When Reggie Miller was in the NBA, unless you were a fan of the Pacers you pretty much hated him. There were many players in the league who couldn’t stand him so it’s interesting to hear him talk about someone that he hated. That someone was Kobe Bryant but as it turns out, he has some pretty decent reasons for hating the mamba.
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As Kobe takes his good bye tour up to Toronto for the all-star game, it brought up memories from some of his former competitors about how they feel about Kobe.
“I love him, I hate him, and I respect him,” former Indiana Pacers star and current TNT analyst Reggie Miller said. “I love him because, when you come in at 18 and you play 20 years at the shooting guard position, and to end it all with one (championship ring) for the thumb and the amount of minutes, points and mileage that he’s put on his baggage, that shows me a love for the game.
“I hate him because, in 2000 when we battled for a championship, he was just too good. Obviously, along with Shaq (O’Neal), that Laker team denied me from the ultimate goal in winning a championship. And I respect him for what he is doing now, because you’ve got to take a back seat. Father time catches up to all of us, and to have to be able to pass the torch and the legacy to guys like D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, it’s tough for superstars to give an inch and Kobe has had to take a step back and assess what’s important to him. So I respect him giving back to these young guys and teaching them what it’s going to take to be successful in this league.”
As you can see it makes sense as to why he hated Kobe. He had no shot to beat him and he pretty much knew it and Kobe was a big reason why he never got his own ring. After all these years however it sounds like the animosity is gone and he just respects what Kobe has done for the game as whole.
