Perhaps the most famous intersection in the careers of Michael Jordan, set for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame Friday, and Kobe Bryant came at the 1998 All Star Game. Jordan was in his 13th season, on the tail end of his iconic tenure in Chicago, Kobe his second, just ramping up his in LA. Rather famously, the two went head to head for much of the game, giving the crowd- and NBC execs- the show they were looking for. 

When it was over, Jordan's side had the victory (and MJ took the game's MVP trophy), and the link between the two, already strong, was more solidly forged. Wrote Selena Roberts in the New York Times:

"...Beneath the commercial fluff of this game, there was a basketball court and a challenge. There was the daring teen-age pinup, Kobe Bryant, who was staring into Jordan's watery eyes. And the 19-year-old kid, the youngest player to start in an All-Star Game, was on the attack. It was the perfect remedy for Jordan. He watched Bryant's helicopter dunks and playground moves add up to 18 points. But in the end, Jordan had 23 points, a 135-114 victory for the East All-Stars and his third most valuable player trophy.

''He came at me pretty early,'' Jordan said of Bryant. ''I would if I was him. If I see someone that's maybe sick or whatever, you've got to attack him. He attacked. You know, I liked his attitude.''

Jordan saw a little of himself in the player so often picked to slip into his place after he retires. And Jordan had to admit it was a fun matchup...

The fun continues from there. 11 years later, Roberts' description of Jordan's game could just as easily be written about Kobe, while Jordan's comments certainly seem prescient. 

UPDATE: A few people have asked us about viewing summer league games (because for some, merely reading about Tony Gaffney isn't enough).  Click here for the link to the NBA's webcasting portal.  It's not free anymore, but what is these days?  BK

These vids were sent along to us at blog HQ over the weekend and Lakers fans will undoubtedly enjoy watching, particularly early on a Monday afternoon when there's far too much time to kill before the end of the work week.  It's Chick Hearn's call of Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals against the Celtics (i.e. Magic's hook to win) dropped in over the TV broadcast.  Very cool, and filled with calls uniquely Chick you may not have heard before. 

Part I here, Part II below the jump.  I also tossed in a link to a long interview Kareem Abdul-Jabbar conducted recently with Fox Sports Radio that's worth a listen.

Obviously Lakers fans loved the outcome, but putting that aside it was an amazing game.  Basketball at an incredibly high level.  (As an aside, I wish the audio had been preserved in that old Bruce Willis, Seagram's Wine Cooler ad. Just sayin'.)

Earlier this morning, reader "jimjoyce" posted an interesting question, asking if fans today would take Kobe over Jerry West or Magic Johnson over Kobe Bryant to start a team.  (I assuming he meant each player in his prime. If you made the choice right now, it's pretty easy.  No disrespect to West, but the man was born in 1938.)  Obviously I've seen a ton of Kobe, and lots of Magic as well.  But like a lot of people, I never had a chance to see Jerry West play in any meaningful way, live or on television. There are a few great higlight packages of The Logo on YouTube, from TV bios (here and here, for example) or classic playoff clips (here, here), but clearly that's not enough to make an informed judgment. 

It did, though, make me think about something that always comes up in this type of debate (as it would this morning), specifically questions of athletic ability.  Invariably, the player from the older generation is docked for not having enough relative to the modern player.  But as my mom might say, "Here's the thing...":  Aren't seemingly all pros more athletic today, across sports?  Better, stronger, faster? (After all, we have the technology.)  Does it stand to reason that if Mr. Clutch, listed at 6'2" 175 on his Basketball Reference page, rose up through today's sports scene that he'd be 15 pounds heavier, or at least that much stronger, and quicker on his feet? 

All that, plus the textbook form on the J?  I still think Kobe would have the edge athletically (because he has it over virtually everyone on the planet), but isn't that sort of thing worth considering?  Or that his skill set would be more in line with the type of game that players enter the league with today (largely because of the influence of guys like West and Magic that came before?) Anyone else have suggestions on how to compare players who competed 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years apart from each other?  The inherent unanswerability of cross-generational comparisons means I don't take them all that seriously, but it's the same quality that also makes them fun.  We'd be doing the world a public service to find a formula, right?

BK

Posted by Ben Taylor -

All-Star weekend continues tonight with the NBA slam dunk contest, and it's hard to believe that a dozen years have passed since an 18-year old Kobe Bryant graced the dunk contest stage with a young Brandy cheering him on. The other participants that night in Cleveland were Michael Finley, Chris Carr, Darvin Hamm, Bob Sura and Ray Allen. Looking at that field, it's no wonder the NBA suspended the dunk contest the following year.

