:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/57LSH2TTKNANXDC2WHW5LXGFMI.jpg 420w)
Kobe Bryant is one of those athletes who transcend his sport. And the sport itself. And not only because of his talent, almost as captivating as that of Michael Jordan himself, whom he copied movements, gestures and moves until they were almost identical. But also because of its intangibles, because of those values that make a person really different: a bulletproof mentality — and excuses —, extreme competitiveness, a work ethic rarely known, a widespread curiosity to know everything and everyone, and also a human warmth that contrasted with that “murderous” voracity that showed on the court.
All this was known when he played (20 seasons in the NBA, winning five rings, winning three MVP awards and closing with an average of 25 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists) and after his retirement, in 2016. But his stature as an athlete and person has taken on another level since his tragic death, along with his daughter Gigi, on January 26, 2020. But not because of the classic phrase “we are all better and better when we die”, but because of the number of anecdotes that were known about him, told by other protagonists, almost as important as him, that mark how truly special this boy was who abandoned us too soon (41 years old), leaving a gigantic legacy — especially for the youngest - but also a gap that is difficult to fill. On this note, to try, we chose the top 10 stories of the Black Mamba to really know why it was unique.
Record today tomorrow? The day he announced when he would reach him...
On January 22, 2006, Kobe had one of the best individual performances in history: 81 points against the Raptors, the second mark ever, after the legendary Chamberlain 100. “A lot of really good players think they can score 50 points. OR 60. But I never set limits. I thought I could go up to 80. And also at 90. Or 100, why not?” , he admitted. That's what he was like, voracious and with enormous self-confidence, who relied on his talent and what he worked to dominate on the court.
A month before that historic match, Kobe alone beat the Mavericks — they would be the runners-up — in the first three quarters, scoring one point more (62 to 61) than the entire rival team (the Lakers won 95-61). Phil Jackson, then, took him out to rest but, knowing the ferocity of his ward, sent his assistant, Brian Shaw, to consult if he wanted to re-enter to get a record.
-Ask Phil if you want to go back in these first minutes of the fourth quarter, maybe to add 70 and then leave. -No, I'm not interested, some other time. - Really? You got a chance to get to 70, huh. How many players have scored that amount. You can stay for a few minutes, put eight more points and then rest... -No, thanks, I'll do it when we really need it, when it really matters.
“Brian was upset. He told me he was crazy, that I could get into history. And, honestly, I think it could have gone up to the 80s. But I just felt that it wasn't that night, that I would have another match like that again,” the guard acknowledged. Shaw wasn't the only one who wanted more. “I got mad at Phil because he got him out,” admitted Jeanie Buss, top manager of the franchise and daughter of the then team owner. Many wanted to continue enjoying the show and for it to exceed the franchise record held by Elgin Baylor (71). But, once again, Kobe had been right... A month later it would come time to continue enjoying. And the record.
Kobe, his individual brilliance and how to build a team
Bryant became famous for being a devastating scorer, perhaps one of the best in history, alongside Jordan and Kevin Durant. He had it in his blood and had so many resources and such competitiveness and mentality that it was almost impossible to stop him. But what happened unnoticed, perhaps because of that individual brilliance, was the team-building that he developed in his career, especially since the arrival of Phi Jackson at the Lakers, who convinced him to trust his teammates more, especially Shaq, with whom he would also have his back and forth due to ego issues and protagonism. However, that night of February 25, 2003, the 24th showed that he could give in...
Kobe was on the best scoring streak of his career, with nine straight games with more than 40 points (46, 42, 51, 44, 40, 52, 40, 40 and 41, in that furious month of February). “Shaq had injured his foot and Phil told me to take charge of the offense. I did it. And when Shaq came back, I kept up that rhythm. But the coach called me to his office and asked me to come down a little, because we were losing Shaq, his trust and we needed him by June. I said yes and that night I remember that I was over 30 and I let several shots pass to give it to him. That's how the streak ended,” he said. In the following games, Bryant settled closer to 30 to allow O'Neal to return to his best form. Taking a different attitude than in previous years, when Shaq came up with a sign for teammates not to pass the ball to Kobe, if he was throwing a lot, according to Raja Bell, partner of the pivot in the Suns.
