No Hard Feelings for Don Nelson

Warriors coach Don Nelson praised Kobe Bryant after the Lakers’ 130-113 victory over Golden State Sunday night. Nelson  was impressed with Bryant and told the L.A. Times, “He allows these guys to do their their thing and be successful and encourages them. He makes them even better than they are by playing alongside of him. He truly makes everybody better when he’s on the floor with them.” Nelson continued on with his praise, saying, “When coaches look at players, we look at them a little bit differently. Do they make their surrounding teammates better? The answer with him is yes, yes, yes.”

Bryant told the Times he was flattered by Nelson’s comments: “That means a lot, because that’s always been a big knock toward my game. To hear that coming from him, it means a lot. It means I’m doing the right thing.” Bryant leads the Lakers in assists with 4.2 per game and had four assists in the Lakers win over the Warriors. “I think my role changed so people looked for me to do that. When Shaq was here, people think that he got a lot of easy baskets because he was Shaq. I was feeding all of those. It’s not something that’s new to me,” Bryant explained. “I think just the perception of me having a different role has brought to the forefront what I’m doing for everybody else. It’s tough to say you made Shaq better. I just think on this team it gets a little more enhanced.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on December 30, 2008 - Post a comment