You kind of have to feel bad for Kobe Bryant right now, don't you? Over the last few weeks, it feels like there have been a million and one Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James debates that have gone on. And somewhere out there, Kobe's like, "WHAT ABOUT ME?!"
Earlier today, Dan Patrick finally opened up a Kobe-related discussion by asking Shaquille O'Neal to compare his two former teammates (what, did you already forget that Shaq played with LeBron?!). And Shaq said that, because of his past history with Kobe—and because of Kobe's "killer instinct"—he'd take him over LeBron.
"I played with both of them," he said, "and Kobe has that killer instinct. And I'd probably have to go with Kobe. That's not a knock against LeBron. It's just that I know Kobe and I played with him longer. I've seen what he can do."
Shaq went on to say that he thinks people should stop comparing LeBron to MJ.
"A lot of people try to compare him to Mike," he said, "when he's more like Magic [Johnson]. But you know, when he needs to take over a game, he will. But he's really, really smart. He's very intelligent. He lets the game come to him. And he relies on others. Magic relied on others, and it worked out well for him. LeBron has relied on others these past five years, it's working out for him. Hopefully it works out for him in the Finals."
Check out the rest of the interview in the clip above. You ready for the Kobe vs. LeBron floodgates to open up again?
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[via Black Sports Online]
