“It’s a complete honor, and I was flattered by the comment,” said Allen, in an interview on Sporting News.
Allen went on to explain how he approaches guarding Bryant.
“I guarded Paul Pierce my first six years in Boston (in practice). He a Hall of Fame, first ballot, himself. And his footwork is right there, too. So I think just checking him every day in practice and competing with him every day in practice prepared me for a guy like Kobe.”
Of course, few have been able to stop Bryant. The 37-year-old led the league in scoring in both 2006 and 2007 and is currently third in NBA history with 33,318 points. Had injuries not limited his playing time (and skills) he would have had a good shot to eclipse Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time 38,387 point-record.
But Bryant suffered consecutive season-ending injuries in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The 49 games he’s played this season are more than he’s had the last two seasons combined. Yet, his shooting percentages the last two seasons (37.3 last year, 35.0 this year) are the worst of his career and this year’s 17.1 scoring average is the lowest he’s had in a season where he played more than six games since the 1997–98 season—when he was still a teenager.
When healthy, he was one of the greatest of all time, making 18 All-Star teams and being named to one of the All-NBA teams 15 times—including 11 first-team selections. The two-way player was also named to 12 All-Defensive teams.