Shaq had more than one confrontation with him. In fact, the fights between the two broke that fantastic pair that won the three-time championship, when O'Neal went to Miami in 2004. It was another time. Over time, those differences were settled. During the farewell funeral at the Staples Center, the pivot told an anecdote that summarized part of the relationship they had and that generated widespread laughter in the crowd. “The day Kobe gained my trust was when I faced him after the guys on the team complained to me, saying that the ball was not passing... I told him 'Kobe, there is no I (me) in (the word) team. And he replied 'I know, but there's an M-E (me) there, you bastard...”
Kobe's toughness with his teammates if they weren't up to the task
Standards of demand were always very high in Kobe. With everyone. Starting with Shaq, the most dominant player in the NBA for years, about whom he said that “if he had a better work ethic, he would have won 12 more titles and remain in history as the greatest player of all time”... You just have to imagine how he reacted then to “mortals”. Lou Williams, a pure scorer who became one of the best substitutes in history, told an anecdote that reflects how hard he was. “One day he gave all the players on the team (Lakers) a model of his shoes, but a few hours later we lost to beating in front of Portland and he got so angry that he took out our shoes and threw them in the trash, saying that we were soft to wear things of his brand.” That, somehow, became popular as Mamba Mentality. The mentality of a player who did not accept nights off. No excuses.
Luke Walton, another worker, told what he suffered in a morning training session that he did not arrive in the best conditions. “I came to practice and, since I had probably had too much to drink the night before, I had to smell a little bit of alcohol... Kobe then informed the rest of the team of my situation and asked everyone not to give them any defensive help when it is my turn to mark him. When it started, I asked for help and none of my colleagues showed up. I laughed at first as if to say 'this is fun', but in Kobe's mind there was only one thing: destroy me. That's how he taught me a lesson. He probably scored 70 points in that training. His murderous instinct and work ethic were engraved in me forever,” he told the forward.
From admiring him to wanting to humiliate him: the special relationship with Jordan
The relationship between Jordan and Kobe was always unique. Bryant grew up admiring His Majesty, wanting to be like him, in everything. With his usual obsession, he followed every step and imitated every action and technical gesture. To the point where there is a video that strikes due to the similarities between the two: the way of running, how to post, the throwing itself backwards, the way to attack the final line and leave the tray past, the tick of sticking out the tongue, the bitter and using foot movements, the action of standing and pulling, the very particular style of how to attack the hoop and turn it over, and until I open my arms as a sign of “I am unstoppable”...
When Bryant came to the NBA in 1996, MJ quickly realized that he was different, that he was on his way to making history. “In my mind, even though I was 18, there was the idea that I could destroy it,” KB admitted. He noticed it on the 23rd and set the limits for him, especially when he heard “this guy is the new Michael Jordan”. To the point of wanting to humiliate him on the court, to basically show him who the king of the jungle was. This was what it looked like in each of the first matches, including the '98 All Star, Kobe's first, during the last season of the 23rd. Kobe remembers that in the first play MJ made him look bad with a bitter and conversion. “I smiled and said to myself 'I saw this a thousand times, I can't believe I fell into her trap'. There I understood that I had to work much more...”, he accepted. Thus began a round trip between them, which even gave him advice that MJ gave him, when his opponent asked him, for example, how he did to make the classic low post play in which he walked away with his famous fadeaway (backward shot, suspended) as soon as he felt physical contact. “First you have to feel the defender with your legs. At that moment you will know where to turn”, was the tip he gave him. Kobe, then, did not stop training the movement until he made his own and perfected it.
When Jordan returned to the NBA, after his second retirement, to play at the age of 38 in Washington, the 24th was on his way to the top of his career. But, likewise, Mike wanted to show him that he was still in force, at the height of the best, precisely one of his objectives of the return in 2001. In the second season at the Wizards, in the first match between the two, MJ played very well, coming off the bench, and finished with 25 points (9-14 on the field) in just 30 minutes, being decisive in the surprising triumph against the Lakers by 100-99. Bryant, aged 24, almost 16 less than MJ, played poorly and finished with 8-21 on the field for 27 points that did not prevent defeat. When they left the court, says Gilbert Arenas, who would become Washington's star since 2003, MJ gave Kobe his sneakers (Jordan 8) and patted him on the tail while leaving him a phrase full of mockery. “You can use them, but you'll never fill them.” It seemed like a joke, but it hit Bryant so hard that, for days, he didn't even talk to his own teammates. “It's not the problem with you. Jordan told him that 'he can imitate him all he wants, but he can never match him, 'Phil Jackson reassured them, according to Arenas.
