There no doubt Phil Jackson, who guided the Bulls to six championships in the 1990s and the Los Angeles Lakers to five after that, has a treasure trove of stories from the years he spent coaching Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
On Thursday, the Hall of Fame coach spoke at Bryant's statue unveiling ceremony at Cryto.com Arena and shared a special anecdote involving the two best players he ever coached.
"I arranged a meeting between Michael and Kobe to give [Kobe] a little impression of how to handle being in a restricted basketball system that relied on passing the ball to available teammates [instead of] going one-on-one with the guy in front you."
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The first thing Bryant said when he entered the room?
"Kobe walked in and he sat down and he said, 'Michael, I can take you one-on-one," Jackson recalled.
The room at Crypot.com Arena — which included Bryant's widow, Vanessa — erupted into laughter and applause.
"Michael said, 'Well I think you might. I'm 37 and you're 22," Jackson said.
