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Steve Blake, the former Blazers and Lakers guard, talked about the fact that he gained a lot by playing with Kobe Bryant. Currently an assistant coach in the Phoenix Suns’ coaching staff, Blake admitted he “didn’t like Kobe”, before getting to play with him under coach Phil Jackson.

That’s what the former NBA point guard said on the latest Talkin’ Blazers Podcast, via NBC Sports.

“Before I played with Kobe, and just because he was so good and I was a competitive person, at first, I didn’t really care for him. I didn’t like him. Him and I used to get into it all the time during games and stuff. I think that’s one of the things he respected about me – the fact that I wouldn’t back down from him. What you don’t realize that when you get there.

You hear about how focused he is and how his work ethic and all that, but – you don’t realize until you get there on a day and day out basis, he was working on his body, he was always in the training room trying to do something to recover, he was always watching film, he was always talking about basketball, you don’t realize on day-to-day basis how much he really cared about it.”

Blake, a teammate of Kobe Bryant from 2010 to 2014, was mainly the back-up point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers during his four-year stint.

The full episode: