Pokes in the Pros

A great Tony Allen-Kobe Bryant tale

Two guys you might not love but it’s difficult to not respect.

Published

8 years ago

August 23

Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated recently wrote a longform piece on Kobe which I haven’t read all of yet but he included some stuff on Tony Allen because of how much Kobe loves Tony.

When Ballard asked him which players he thought reached their potential, Kobe mentioned LeBron, KD, Steve Nash, and Oklahoma State’s finest.

All of that led to this:

…and 2) Tony Allen. "Tony Allen is a big favorite of mine. Just how he plays and what he does." Which led me to call Tony… (contd)

— Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) August 22, 2014

And Tony said: "Oh man, that’s an honor! From him?!…(pause). Don’t want to let that get to me though. Got to keep my competitive advantage"

— Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) August 22, 2014

Tony Allen also called Kobe: “the closest thing to Jordan in my era" and "I get to be able to tell the story that I got to guard that guy.”

— Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) August 22, 2014

But my favorite quote from Tony, being Tony, on Kobe: “Ain’t no scouting report for a guy who scored 82 points in a game!"

— Chris Ballard (@SI_ChrisBallard) August 22, 2014

That last quote is as Tony Allen as it gets. Great stuff.