Everyone, then, looked at the fixture and when they would cross paths with the Wizards again. It would be almost five months later, in Los Angeles. Kobe scored that game on the calendar. In red. “They told me they already knew what would happen when they faced each other again,” Gilbert said. As expected, when that time came, the 24th went on. It was 55 points, 42 in the first half! , with 15-29 in the field and 9-13 in triples. A real recital in the face of a Jordan who had already turned 40. MJ scored 23 points, with 10-20 on the field, and playing a whopping 41 minutes. The rematch had been consummated. One more time. And until the 23rd he had suffered it. “Kobe was a psychopath, it's that simple,” Arenas summed up.
It is no coincidence that a month earlier, on February 9, Kobe ruined MJ's last All Star. It was in Atlanta, when Jordan scored a goal over Shawn Marion, one of the best defenders of the moment, to give the East the lead, with three seconds left in the supplementary. That winning shot, in suspension, days after his 40th birthday, seemed to be a new Hollywood chapter in a story full of epic moments, but a final play by Kobe, with a lack, allowed him to get two free and force a new extra time, in which Bryant would complete the task to take away the victory and MVP from his master — it would be left for Kevin Garnett, from the West. That match is also remembered for the duels they had on the court. And the dialogue, with laughter, that could be heard through the microphones of the NBA.
MJ: “That was a foul, all day...” KB: “Oh, I know you're not serious, I know you don't” MJ: “Hey, be careful, you only have three (rings), I have six. That's a foul, I'm going to have it. Don't forget that today you have three...” -KB: “I know what you're doing... Next time you have to pull faster.” -MJ: “If you knew what I was going to do, why did you eat the feint?” .-KB: “Mike, after you've been amazed, where are you going to go? -MJ: “You lifted your feet, you forgot them” -KB: “But did I turn around (in the play)? Seriously, where are you going?” -MJ: “I'm going to go for you. I'm going to get your ribs.”
That's how it was on the court, but outside the story was different. In November of '99, they even met for MJ to give her advice. At the request of Phil Jackson, who believed that Kobe was going through a moment that Jordan had overcome before he started winning championships. True to his personality, competitive even in words, Bryant broke the ice with a phrase of his style. “Hey Mike, how are you? You know I could kick your ass in a 1 vs 1, right?” The best of all time just managed to smile. Already retired, with nothing to prove, he preferred to let go of his ego. “Surely it would be so. I haven't been playing for a while... But here the important thing is that we can chat so that you can learn from the mistakes I made,” said His Majesty, who felt identified in many things he saw in Bryant. This is what Phil Jackson told in his book Eleven Rings.
“I grew up watching him play, admiring him and from that day on we had a very special relationship,” admitted Bryant, already an accomplished winner, thanking the legacy. MJ looked devastated after his death. “I can't describe my pain. He loved Kobe, he was like a younger brother. We used to talk a lot, I'm gonna miss him. He was a fierce competitor, one of the greatest, a creative force and an incredible dad,” Michael wrote after the news. In the tribute that took place some time later at the Staples Center, he was the most excited, the one who cried the most. Surely because he admired his passion, that his pupil loved him so much and had such devotion to being like him. He appreciated that he had copied everything from his game and even that challenge of wanting to overcome it... “Kobe was passionate like no one else. And he wanted to be the best player he could be... He used to text me at 3 in the morning. It's crazy. But I learned to love him and tried to be the best big brother I could be. Everyone wanted to talk about comparisons with me, I just wanted to talk to him.” Thus, with his heart in hand, he closed a beautiful speech that, beyond Bryant, left the moral for so many young people: take advantage of every day, every hour, to be better at what they love, to be better in life, to spend moments with the ones they love. This is how Michael and Kobe did. And that always brought them together.
The lesson to Shumpert: how to get into the rival's head
Bryant was also famous for his trash talk, the “trash dialogue” that allowed him to get rivals mad. There are many stories in that regard, but Iman Shumpert told an epic, with details. The guard came to the NBA as a great talent of the NCAA, after being chosen with No. 17 of the draft, in 2011, and gradually began to make a place as a very good defender. But he still had a lot to learn and Bryant taught him that. “I remember a game at Madison where I was defending him very well. I had stolen it several times and at that moment the only thing that went through my head was what I was going to tell my brother after the game, that he had stolen it, that he had taken it out of his hand when he was going to throw it, that he had managed to penetrate and turn it over... I thought about all that, I was very excited, having an out-of-body experience,” he said in the first part of the anecdote.
