for the future, he already showed us on numerous occasions that the big stage is where he wants to be. For example, on November 3rd, when the Rockets played in LA, the Lakers looked like they had the game in the bag with a 7-point lead with 45 seconds left on the clock until Jalen decided to channel his inner Kobe and drained 2 massive threes, including the last one over AD in full defense mode. The Lakers did win that game, but the attention went to Green. It only took him 3 games to set a career-high of 30 points. But with high highs come low lows. Green has difficulty being consistent and has had a lot of bad shooting nights, for example in his last game, against the Warriors, he finished 0 for 11 from the field.
The Rockets have a young roster, of the 10 players with the most minutes on the team, only 1 is older than 30, Eric Gordon. Of the 4 players with the most starts, Christian Woods with his 26 years of age is the oldest. Across the NBA currently are eleven 19 year olds playing and 4 of them belong to the Rockets. Of all those 19 year olds, Jalen Green is the best and most impressive scorer. If Green can deliver on his bright future, the Rockets look like they have struck gold. Like I said earlier, it is too early to draw comparisons to Kobe, but if someone could ask for an exception, it would definitely be Jalen Green.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics. Tatum is one of the few young players in the league who isn’t a Laker that had the privilege to work closely with Kobe Bryant. In July 2018, just after his rookie year, Tatum worked out with Kobe in LA and let the superstar improve his game. Before he even got to the league, Kobe was Tatum’s idol, role model and hero. But getting to work closely with him, even only for a little while, made Tatum hungry to achieve more. Kobe’s Mamba Mentality rests on a single question: “How much does it mean to you?” Basically, If you know what you want, how much are you willing to sacrifice to get it? And for Tatum, the answer is everything.
Being a Celtic, chances are small that we will ever see Tatum play in a Laker uniform. Not that we have to, to be able to brand him the next Kobe, but for someone who wants to be Kobe, that could be a sad state of affairs. Instead, Tatum has found another way to wear his idol’s jersey without upsetting his own fanbase. When Tatum plays for the USA, he wears the number 10. Kobe wore No 10 when he won gold medals in 2008 and 2012. Now Tatum won gold in 2020 wearing the same number. There’s no better tribute than that.
The Celtics are struggling this season and rumours are circling that GM Brad Stevens should break up Tatum and his running mate Jaylen Brown. Tatum has been struggling ever since he got sick last season. He struggled to breathe which affects his performance on the court. He did pull out of that towards the end of the season, but really he hasn’t been playing the same way since. To make things worse, Jayson caught it again last month, missing 4 games. I believe it would be stupid of the Celtics do something rushed. Yes, the pressure is on but Tatum is still only 23 and Brown 25. If there’s a team that has time to figure it out, it is the Boston Celtics.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Kobe Bryant. There is no other player like Kobe Bryant and there will be no other player like Kobe Bryant. The four players we mentioned earlier are truly sensational and have every right to be named alongside Kobe, but Kobe himself can never be replaced. A 5-time NBA Champion, including 2-time Finals MVP, regular season MVP, 15-time ALL-NBA, 18-time All-Star, including 4-time All-Star MVP. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2020, with emotional speeches by his wife Vanessa and living legend Michael Jordan.
For me personally, Kobe was basketball. I was first introduced to the sport in 2001, when I was 13. Basketball is not very popular in Belgium and it was difficult to get your hands on NBA highlights. Remember, this was nearly 5 years before YouTube. The first NBA game I watched was Game 5 of the NBA Finals in 2001, when the Lakers beat Philly to win their second straight NBA title. Between Kobe and Allen Iverson, I was sold. Since then, I have always felt closely connected with Kobe even though I have never met him personally. He was my favourite player, the Lakers my favourite team. I found myself becoming more objective as I grew older, but Kobe had a special place in my heart and he could not do anything wrong.
The hardest part is that we didn’t lose just Kobe on that horrible day. His daughter Gianna was in that helicopter too, alongside John Altobelli, his wife Kerri and daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton and pilot Ara Zobayan. They were on their way to a girls basketball tournament when the helicopter crashed in the hills of Calabasas. Gianna was 13 and on her way to become the next Bryant playing basketball in a professional league. Her coach, Kobe, was prepping her for a career in the WNBA, a career that was already destined to be greatness. We will never be able to see what Gigi was capable of, but we will never forget what would have been possible. Rest in peace, Gigi, and look after your dad for me!
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
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