Former NBA player Raja Bell knows quite a bit about Kobe Bryant's drive and skill set, which is why he said Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is the “closest thing” to the Black Mamba.
Bell made his claim in the latest episode of The Ringer NBA Show, noting that Bryant and Lillard “both have that killer mentality.”
“I feel like Dame is the closest thing to Kobe that there is in the game,” Raja Bell said of the Blazers star and Los Angeles Lakers legend, per Jonathan Warner of NBC Sports Northwest. “I don’t mean that from the standpoint of the way they look doing it, I'm talking about mentality, where it is always in assassin mode type of thing with them.
“They're always kind of creating a chip. There is just always something to prove and you feel that when you watch them play, there is the respect that they feel like they have earned and they are not given and the greats have to do that, right? That's what keeps you on point and keeps you questing for the next thing. He is, for me, a problem. If I had to guard him, I don’t even know really where I would start. The range is what it is and he is shifty and he is sneaky athletic.”
Lillard certainly had an extra incentive to “prove” something to his peers after a testy exchange with Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George over the weekend.
The exchange was prompted by Patrick Beverley and Marcus Morris' reaction to Lillard missing a pair of game-winning free throws against the Clippers on Saturday.
Rather than wallowing in the loss, Lillard went out and scored 51 points in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers the next day. Dame seemed determined to take it at Philly with every chance he got, as if he relished the shot at redemption.
Kobe Bryant and Damian Lillard might play different positions and have different skill sets, but Bell thinks the two share similarities from a mentality standpoint.
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