But, of course, there were 12 minutes left... “When I was about to start the fourth quarter, Kobe came up to me and said: 'You played a great game, young man'. I looked at the clock, saw that it was missing a lot and said 'it's still missing, why are you telling me this? '” , continued with the story. What came next explained everything... “He attacked me again and again, he threatened me here, there, passed it to the sides, braked at ten meters and threw at me like Steph Curry... I had been having a normal game and suddenly, boom... It was when a time-out was requested and my coach, Mike D'Antoni, looks at me and I do as if saying 'it's Kobe Bryant'” , he completed. An experience that experienced dozens of rivals. The games are long in basketball and even more when you face the Black Mamba...
Teammate teachings that spread in teams
Julius Randle arrived at the Lakers in 2014, after being chosen as the No. 7 pick of the draft and, as always happened in the team, Kobe became his teacher, his mentor... Two whole seasons shared until Bryant retired but this pivot wing told how his teachings were marked, especially in the field of work, one of his greatest legacies. One of the tips he gave him was that, every time he arrived in a city, regardless of the length of the flight, fatigue or schedule, he would go to train on a court before going to rest at the hotel. Julius put it into practice but a situation he experienced in Detroit made it clear to him that it wasn't just Kobe's words... It was the fall of 2020 when, before traveling to the city of the Pistons, along with the Knicks — the Lakers exchanged it to New Orleans in 2018 and then he ended up in NY, in July 2019-, Randle got authorization for a school to get him allow you to go to training at night. When the player arrived on the court, the school principal was waiting for him.
-It's good to see you here. Professional players don't come to train like you anymore. What's more, I tell you that the last player who walked here was Kobe.
Randle felt a special emotion and assured that this story changed his perspective on training. He even told his Knicks teammates, who from that day on began to accompany Julius in those extra sessions. A way of understanding sport. And life. Giving everything, without excuses. Preparing like no one else to win. This, Kobe, did it again and again, in different ways, in each team and with the teammates who wanted to learn and be better.
With Pau Gasol, for instance, he had a very special relationship that helped to empower the Spaniard. Kobe knew how important the pivot was, especially if he wanted to win without Shaq. He then sought to shape Catalan and, along the way, pushed him towards excellence. As an example, a button is worth... In the 2008 Olympic final, which faced the USA against Spain, in one of the best FIBA matches in history, Bryant had no mercy on Gasol, even to the point of breaking a curtain and throwing him to the floor. When he returned to Los Angeles, on the first day of the preseason, Gasol found the gold medal in his locker room seat. Pau did not hesitate to reproach him for his attitude, but Kobe, very calm, explained to him the reason for the detail, which was far from wanting to be a fraught one. “Last season we lost the NBA final and it was very painful. You also lost the Olympic final. Don't let it happen a third time, this season we have to win the ring,” he told him. It was clear: I wanted to prick him, motivate him. As he once did, when he said it was “a white swan, we need it to be black”, saying that he was not aggressive enough and implying that, like some white people, Pau was somewhat soft. A few months later, in June, Pau shone in the playoffs and the Lakers took revenge from the Celtics in the NBA final. Kobe, in this way, took out a backpack: winning without Shaq and achieving the fourth title of his most beloved collection.
From there, they both had a brotherhood relationship. “There is not a single day when I don't keep you in mind. Your spirit, your determination, your affection... continue to shine in my life. I am fortunate to have shared some of the great moments with you”, were the emotional words that Pau dedicated to him after his death.
Stories of an obsession: watch, copy and even read about sharks
The stories about the sacrifice that Kobe was willing to make to progress as a player are stacked. One above the other. Like papers in an Argentine judicial court. They begin with advice, like that to Randle, and end in anecdotes that impact. Because of that obsession Bryant had with winning. And be his best version.
Idin Ravin, former coach and player agent, said that he crossed Kobe in a hotel in 2010, and then they were exchanging messages about a technical improvement that the star was looking for: to boost his crossover, the change of direction in penetration. He told him that he was watching videos of Tim Hardaway, which was obvious, perhaps the best in that action in history. But he asked her to guess the middle name. Ravin mentioned at least 20 names, with no luck. I could have been there all day. Bryant told him: Dejan Bodiroga. The Serbian forward, although he was not a fast player, had polished fundamentals and made a perfect move that was his hallmark, the whip, which was like a kind of one-handed crossover. Kobe, it is clear, was very curious, someone who had no limits in his quest to improve his skills.
