Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan will have very similar resumes when their careers are finished. Both are sure-fire Hall of Famers, and both have won five NBA championships. Duncan has been selected to 14 All-Star teams and Kobe has been named to 16. You get the point, so why would Kobe be “jealous” of Duncan?
In a recent feature that explores Duncan’s and Bryant’s phenomenal careers, Kobe said he envies the fact that Duncan has played for one coach and with many of the same players throughout his career.
“I can’t express to you how much I’m jealous,” Bryant told Mark Medina of the LA Daily News. “I’ve been up and down.”
Kobe has played for seven different coaches throughout his career. Duncan has only played for Gregg Popovich. It’s no coincidence that all five of Bryant’s championships came with Phil Jackson coaching the Lakers. Had Jackson remained the coach in LA throughout Kobe’s entire career, Kobe might have more championships than Michael Jordan right now.
Duncan realizes he is fortunate to have had such consistency surrounding him.
“I’m in a system that allows me to play well,” he said. “With the kind of teammates I have and players we put together, it’s not just on one person’s shoulders. We can spread it out and continue to win.”
It should be noted that Bryant is probably more difficult to coach than Duncan. While Kobe has had some bad luck with coaches coming and going and the Lakers front office crashing and burning on multiple occasions, he has likely run one or two coaches out of town during his NBA career.
Still, there’s little arguing that Jackson was able to get the most out of teams that were led by Kobe. That has to leave Bryant wondering what could have been.
