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SacBee blog wrote:
Q: Could you and Kobe ever have existed together or did you have to go your separate ways?
A: Yeah, we could have. We never had a problem. We never had a problem. I swear to God. On the court, we never had a problem.
Q: Don't even say that. Don't even try.
A: It's just that I'd say stuff, he'd say stuff. I think it was all designed by Phil (Jackson). Because if you think about it, Phil never called us into the office and said, ''Both of you all, shut the (heck) up.'' Never did that in four years. He knew that when I read something, I was going to get upset. And he knew Kobe was going to always come out and play hard. So I think it was all done by design.
Q: You think he just wanted to light a fire under you guys?
A: Yeah. I think that's exactly what it was. I think it was all done by design. Really. He never called us in a meeting and said, ''Shut up.'' And basically, it was never a face-to-face... thing. It was always, he'd say something to you, I'd say something to another guy, I'd say something to you. That's all it was.
Now that I look back on it, that (stuff) was kind of fun. It really was. It was kind of fun. ''What did he say, what did he say?'' I tell people if we would have had a reality show, we'd have had the No. 1 reality show in the world. It was fun. It was actually fun. (Brian) Shaw would be, ''Oh, man, why did you say that?'' And then Karl (Malone) would be like, ''Yo, that was (messed) up what you said.'' Then we'd try to out-do each other in the game.
But while we were trying to out-do each other, the two best players in the game, we're out-doing everyone by far. (Heck), if he was open in the lane, I wasn't going to say, ''(The heck with) you, Kobe.'' I would still drop it off. But it was actually fun. And not only was it fun, we'll always be remembered as the best Laker one-two punch. I'm going on record saying we're the best Laker guard-center punch. You heard it from me. Ever.
Q: That's getting into pretty rarefied air.
A: I don't care. We were the best Laker one-two punch ever. The most exciting, the most controversial and the best. Period.
Q: Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.
A: Yeah, but I don't know what they did. I don't know how many championships they won.
Q: Magic Johnson and Kareem.
A: What'd they get, five championships together? Pretty good. They were pretty good. But, hey. I'm going on record. This is my opinion. This is just me. Kobe and Shaq was the best, most exciting one-two punch in Lakers history. That's just me. Despite what went on or what you think went on. That's what I think.
Q: Could you and Kobe ever have existed together or did you have to go your separate ways?
A: Yeah, we could have. We never had a problem. We never had a problem. I swear to God. On the court, we never had a problem.
Q: Don't even say that. Don't even try.
A: It's just that I'd say stuff, he'd say stuff. I think it was all designed by Phil (Jackson). Because if you think about it, Phil never called us into the office and said, ''Both of you all, shut the (heck) up.'' Never did that in four years. He knew that when I read something, I was going to get upset. And he knew Kobe was going to always come out and play hard. So I think it was all done by design.
Q: You think he just wanted to light a fire under you guys?
A: Yeah. I think that's exactly what it was. I think it was all done by design. Really. He never called us in a meeting and said, ''Shut up.'' And basically, it was never a face-to-face... thing. It was always, he'd say something to you, I'd say something to another guy, I'd say something to you. That's all it was.
Now that I look back on it, that (stuff) was kind of fun. It really was. It was kind of fun. ''What did he say, what did he say?'' I tell people if we would have had a reality show, we'd have had the No. 1 reality show in the world. It was fun. It was actually fun. (Brian) Shaw would be, ''Oh, man, why did you say that?'' And then Karl (Malone) would be like, ''Yo, that was (messed) up what you said.'' Then we'd try to out-do each other in the game.
But while we were trying to out-do each other, the two best players in the game, we're out-doing everyone by far. (Heck), if he was open in the lane, I wasn't going to say, ''(The heck with) you, Kobe.'' I would still drop it off. But it was actually fun. And not only was it fun, we'll always be remembered as the best Laker one-two punch. I'm going on record saying we're the best Laker guard-center punch. You heard it from me. Ever.
Q: That's getting into pretty rarefied air.
A: I don't care. We were the best Laker one-two punch ever. The most exciting, the most controversial and the best. Period.
Q: Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.
A: Yeah, but I don't know what they did. I don't know how many championships they won.
Q: Magic Johnson and Kareem.
A: What'd they get, five championships together? Pretty good. They were pretty good. But, hey. I'm going on record. This is my opinion. This is just me. Kobe and Shaq was the best, most exciting one-two punch in Lakers history. That's just me. Despite what went on or what you think went on. That's what I think.
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