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View Full Version : Kobe Bryant's favorite player when he was in high school was ... Jalen Rose?



Lebron23
02-27-2015, 03:26 PM
http://www.sikids.com/sites/default/files/multimedia/photo_gallery/1005/nba.stars.in.high.school/images/05299742..jpg



Some things are just inexplicable. Chalk Kobe Bryant’s choice of favorite player during his high school years to just such a mystery of the universe.

In a story told on Philadelphia sports blog The 700 Level, Bryant’s high school teammate, then-Lower Merion point guard Evan Monsky, said that when asked point-blank by his high school coach about his favorite player, Kobe eschewed the more obvious choices of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and the like for Jalen Rose, who at the time was still plying his trade for the University of Michigan.

Here’s Monsky’s remembrance of the incident, which occurred in the Lower Merion locker room during a Saturday practice session.

“Egan just cuts me off and turns to Kobe and goes, ‘Okay, let’s move on. Kobe. Kobe. Kobe. Who’s your favorite player?’

And Kobe just kinda sat there for a second thinking, hand on his chin (because this is a VERY serious question for a 16-year-old, your favorite basketball player says A LOT about you) and everyone’s sitting there waiting for a response, including Coach Egan, and Kobe eventually goes, ‘Hmmm, probably Jalen Rose.’ And Coach Egan was just like, ‘Jalen Rose? From Michigan?’ He wasn’t even angry, just kinda mega-super-bonkers confused. And Kobe was just like “yeah” and Coach Egan shook his head as if to say, ‘What the freak is wrong with teenagers’ and he seemed so defeated and so baffled …”


http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhx0qwNNpa1qh8mu4o1_400.jpg

http://usatodayhss.com/2015/kobe-bryants-favorite-player-when-he-was-in-high-school-was-jalen-rose

bdreason
02-27-2015, 03:35 PM
Fab 5 were incredibly popular. I'm a few years younger than Kobe, but was a huge Fab 5 fan... C. Webb was my favorite player though.

3ball
02-27-2015, 03:37 PM
not a surprise at all.

he was mine and many others' favorite player when we were in HS too.

jalen rose was one of the baddest and coolest trash talkers of all time.. he introduced a lot of guys from our generation that were like kobe to what swagger and trash talk was all about.

Budadiiii
02-27-2015, 03:40 PM
Nice thread!

I expect it to go AT LEAST 20 pages. You really know how to start a conversation.

Lebron23: "Hey guess what?.. Jalen Rose was Kobes favorite player when he was 16!"

Lebron23's mom: "That's nice sweetie... come get your hot pockets before they get cold"

Im so nba'd out
02-27-2015, 03:42 PM
kobe bryant is such a fraud :oldlol: This dude has copied everything from jordan yet pretends like thats not his fav player.

bizil
02-27-2015, 05:47 PM
J Rose was a beast at Michigan! Big point guard who was very versatile and had major swag! Back then, u had those big PG's or point forwards in college like Steve Smith, Walt Williams, Penny, and Jalen. All of those guys were fun to watch!

the
02-27-2015, 06:27 PM
"Got to give the people what they waaaant"

Rake2204
02-27-2015, 06:30 PM
Fab 5 were incredibly popular. I'm a few years younger than Kobe, but was a huge Fab 5 fan... C. Webb was my favorite player though.Right on. Not to act all unsurprised and whatnot, but for a teenager coming through high school in the midst of the Fab Five era (as Bryant was), selecting Jalen as his favorite player sounds perfectly understandable. Those fellers were rock stars at the time.

Also, there's not always a direct correlation between who a player idolizes and who he plays most like. I'm not a super fan of Kobe's but I'll say this: even if he idolized others, he made the right choice in trying to imitate the best.

IncarceratedBob
02-27-2015, 06:30 PM
HE

IncarceratedBob
02-27-2015, 06:31 PM
He dropped 81 on his idol. Wow.

FlashDwyaneWade3
02-27-2015, 09:37 PM
kobe bryant is such a fraud :oldlol: This dude has copied everything from jordan yet pretends like thats not his fav player.
LeBron copied everything from Magic Johnson yet pretends like that's not his favorite player.

Straight_Ballin
02-27-2015, 10:17 PM
not a surprise at all.

he was mine and many others' favorite player when we were in HS too.

jalen rose was one of the baddest and coolest trash talkers of all time.. he introduced a lot of guys from our generation that were like kobe to what swagger and trash talk was all about.

Yep, and we mimicked it on an actual court unlike the kids today that play on nba 2k15 instead with a soft spoken voice. :lol

AintNoSunshine
02-28-2015, 12:34 AM
kobe bryant is such a fraud :oldlol: This dude has copied everything from jordan yet pretends like thats not his fav player.
:oldlol:

WWRWestbrookDo?
02-28-2015, 01:09 AM
current favorite is westbrook

Spurs5Rings2014
02-28-2015, 07:40 AM
Yep, and we mimicked it on an actual court unlike the kids today that play on nba 2k15 instead with a soft spoken voice. :lol

PM me your gamer tag. My voice is deep and rugged, son.

:no:

IMObjective
02-28-2015, 07:46 AM
Didn't jalen rose intentionally injure Kobe?

IcanzIIravor
02-28-2015, 07:47 AM
not a surprise at all.

he was mine and many others' favorite player when we were in HS too.

jalen rose was one of the baddest and coolest trash talkers of all time.. he introduced a lot of guys from our generation that were like kobe to what swagger and trash talk was all about.

Pretty much this and before that a lot of kids wanted to imitate Larry Johnson and co during the height of Tark's UNLV run.