Kobe can you guys guard them

Paul George assuming you consider him a shooting guard instead of small forward, despite the fact that he played the 3 out of necessity while Danny Granger was injured enjoyed a remarkable ascent to stardom throughout the season. He emerged as a top-notch defensive player, and his versatile offense was crucial to the Indiana Pacers ' success. Before he can truly become a part of that trinity of shooting guards, he has to do three things:.

George could very well be the class of the position in the future, but we're still a minimum of two years from that happening. The only other contender currently playing at a high enough level to be considered is Jimmy Butler. Guys like Iman Shumpert, Victor Oladipo and Ben McLemore could eventually get there, but they haven't done enough to earn more than a passing mention right now.

Butler spent a lot of time playing small forward, but he's expected to start at the 2 for the Chicago Bulls going into the campaign. And while it may seem premature to even discuss him here, Butler really was that good during the second half of his sophomore season. According to Synergy, only 28 players allowed fewer points per possession than Butler's 0. And he did that while taking massive strides forward on the offensive end.

Butler averaged His success carried over into the postseason, where he averaged But the offensive improvement was visible to the naked eye as well, even if you don't look at the numbers. He was developing remarkable moves like a step-back fadeaway jumper that resembled a certain member of the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's too soon to include Butler with Kobe, Wade and Harden—or even with George, for that matter—but he's definitely deserving of a little discussion. Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox! Your sports. Join Newsletter. It's that fourth head fake. I knew I had to be ready to time my jump. The two ended up facing each other 24 times in the regular season and 10 more in the playoffs, splitting those meetings and splitting their Finals series meetings Despite knowing what was coming, Allen admitted that Bryant was still very successful scoring against him, averaging You come out here and try to guard him!

He even made a commercial about it. But ask him and he'll tell you that the Raptors were actually successful that day. What sticks most with Rose from that game isn't the sheer number of points scored but Bryant's reaction to putting up a number no one has come close to since. Slowing down Bryant on a random Sunday in January was tough enough.

But what about when the calendar turned to April, May and June? There was no better challenge. Rose had a front-row seat to see the legend of Kobe Bryant skyrocket during the NBA Finals, and he nearly altered the course of Bryant's career. Less than nine minutes into Game 2 of the Lakers' series against the Indiana Pacers , Bryant was isolated on Rose on the left wing.

The thenyear-old Lakers star pulled up for a jump shot, and Rose slid his foot into Bryant's landing zone -- a play that is now by rule a flagrant foul. We also realized very quickly we couldn't guard him. This dude is something different. So I acted like I was contesting the jump shot and purposely made him come down on my foot. In my mind, I didn't want him to break his ankle. But I wouldn't mind if he missed the next few games because we would have a better chance to win.

Sometimes he would be distant, ice-cold. No pleasantries would be exchanged. Other nights, he'd be playful, in a joking mood. He'd fraternize with you, then light you up for Yet the most interesting part was hearing Kobe finally reveal who came the closest to being the real "Kobe stopper," the defender that guarded him best.

Always," Kobe said. If that sounds surprising, it shouldn't be. Tony Allen is a great, first-team All-Defense caliber defender, after all. He might not have guarded Kobe as many times in the playoffs as others but he was part of the Celtics teams that faced the Lakers in the NBA Finals. He defended Bryant at times then and was partially responsible for holding him to 40 percent from the floor in that series.

While Allen gets top honors, Bryant also mentioned two Western conference foes with whom he had some epic battles: Bruce Bowen and Raja Bell.

Bell's inclusion is funny -- as Johnson notes -- because things got heated a few times between the two. Kobe repeatedly called the older Bell "a kid" and said he didn't know him while Bell once clotheslined Bryant. It's also the sum of Kobe's 24 and his late daughter Gianna's 2. Add that together and it's a special jersey number that could again be used if Dinwiddie should choose in Wizards colors.