How NBA Draft prospect Cedric Coward is modeling his game after Kobe Bryant

Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor is joined by the former Washington State guard to discuss the versatility in his game at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, IL. Hear the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

But how would you describe your overall overall basketball game to somebody who’s never watched you play?

Uh, versatile, uh, jack of all trades, Swiss Army knife, whatever term you want to use for all around.

And just overall winner, I think a lot of people when they see me play for the first time, understand the amount of versatility I have on the court.

When you watch me play, you can’t look at him and be like, OK, well, he plays offense but not defense, because that’s not what I predicate my game off.

He plays defense but doesn’t rebound, like.

I don’t think you can look at one area in my game, but he doesn’t do that, like at all, you know, and there’s, I gotta work on everything.

When you talk about what I can get better at, everything.

You can always master and perfect everything as you, like you said, that goes to striving for greatness.

At the end of the day, when I describe my game to people and what separates me is It sure will and kind of dog mentality I have and being able to be all around.

We know you can shoot.

We saw you do that at Washington State.

We saw you do that at Eastern Washington, but the postgame shot 68% out of the post year last year at Eastern Washington, small sample last year at Washington State you were 8 of 9 from the post as well.

You’re 6’6, you know, roughly with shoes, 6’7 with shoes.

Have you always had kind of a low postgame or is that something that coaches wanted to get out of you?

I mean.

Not really.

I think like a little bit because my favorite player of all time is Kobe, you know, Kobe had a postgame, but Kobe, clearly practiced that but yeah, and I think that that’s where it comes from, but I didn’t really like add it to my game until I got to Eastern Washington because Coach Riley, like the way their offense runs, we predicate on hunting mismatches.

And for me, when I first got to Eastern Washington, I wasn’t a guard.

I was more of a forward, you know, plugging guy, you know what I mean like.

I, I guarded, I played a lot bigger than what I was, I can say that.

But yeah, but what 67 rebounds a game.

I don’t know I don’t know something like that, but.

I played more of a big man role, quote unquote, more of a like a 4 role, my first year at Eastern.

So when I was working out, I was up there with the bigs.

I was bruising the whole time.

So it taught me how to, you know, use finesse in the post, also use physicality.

So now when I go up against the guards, especially people smaller than me, it’s, it’s, it’s, I’m not gonna say easy, but It, it is easy in a way, you know.

How NBA Draft prospect Cedric Coward is modeling his game after Kobe Bryant | The Kevin O’Connor Show

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