Golden State Warriors young rookie from Oregon, Jordan Bell has spoken up about his first experiences with NBA talent before the season has begun. Jordan has had some high level competitive matches against some huge NBA talents during this years offseason and has certainly learned a thing or two from those events.
The 6 foot 9 power forward from Long Beach, California averaged an impressive 11.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.3 blocks during college. He was known for having a great all around defensive package, but that did not stop him from being troubled defensively by the best player on the planet, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar, LeBron James.
He talked about his run in with the King, and how he handled the moment against the 13-time all star.
Warriors rookie speaks about guarding LeBron
In the offseason, many players including LeBron James and Jordan Bell challenged eachother in Los Angeles during private scrimmages at basketball gyms and it seems for the rookie, that he learnt a lot during those matches. For LeBron, it was just another ball game, but for Bell, the young man learnt a lesson from being on defense against the King during pickup games in Los Angeles. Bell went into depth, saying:
“It’s (way) different than what you see on television. It’s crazy how big he is, how quick he is for his size, how smart he is"
Jordan explained a moment of defense when was up against LeBron, who was standing up straight and drove right past the young man to the rim for an easy shot.
Bell stated that he, "Didn’t realize he was so quick. For him to be standing straight up, there’s no way he should be able to move that fast. I’ve never seen anybody so quick while standing straight up." Jordan thought he did a solid job defending the King during the play, but it obviously wasn't enough.
Bell did the best he could, he added: "He would get on the block, I’m containing him, not letting him back me down, and he would fade away from the block to the 3-point line, and make it." Jordan added that he had played the greatest defense he ever has in his life, and it still didn't matter, the King got buckets.
It's obvious that the 22 year old has gained a lot of respect for King James after previously sending some shade his direction when he was drafted by the 2017 NBA Champion, Golden State Warriors. But he has stated a few months ago, that The Chosen One is his favorite player.
He will see much more of LeBron in the future
With the rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers at its peak after back-to-back-to-back matchups in the NBA Finals, the likelihood of Jordan Bell guarding LeBron James will be happening more and more often.
With matchups scheduled on Christmas Day and during mid-January and the high possibility of another NBA Finals, you could get used to seeing these two forwards in a one on one battle against eachother.
Although the young rookie may not get a huge amount of game time with the superstar stacked Golden State team, he may give them a positive option defensively, although he may need to do more studying on LeBron James if he wants to try and contain him, especially when he is in NBA Finals mode. Because the Warriors would not want King James to do more damage than he has already done during the last three NBA Finals trips in 2015, 2016, 2017. After three straight record setting NBA Finals performances from the Kid From Akron.
