Kobe Bryant loved how Bad Boys defended Michael Jordan

Bill Laimbeer on talking to Michael Jordan after retirement about how the Bad Boys defended the Bulls star, via The Dan Patrick Show:

"No, it never really came up. He understood what the deal was. The person who really appreciates that time of when we were playing is Kobe. Every time I see Kobe, he says, “Man, that was really great how you guys did that.”"

This makes me really like Kobe Bryant, who has always been known as a student of basketball history.

The Pistons used the Jordan Rules to clobber Michael. They primarily assigned Joe Dumars to guard him, but Detroit’s bigs were quick to help – and get physical with Jordan.

I bet Kobe – who modeled so much of his game after Jordan – wishes he had the chance to test himself against that defense.