Subscribe
Follow Us
Former NBA player Jeff Teague has had a thing or two to say about the greatest players of all time. First, he suggested that LeBron James should retire, and now he is seemingly dismissing an aspect of Kobe Bryant's pedigree.
On the Club 520 podcast, Teague openly questioned Bryant's all-defensive honors, for which he won 12. Essentially, Teague, who played against Bryant, said he wasn't worthy of receiving that many and only got it due to his “persona”.
“Maybe the first four or five he was, but after that he wasn't guarding like that,” he said. “It's a persona. The first couple of times he made it, he locked up, he guard. He probably did that for two or three seasons and then it just became a thing, Kobe Bryant played defense.”
As expected, his co-hosts DJ Wells and Bishop B Henn disagreed with him vehemently.
This isn't his first criticism of the late legend. Last year, Teague said he didn't like to watch Kobe Bryant's game.
“It was rough… Kobe was like, jab, get there. Ah, pump fake, pump fake, pump fake. Get him off the ground, foul shot, and one. It was effective… It didn't look as graceful to me” he said.
Teague played in the NBA from 2009 to 2021. During that time, he played for five teams, including the Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, and Milwaukee Bucks.
Kobe Bryant's defensive legacy in context
Much like his idol Michael Jordan, Bryant was the ultimate scoring leader. Sometimes, he was confined to that role and had to compensate in terms of harnessing his defensive skills in order to be a complete player.
Altogether, Bryant was a solid one-on-one defender who used his agility and footwork to disrupt his opponents off the dribble. Also, he would force them to throw up difficult shots.
Among his other nicknames (i.e. Black Mamba), Bryant was called “Doberman” for his style of making life for his opponent's difficult.
Bryant's career defensive rating was 105.5.
