This past week, NBA legend Kobe Bryant made his first trip to Melbourne, Australia to host The Mamba Mentality Experience, a live speaking engagement in support of his recently released book, The Mamba Mentality.
Bryant only spent about 48 hours on the ground in Melbourne, but while there, he not only found enough time to explore the land down under, but also enough time to discuss Melbourne native and current Philadelphia 76er, Ben Simmons.
Simmons, for obvious reasons, has become one of the more discussed young stars in the NBA today. The 22-year-old, among other reasons, has received a lot of attention for his reluctance to shoot jump shots during his games.
Bryant was asked to weigh in, and he did.
The below excerpt comes from Australia's The Herald Sun:
"He's got to get a jump shot,'' Bryant said. "It sounds stupid and all that but I'm dead [expletive] serious.
"Because if not, he will regret it when his career is over.''
He said Simmons ability to dominate NBA games without a reliable jump shot is "astonishing" - and also predicts the Melbourne product still has a bright future ahead of him.
"I think his development will come in shooting obviously," Bryant added. "At some point he's got to be able to shoot that ball. Jason Kidd, when he came in the league, wasn't a great shooter, but he worked to the point where he became one of the best three-point shooters we've had in our league in history.
"That will be his next progression. That being said, even without that, he's been able to dominate and take that city of Philadelphia to a place where it hasn't been in a very long time."
Since his playing days have ended, Bryant has been finding some very interesting ways to keep himself occupied. Among them have been working individually with some of the game's younger players, including Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Perhaps Bryant was trying to send Simmons a veiled message.
Once the season ends for the Sixers, if Simmons knows what's good for him, he'll hit Kobe up to see if the living legend wants to offer him any tutelage.
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