Kobe donned his Lakers shooting shirt for the first round dunks – a one-handed reverse and a two-handed double-clutch 180. For the final round, he discarded the warm up and unveiled the winning dunk of the night. Sure, Kobe's had better slams in games, but this was good enough to secure the 97' title.

BT

Here's a list of all the players who have (or will have by Sunday afternoon) represented the Lakers at the All Star Game:

Kobe Bryant
Pau Gasol
Shaquille O'Neal
Eddie Jones
Cedric Ceballos
Nick Van Exel
Magic Johnson
AC Green
James Worthy
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Jamaal Wilkes
Norm Nixon
Gail Goodrich
Jerry West
Wilt Chamberlain
Elgin Baylor
Archie Clark
Darrall Imhoff
Rudy LaRusso
Frank Selvy
Hot Rod Hundley
Dick Garmaker
Larry Foust
Vern Mikkelsen
Clyde Lovellette
Slater Martin
Jim Pollard
George Mikan

That's a lotta dudes.  More fun numbers... Since they cranked up this bad boy back in '51, only five times have the Lakers not been represented. Moreover, this year will mark the 45th time the franchise has had multiple players on the Western Conference roster. 

Quick question: Any names you're surprised not to see?  The greatest Lakers never to represent the squad in an All Star tilt?

Found this clip surfing for vintage All Star highlights this morning.  Obviously, I got a little sidetracked:

The footage, from Game of Death, gives a great illustration both of the kind of athlete Kareem was, and also the size of his world view.  A couple years back, when Andy sat down with Kareem, the Cap talked about his relationship with the late martial arts icon:

AK: Did your friendship and training with Bruce Lee help you with your approach to basketball, either mentally or physically?

KAJ: Oh, definitely. Bruce, more or less, backed up what I had learned from John Wooden. The whole thing about being prepared and understanding your own skills. What you have to offer and what you don't have to offer. Channeling to your approach to everything specific. It was just an echo of John Wooden, from Hong Kong as opposed to Indiana. You have to be committed. You have to be prepared. You have to be willing to sacrifice to be totally prepared. To be in shape and understand the nature of competition. And he wanted to do that.

AK: How did you guys meet?

KAJ: I studied a little martial arts between my sophomore and junior years in New York. And when I came back out to L.A., I wanted to continue my studies. So I went to a gentleman that was publishing a martial arts magazine and I said, "Where can I go to study? I'm out there at UCLA." And he said, "Bruce Lee lives out there." And I was a little put off, because I had started the aikido, which is the Japanese style. And Bruce did Chinese style, so I was gonna have to start over. But he said, "No, no. Bruce is really unique, because it's an eclectic style. You should go have a talk with him." I called him and he invited me over to his house. We talked and immediately got be friends. And he liked the fact that I was a trained athlete coming through the door. It wasn't like I had to get in shape. And I was easily won over by the logic and approach to his style. We were friends from that day on.

Cool stuff.

UPDATE: I think this comment from The D properly summarizes the Kareem/Bruce nexus:

Seriously, my brain cannot comprehend the unbelievable coolness of Bruce Lee giving Kareem jeet-kun-do lessons. I need to go lie down.

BK

We've spoken about it on the blog, you've written about it in the comments, others have picked up the theme, but every so often it's worth pointing out how quickly fortunes have changed for the Lakers.  Here is the box score from Game 5 of the 2007 first-round series against Phoenix.  Now I present last night's box, from L.A.'s paste job of the Clips. 

On every level, from improvements on the roster (Gasol for Kwame, Fish for Smush, Ariza for Mo Evans -- no disrespect to Mo, whom I like as a player), to growth from within (Bynum, Sasha, Farmar), to increased health (Mihm, Vlade), it's borderline shocking how fast they've gone from a fringe playoff team to a Finals favorite.  As the Laker faithful bask in the early season glow, it's easy to forget that it wasn't too long ago that things weren't so rosy. 

BK

Every week, Lakers Blog HQ is inundated with letters and emails. Some are filled with praise, others criticism, some simply contain logistical questions about things like game times and parking (for the record, our rides rest in that long garage across from the Convention Center).  But by far, the most overwhelming complaint centers on the consistent, some say systemic, lack of love given to the '95 squad, which finished third in the Pacific and made it to the second round of the playoffs behind Ced Ceballos, Nick Van Exel, and Vlade Divac. 

Our bad.  Point taken.  Here you go. 

BK