He was a game scholar and a compulsive analyst who spared no resources and time to continue learning. Another example was given with Allen Iverson. After March 19, 1999, when that terrible scorer who was AI made a fool of him, scoring 41 points and handing out 10 assists, he became obsessed with finding a way to face that small guard (1m84) who had terrible scoring ability, thanks to his changes in direction, speed and caradurity. “I spent my time reading articles and books about him. I watched the replays of their matches. I studied their successes and their struggles. I searched like a maniac for every weakness I could find. I even studied how white sharks hunt seals off the coast of South Africa to try and stop it,” Bryant said on The Players Tribune site. An obsessive detailer who always sought to approach perfection.
A work ethic never seen before: lessons that changed careers
In pursuit of that perfection, Kobe was capable of anything, of efforts that hardly anyone could make, at least with his consistency. This is demonstrated by the dozens of stories that exist in this regard. Phil Jackson says that one day he arrived early for training, and Kobe was sleeping in his car, in the parking lot. He had stayed until late at night in a personal routine, not included in the team's plan, and since he knew that the next day, first thing, he had to practice with his teammates again, he preferred to stay, rest his seat and sleep there. Phil invited him to breakfast before training. “I had to admire their dedication and desire. Moments like this brought us together a lot. Kobe was there before everyone else and that's why we liked to have breakfast together, before the others arrived,” he told the New York Post who would be the teacher who finished giving him the tools to reach the highest level.
These epics are repeated on the lips of their companions. “He got up at five in the morning, spent four hours working on his movements and practicing throwing on the court, and then lifting weights in the gym for two hours. Then he went home to eat and rest for a while and then he would go back to another long time. Like this every day,” recalled Horace Grant, who also shared a team with Jordan but was surprised by Kobe's professionalism. “Sometimes he came and was making a move without the ball, cutting or making him dribble or shoot. I thought it was absurd, but I have no doubt that it helped him,” added Shaq, who was just far from Bryant in the daily sacrifice he made at work.
Jason Williams, a point guard who was the #2 pick of the 2002 draft, witnessed that tireless work ethic in person. “In my career, I always tried to work harder than others, it was my way of differentiating myself or leaving my mark. I remember one day we were facing the Lakers in LA and the game was at 7. So, I said, I'm going to go at 3 and I'm going to make sure I'm going to make 400 pitches. Of course, we were facing none other than the champions Kobe and Shaq Lakers. I arrived at the stadium and who did I see? Kobe. I was working a while ago. But not so no more, to warm up, or vaguely. I was practicing at game speed, making one and the other move. I sat down, untied my laces and said 'I'm going to see how long this'. I stared at it and after 25 minutes it ended... I left, sat in the sauna and got ready for the game. Kobe scored 40 points for us in that game and when I crossed him I had to ask him,” he said.
- Why did you train so much before the game?
-Because I saw you come in and I wanted to show you that, no matter what you train, I'm willing to train more than you.”
So Kobe, by his example, laid the foundations for many, known and not so much, comrades and rivals, workers and even stars. Like he did with Dwyane Wade, by case. “When I came to the NBA (in 2003), Kobe was the highest rod, the best player of the moment. I thought about it when I was about to arrive and I ratified it when I started playing. He was 24 years old and already had three titles. As a competitor, I knew it was him, that if he wanted to be big, he had to reach that level,” he recalled in a note he gave to JJ Redick, another veteran player who has a podcast (The Old Man & The Three), and then dive right into the 2008 career-boosting experience. “We didn't talk much during the first few years in the league, but that changed in those Olympic Games. And everything was born from training. Sometimes you don't know what the players you compete with are made of, but when you spend time with them and see their routines, you realize what it takes to get to another level. And I, in those weeks, was training a lot with him, several times by ourselves. There I think I earned his respect and became his younger brother. I received all kinds of advice, especially from the game, because he had a huge knowledge of basketball. He told me what it would be like not to be a starter for me and explained what he would do and what I could do, when we shared the field. With details. That's how I got a lot of robberies and dunks in those games. And so, in addition, we built a very special relationship, a brotherhood, with talks about very intimate things that people don't know, of course, and that later also moved to the court. He ended up asking me how he did this or what, and I couldn't believe that Kobe Bryant was doing that to me. Maybe because of all this, when he retired, I lost something inside me. I no longer had anyone to follow, who to challenge me with, who to motivate me with... There were others, but I lacked him, his greatness and competitiveness”, he added.
