Why does Jordan like Kobe so much? Because Kobe really loves basketball, this is the inheritance

On June 13, the special emotional bond between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant is one of the most moving inheritance stories in basketball history. When Jordan shed tears at the 2020 Kobe memorial service, the confession of "When Kobe passed away, part of me died," revealed the spiritual blood relationship between the two generations of legends that surpassed competition. This mutual appreciation stems from deep resonance in three dimensions: a nearly paranoid love for basketball, a perfect balance of talent and effort, and a mirrored career trajectory.

**1. The basketball fire in the depths of the soul**

Kobe was practicing alone in the old gymnasium outside Philadelphia late at night, forming a time and space overlap with the scene where Jordan practiced at 4 a.m. at the University of North Carolina. Jordan once recalled: "He called me to ask about the details of my low-level footsteps at 2 a.m.! Only those who really love this kind of madness understand. "In the 2003 All-Star Game, Kobe insisted on defending Jordan alone and took the initiative to ask the referee "Don't call a foul, let's really beat it." This pursuit of competitive purity allowed Jordan to see himself when he was young. ESPN analyst Rachel Nichols pointed out: "What flows in their blood is not adrenaline, but the original gene of basketball." This gene is manifested as Kobe's stubbornness in keeping free throws after ruptured Achilles tendon, which is also reflected in the "Flu Battle" where Jordan scored 38 points due to food poisoning.

**2. Quantum entanglement of talent and hard work**

Jordan admitted in the documentary "The Last Dance": "Kobe stole all my skills. " Behind this seemingly joking confession is the empirical evidence that Kobe spent 2,874 days (about 8 years) to systematically study Jordan's video of more than 900 games. Sports science data shows that Kobe maintained special training for an average of 4 hours a day in his career, which is highly consistent with Jordan's training volume during his peak period. But pure imitation will not win Jordan's respect. In the 2008 Dream Team Training, Kobe made 18 backward jump shots in front of Jordan, Jordan said to the assistant coach: "This kid has evolved my movements." This ability to innovate in inheritance is the "real sign of genius" in Jordan's eyes. NBA legend Jerry West commented: "Bryant has Jordan's killer instinct and injects an Italian Renaissance-style artistic sense. "

**3, multi-dimensional mapping of mirrored life**

From draft pick (Jordan 3rd pick/Kobe 13th pick) to winning the championship (Jordan 6th championship/Kobe 5th championship), the two have formed a wonderful fractal structure in their careers. In the 1998 All-Star Game, the 35-year-old Jordan and 19-year-old Kobe made their first showdown, just like the metaphorical moment of a torch relay. The script of Kobe's 60-point retirement battle forms a poetic echo with Jordan's 55-point farewell battle in Philadelphia in 2003. What's more profound is that they all experienced the transformation from a lone hero to a team leader: Jordan used a triangle attack to break the Pistons "Jordan's Law", while Kobe grew from the second leader in the "Shark Age" to the core of the two consecutive championships. Bull Dynasty photographer Andy Bernstein captured the key details: "They also shocked their teammates with their eyes, and the aura of "either keep up with me or get out of here."

This inheritance is technically presented as an accurate reproduction and transcendence. Kobe developed Jordan's classic backward reel to develop a larger axial rotation, and its picturesque backward reel jump shot has a 50-degree arc, which is 7 degrees more than Jordan's standard action. Defensive expert Bruce Bowen admitted: "You know what he wants to do but can't stop him. You don't know what he wants to do. "This genetic innovation made Jordan admit in an interview with Time magazine in 2015: "If you want to choose someone who can win me one by one, only Kobe is Kobe. "

The continuation of the spiritual spectrum is even more moving. After Jordan became the owner of the Hornets, his office always had photos of Kobe's retirement battle in 2016; Kobe engraved "Thanks MJ for letting me see the possibilities" on his own sneakers. When Kobe appeared at the WNBA with his daughter Gigi, Jordan saw the shadow of himself promoting the development of women's basketball. This kind of inheritance that transcends competition has formed a closed loop after Kobe's death: in the 2023 All-Star Game, Jordan named the MVP trophy "Kobe Bryant Cup", and the winner Tatum completed the game wearing Kobe boots. The bond between the two generations of the God of Guards is essentially the ultimate interpretation of the essence of basketball. As Zen master Phil Jackson said: "They write legends in the same language like poets from different dynasties." When modern players are obsessed with data analysis and load management, the story of Jordan and Kobe reminds us that greatness is never the result of calculation, but the chemical reaction of paranoia, creation and inheritance. This transmission of spiritual fire is more eternal than any champion ring.