(CRAFT)[KOBE STOPPER?]

Ruben Patterson and I played together for a bit, so I got to know what he could and couldn’t do, and he could play defense. But I have to laugh at the whole Kobe Stopper thing he started.

I actually think he tried using it as a ploy to get a bigger contract in free agency. The idea was solid, the execution was flawed, though.

Not too long ago I told him, “You should have called me before you went ahead and said it. You should have said, ‘Kob, I need a favor. I need you to say I’m the best defender you ever faced. I need you to help me get this money.’”

I would have done that for Ruben. I would have been happy to help him. After he went ahead and did it on his own, though, I had no choice but to light him up every time I saw him. No choice.

I prided myself on playing any so-called Kobe Stopper, any specialist brought in by a team to try to slow me down. When we were a championship-caliber team, other GMs were constructing their rosters to dethrone us. One of the methods they attempted was employing a Kobe Stopper, someone paid strictly to stop me. When teams did that, it was my job to make them question their ability to spot talent in the first place.