Wade also told a one-time anecdote, from one morning, which graphs what the Black Mamba was and how it impacted his life. “I had heard that Kobe was a monster (from work), but at the Olympics I confirmed it. Because you believe what is said, but you don't confirm it until you see it... One night we went to training, we finished late, around midnight and agreed, with him and Carmelo, to return to training early in the morning. We slept for three hours and met in the dining room to have breakfast and practice again. And there we found Kobe, sitting, with ice on his knees. So we say 'hey, Kob, what's up. ' And he tells us 'I finished one training and now I'm going for the other'. So there I thought: 'We finished one practice three hours ago, but he already did another one and he's going for the next one. I have to rethink everything about me, because this boy is on another level, where I am not and supposedly I am great. ' That kind of professional was him, and he pushed me to do more, to try to be better... He was a beast Kobe,” he said. A story that became popular in the Dream Team and left the bar high.
Redick took the lead in the talk. “Yes, it was like that, maniac with training. In that preparation, in Vegas, when I was sparring, I remember arriving at the gym and meeting assistant Johnny Dawkins, who was cursing Kobe because he had made him go at six in the morning for a training where he had only practiced one movement. For three hours. One move,” he said. The concept was closed by Dwyane with a new situation that came to mind: “People think these stories aren't real, but they are. One day, in the preview of a game against the Lakers, I got to see him warm up and he spent all the time practicing a move. I said 'well, now I know what you're going to do in the match'. Well, even though I had that information, I couldn't stop that movement all night. Because he perfected it until it was unstoppable.”
Bryant didn't do it to show it to anyone, but he didn't stop others from seeing him, somehow to leave his legacy and others will copy what served him so much. This is what Alan Stein Jr understood it, a fundamentals coach who has been working with the best players for more than 20 years and who ran into Kobe in the first edition of the Kobe Skill Academy, a three-day intensive mini camp with the best young prospects in the nation that took place in Los Angeles, in 2007. “Kobe was the best player of the moment and I, of course, had heard how crazy and intense his training was. Then, when I had the chance, I asked him if I could witness one of them. He was incredibly nice and told me that there were no problems, that we would meet at 4. I thought and thought 'how will it do? , if the campus activity starts at 3.30′. He saw my expression of confusion and clarified: '4 in the morning', he started.
Like saying that it was not an option, “there is no legitimate excuse, at least for someone like Kobe, I replied that it would be there,” Stein continued. I also thought that I should impress him, leave my mark, make it clear to him how serious I was as a coach... The way was to be there very early. So I set the alarm clock at 3, when it rang, I jumped out of bed, took a taxi and was there at 3.30. But when I got out of the car, it was all dark and I saw lights in the gym. As I was approaching, I also heard the sound of the ball boats. When I came in, I saw it. He was working. And it's all sweaty. I was doing a job, earlier than I had scheduled with his coach... I didn't say anything, I sat down and watched. In the 45 minutes that followed, I was shocked. I saw the best player on the planet do the most basic basics in attack. Kobe made the moves that I live teaching high school boys. But, of course, with a level of intensity and execution that I never saw, with surgical precision... After two hours, everything ended, I didn't say anything and left, but my curiosity got me. I had to know why and when I crossed it in the camp, I asked him...”, he acknowledged.
-Kobe, I don't understand. You are the best player in the world, why do you make such basic driles
With a smile and the kindness that characterized him, although with the seriousness that the answer merited, Bryant replied.
- Why do you think I'm the best player in the world?
Seconds later, he clarified. “Because I never get bored of doing the basics.”
For Stein it was a pivotal moment in his career, one that confirmed his path. “For a young coach like me it was a lesson that changed me. Just because something is basic, doesn't mean it's easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it. We live in a world that tells us that I'm okay to skip steps, that makes us go after what is sexy, funny or flashy but ignore what is basic. But the basics work. It always was, and it always will be. The first thing to improve, in any area, work or life, individually or as a team, is to do the basics. And having the humility to know that implementing it every day is not easy,” he concluded.
The Most Humane Kobe: Gifts and Attentions from a Generous Kid
Bryant also became famous in the environment for some off-field gestures that surprised many and that the vast majority of us learned after his death, when the protagonists of the stories began to tell them. They had to do with gifts he gave or attentions he had, showing his more human side, more of a kid with the world, an empathetic boy who cared much more about social relations than he seems. Of course, you would see it on the court, like a competing — and winning — machine, but at times when the referees didn't blow the whistle or, before and after the games, another Kobe would light up. The most humane. There are several anecdotes, but the one told by Chandler Parsons days ago reflects this lesser-known facet of the star.
