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LA Clippers coach Ty Lue has worked with some of the most talented players in NBA history throughout his playing and coaching career.
Over his 11 years as a player, Lue played three seasons in LA alongside Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, winning two NBA titles (2000, 2001), followed by two seasons in Washington alongside Michael Jordan during his final years with the Wizards.
Then, after making the transition into coaching, Lue coached former Cleveland Cavaliers superstar forward LeBron James for three years, winning the 2016 title.
All of this should make Lue among the most qualified to rank the three superstars, however, it appears he has no interest in doing so.
During a recent appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast, he was asked by former 14-year NBA veteran Matt Barnes to rank Jordan, Bryant and James. Lue then made a business decision by immediately shutting down the question before bursting into laughter:
“Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.”
Ty Lue says Kobe Bryant was a spitting image of Michael Jordan
Ty Lue may not want to rank Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but he has no problem comparing the two legends.
During an appearance on “The Pivot Podcast” earlier this year, Lue was asked about the main differences between Jordan and Bryant. He then spoke about how there is no difference between the two at all as Bryant was a spitting image of the Bulls legend:
“(There’s) no difference. Their will to win, their will to wanna kill you every single night and take your heart. Their will to miss nine to 10 shots in a row and think the next 10 are going in. Just that killer instinct. Those two, I’ve never seen anything like it."
Lue continued:
“Those two are spitting images. Both 6-foot-6, the frame they’ve got, the athletic ability, the mid-post game. The passing ability — though they didn’t wanna pass as much. They wanna come in the game and be like, ‘I want 50 every night.’ That’s their mentality.”
Lue then added that Jordan and Bryant both have very different playstyles than LeBron James. This comes as James dominates the game in many different ways, including through his playmaking.
However, he said that Jordan and Bryant always wanted to take out their opponents through a concerted scoring onslaught each game:
“You know, LeBron is like, ‘I wanna come in and get 30 points, maybe 10 assists, 10 rebounds,’ maybe make the guys around him better. But Kobe and Jordan were more of, ‘I wanna win, but I wanna kill you and take your heart out every single night.’”
Ty Lue's discussion about the similarities and differences between Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James starts at the 25:20 mark below:
