Kobe's situation was now like Jordan's before his success.
He had distinct personal traits: obsessive, competitive, with a strong desire to attack. However, compared with Yu Fei, he lacked the ability to motivate his teammates.
His inability to make his teammates better became the primary method of criticism against him.
Moreover, Yu Fei was now leading a group of young players at the Supersonics, and it was no longer convincing to say that the Bucks players were better, like in the past.
Jackson was unwilling to discuss this matter with Kobe.
Because he had tried before, and it led to a terrible consequence.
Watching the spirited Kobe, full of desire to respond, Jackson's mind flashed back to an incident from a few years earlier.
It was the playoffs in 2006.
The first year when the hand-checking restrictions were fully implemented, and also the year when Kobe exploded offensively.
He became the scoring champion after Yu Fei, averaging over 35 points a game.