According to the forward, today retired after a series of injuries that took him off the courts, that in the first game he faced him, with the Rockets, his teammates and, especially the coach (Kevin McHale), he warned him how difficult it was to defend Kobe for a rookie, especially in mental terms and in a game at the Staples Center. “There will be a lot of show, celebrities in the front row and he will be offended because you are going to mark him. Maybe he talks to you and wants to get inside your head, he warned me. When the match started I saw all the celebrities, this and the other one, and I was already distracted. When the fourth quarter began, Kobe came up to me and said 'are you staying in town tonight? ' I looked everywhere, especially McHale, and when he didn't see me, I said yes. Then he said 'I'm going to give you a number so you can have everything settled somewhere by tonight. ' I smiled at myself and said 'yes, yes, sure, I know what you're trying to do'. I saw then that McHale is looking at me, as if saying 'don't talk to that bastard, 'and the game went on. Kobe got more than 40 and we lost, I remember,” he started with the story.
“After the game, I was with the veterans of the team debating where to go, when I got a text message saying 'everything is settled at Supper Club. Signed: Mamba'. The first thing I thought was 'impossible, someone is carrying me'. I asked a colleague and he answered him, asking if he was coming. He told me he couldn't, but he clarified that everything was ready and that, anything else, let him know. It was when I took courage and told the table about the invitation... We all ended up going, we had the best night, the craziest, in an incredible place, where the tables are two-meter beds...”, he continued, although leaving the story open for an epic ending. “It was two o'clock in the morning when I saw the waitress coming straight to me with what she knew was the bill. He was with all veteran millionaires but he was coming to me and I was sweating, thinking about when will the sum we spend. I opened it and it said $22,000. At that moment I felt bad, almost decomposed. I said 'I can't do this, the card will be rejected. ' Then the person handed me a pen and said 'sign, please, for Mr. Bryant'. I, imagine, couldn't believe it: Kobe was paying the bill of a nightclub to rival players and I was signing for him. It was crazy, I thought 'this guy is amazing, maybe he will do it with everyone'” I remember taking a picture of the account and I still keep it,” he added.
That's how it was with everyone and not just the famous or better known. I was able to have this kind of attention with people I saw for the first time. As happened to Sergio Hernández, when he was leading the Argentine national team. “In 2007, at the Las Vegas Olympic Qualifying, we played the final against the United States. We lost and at the press conference I met Kobe. And he was an ever-curious boy, who wanted to know everyone, to know about their lives. Then he asks me about mine... I told him that I had two 13-year-old twins, who play basketball and are your fans... We left and a year later, a couple of days before crossing in the semifinals, in Beijing, he asks me “coach, can I send something to your children?” The truth is that we played the game, I returned to the locker room almost an hour later and, when he arrived, there was only Nocioni, who tells me 'Sergio, Kobe came in, looking for you and since he didn't find you, he left this for you'. They were the shoes he had played in the match, signed... I had seen him only once and, a year later, he remembers and had that gesture. I didn't have idols, really, but the closest thing to that was this guy,” Oveja said.
Your Argentinian connection: football and the basketball team
Bryant's relationship with our country began at a very young age. At the age of 10, to be more exact, when he lived in Italy, with his family, because of the past that his father, Jellybean, had as a player. Hernán Montenegro played as a foreigner in another team, Anabella Pavia, and often faced old Bryant's Pistoia. And, of course, Kobe was always with him. Not only with a basketball but also with a football, always on the side of the court, in the hallways, everywhere. And El Loco, as a good football sergeant, was the only one who could play him a little. “The old man hated me because he said he had to play basketball but he preferred to be with football and I encouraged him. She was a fan of Arrigo Sachi's Milan, which had Van Baster, Gullit, Rijkaard... I told her that she had to swell for Maradona,” recalled the Bahian pivot, who specified what he called the purrete. “I called him an ass of the orto, that he repeated saying 'io sono a morto asshle' and we were all laughing.”
We don't know if he listened to Montenegro or not, but Maradona was one of his first Bryant football idols. When Diego was shining at Napoli, he lived in Italy. He always wanted to meet him, but he only succeeded at the 2008 Olympic Games. “We went to see Argentina-Brazil. That day I met Pelé and Diego Armando Maradona.” This is how he started the anecdote, with a smile and a way of telling it that revives how special that moment was. “At that time I became a boy again, that boy who felt that Maradona was the man. So, meeting him after so many years, being able to take a picture of me, to sign an autograph and to be able to chat a little, was that moment that maybe some guys live with me... I still have the picture in a painting in my office,” he commented during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where he attended several matches.
