Kobe Bryant Once Left NCAA Defensive Player Of The Year In A Daze

Shandel Richardson | Jan 21, 2025

May 10, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Miami Heat forward Shane Battier (31) drives past Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Johnson (7) during the first quarter in game three of the second round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images / Anthony Gruppuso-Imagn Images

Perhaps former NBA player Shane Battier should blame teammate Michael Dickerson.

Dickerson was the starting shooting guard for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001-02 before sustaining a season-ending hernia injury. It left out of position Battier, a rookie at the time, facing some of the league's best players every night.

Battier was coming off winning NCAA Defensive Player of the Year at Duke, but this was next level.

"It was an unbelievable experience because I had got roasted by the best," Battier told Back In The Day Hoops On SI. "I was guarding [Allen] Iverson, I was guarding Kobe [Bryant], I was guarding [Manu] Ginobili. I was guarding Ray Allen. I was guarding everybody ... I got a baptism by fire."  

The lowlight came when Battier faced Bryant for the first time at Staples Center. Bryant finished with 56 points ... in three quarters. He sat the remainder because the game was out of hand.

"I thought I could out-think most guys but he had a mind like a steel trap," Battier said. "He was so hungry for points. He wanted to embarrass me every single time."  

A young Battier eventually got it together. He became one of the league's best defenders and eventually a key piece of the Miami Heat's back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.

"I'm very proud of my defensive track record in the NBA," Battier said. "I looked up the other day, in 2005 I was third place in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. I forgot about that. People forget I was a power forward in college ... I was just playing guards on a switch but I wasn't chasing guys. Five games into my rookie year, I was the starting small forward, so that was already an adjustment chasing Paul Pierce and some of those bigger guys."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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