Per this story by the Denver Post, Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, one of the longest tenured coaches in the NBA, had some very high remarks at today's shootaround regarding Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant, before the Nuggets play the Los Angeles tonight on TNT:
“He’s a top-5, top-10 player in all-time. He’s established himself of the Michael Jordan of this era. His excellence and championship mentality is pretty obvious almost every night he plays, and I think that’s what fans want to see.”
That's quite a compliment from Karl. We all have heard the comparisons to Kobe and Michael Jordan and for a coach who has had to gameplan against both players to make such a comparison is definitely saying something. Karl has been a NBA head coach since 84-85 and has a career winning percentage of almost .600 so he might know a little bit about what he's talking about.
The defending champion Lakers are 8-0 so far this season and off to their best start in years, while the Nuggets are currently 4-4 and coming off an embarrassing 144-113 loss the Pacers back on 11/9, although the Nuggets always play the Lakers tough in the regular season. Expect tonight's matchup to be a good test for the Lakers.
But we'll save the Kobe/Jordan debate for another day...
-ALR