Before, he had also had the luxury of interacting with other stars of his other great sport, football. “I met Ronaldinho when he was coming to Los Angeles with Barcelona and I remember one year he told me 'I'm going to introduce you to the player who is going to be the best of all time'. I told him but if that's you and he said 'no, no, he's a 17-year-old boy who will be better than me'. Well, it was Messi. And he was right. He is quietly the best ever,” he commented with a smile and a gesture of admiration.
Over time, especially when Kobe began to be the leader of an American team that wanted to resume world reign, the star began to have relations with our basketball players, the same ones who had just brought to their knees the sports empire he now represented. After the failures of 2002 and 2004, when Argentina won them in key matches — being the first to beat a Dream Team and then eliminate it in the Olympic semifinal — Bryant understood that, first, there was a need to regain an identity, impose a quality standard, and second, stop that team from which he listened to such special stories. That refounding was led by Mike Krzyzewski, a very prestigious coach who had come from prolonged success in the NCAA and managed to convince the best to return to a team called the Redeem Team. And the story that the coach told - on the player JJ Redick's podcast - of how that story changed is directly related to Kobe, Manu Ginobili and our legendary Golden Generation. “It was a time when we were trying to create a culture in the National Team. Kobe, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd were summoned to give us leadership over the LeBron and Carmelo. We were preparing for Beijing and I was in Las Vegas with my staff, before the team arrived. I hear that they knock on the door, I open and it was Kobe. He asked me to speak and we went to a private room. There he said, 'I have to ask you a favor. I want to defend the best perimeter of every rival we face. ' I was surprised. Kobe was the top scorer in the NBA and the best player in the league at the time, but he felt that he should change a little and be a leader in every aspect,” Coack K began, making clear the ambition that The Black Mamba had. And drawing a similarity with MJ. “He saw me with those eyes, that murderous look he shared with Jordan and he said, “Coach, I promise I'm going to destroy them.” In the first practice, Bryant didn't take a shot and Coach K reproached him. “I told him I'm going to destroy them,” he repeated. “I saw you destroy teams with your attack, throw the damn ball,” he argued, smiling at everyone.
But, of course, KB's plan went further and had the Argentine National Team as its main enemy. “Kobe had visualized that to win gold we would have to beat Argentina, yes or yes, either in the semifinals or in the final, and he wanted to score Ginobili. He already had that, of course. He was going to prepare to defend him and it wasn't just to set an example for his teammates. In that duel I remember that we won by 20 when Manu was injured. I thought then that we would win by 40, but that was not the case because Kobe was no longer interested in the game... He had set a goal and he had fulfilled it. That was the whole tournament. That's how he was, God bless him. I love him”, emphasized the legendary technician.
But, of course, beyond that quasi-murderous winning attitude, the star had time to be different, to show another facet, even for seconds. Paolo Quinteros told something about his experience with Bryant in the 2007 Olympic Qualifier held in Las Vegas. Kobe surprised him when the guard came on the court. “When I enter, Sheep tells me 'do what you can' and Kobe greets me with a greeting and a question 'Hello Quinteros, how is your doll doing today?” , he told a pura sonrisa. Paolo was silent and only managed to ask him another question...
-Yes, my wife (Vanessa) has Latin roots and she always insists me to practice.
It was just that, but it is a detail that marks his way of being. As happened to Oveja Hernandez. It is clear that the Ginobili or Scola have several of these stories, but it is very difficult to have them in elite stars and more hardworking players. Gabriel Deck experienced something similar during the 2019 World Cup. Bryant and Manu watched the semifinal match together and there Kobe admitted that he loved Tortuga. “He asked me everything. He was a basketball patient, a total passion and a student of the game. He fell in love with Tortuga and wanted to take him to the Lakers,” he said. When the santiagueño consulted about that meeting, he provided a color data that arouses smiles in everyone and makes it clear that Kobe knew everything. Everybody's. “He didn't ask me for a shirt or anything. He told me he wanted to visit Colonia Dora -his hometown-. Can you imagine? We revolutionized everything. With the heat it is, I don't know if I will be able to sleep”, he replied, smiling.
Curious, interested, charismatic, empathetic, generous. Kobe was like that too. Beyond the genius we saw on the court and the tireless worker he was in the gym. Like this, every minute of his life.
KEEP READING: