- Yo, yo, yo. Season two kicking off,
y'all know we came with it this time, man we've got
the mamba mentality, we here On location, in the bat cave. Live from black Bruce Wayne Manor. We got the mamba mentality, I got the blackest one with me. (mumbles) my man came through the show. Major love, man we got Kobe with us, man. Check us out. (urban music) First question we ask
everybody on the show is when you first got to league
and you got to that level, who was the first person to bust yo ass? - Ooh,
- (mumbles) tell me. - First person that got me,
Nick Van Exel in practice. Yeah, Nick the Quick was
getting me in practice and, you know, he kept
saying you reach, I teach. You reach, I teach. And he was hitting me
with that little bop stuff and it drove me crazy. My first time getting
out there and playing, Nick went at me pretty hard. - He was aggressive, aggressive. Like I got a chance to
play with him in Portland and just his IQ and skill level, the score was like next level. - He's (mumbles) he
had those big hands and - Big shoe, (mumbles). - It took me about a good week to figure out it couldn't go right and I had to switch it, yeah. - Lakers, Magic Johnson. You grew up on Magic Johnson.
- Yeah. - And you got drafted to Charlotte and what was your first
reaction to hearing Charlotte, then you heard of Lakers.? - Well, like I knew what was going on. I knew that there was a trade
in the works, right, and so when I got drafted
- Boy got good representation, he knows what happened. (laughing) - That's right, that's right. And so you know, you get
drafted, you're on the phone with the GM or the team that drafted you and also so I get on the
phone with the Charlotte GM and he just tells me, hey,
you know what's going on? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. and you know you got media
in front of you and all that and he goes, well, you
know it's a good thing we're trading you because we
couldn't have used you anyway. you mother, okay, okay, all right. So that's what happened on draft night. So I was already triggered. - MO - I was triggered, I was
ready to go to the gym like, f**k the media, I don't
wanna do anymore interviews. I'm trying to, (mumbles) yeah, yeah, yeah. - What you telling me that for? I'm 17, why you telling, all right, okay. - But you go into a team that's, they already screaming like
with so much talent on this team there should have been a
championship wining team. You go into a team
straight outta high school, first goal, whatever the goal
straight outta high school and it's pressure. You got Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Shaq, you got all these guys
that's in front of you and you come out with the total confidence of I'm 'posed to play on this level. - Yeah, well, it's like, here's the thing it is probably good for me to
play against those top players because they were all all stars, right? So playing against them
everyday in practice, iron sharpens iron. The flip side of that
is going to a team in which I play immediately, right? And all this stuff, individual stuff that people talk about,
the end of their career, the numbers and all that, and all that stuff would be much better. MVP's probably hiring and
all that sort of stuff. But going to the Laker's and
playing behind Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel taught me a lot. Byron Scott was there as a mentor watching Shaq kinda start to
figure things out a little bit made practices very competitive and I had to do a lot. I had to try to be perfect
just to get on the damn floor 'cause if I made a mistake,
coach is yanking me out. So understanding what that feels like everyday in practice, it's gotta be a war because I gotta prove
that I deserve to play. I deserve to be here. Every play matters and so that helped me, that raised me that way. - 'Cause I was taught like that too. Like, if you going to
play and you wanna play up during the game then
you show it in practice. - Yeah. - Like, that's, - Yeah, I was man,
listen and like our vets would come to practice and they wouldn't wanna
practice back to backs. We would just play for
35 minutes, whatever. - Right. - And me and D Fish would say, not our f**king problem. - You got all the issues in the world. - Yeah, we scrimmaging right now. You getting all of this. - And we talking at you. - Oh, yeah and we talking too. We were talking and we
were driving them crazy but we were just young and
wanted to prove ourselves and you were in the way. - You was all decided
to go outta high school, did you think about college, like was there a college
that you was gonna go to? - Yeah, it was tough for me because I went through a
whole process of thinking it through and trying to think it through as clearly as I could, right? And like, my two top schools were Duke and North Carolina and then
trying to figure out well why. And coach K had a reputation
for letting guys play. At the time Grant Hill was
the player that was there and he used to spread the floor. We ran screen rolls and
he's kinda ahead of its time in how he was running the game with Duke with a spread offense and saying he wanna do the same thing with me. And then on the flip
side of that was Carolina and dean Smith didn't do
that, he did the opposite. He had a system, he had a structure but his players came
out fundamentally sound and ready for NBA basketball, right? So those were the two teams and Dean Smith start recruiting me. He sent me a letter and said listen, everybody I talked to seem to think you gonna go pro, I don't
wanna waste your time best of luck, if you change your mind, just know this could be a home for you. - They told you you was
gonna be a lottery pick? And you just didn't know. - Wasn't really sure
because I was the guard to come out of high school
hadn't been done before. You know what I mean, so guards can't do that sort of thing so it
was kinda up in the air. (background noises drowns out speaker) Yeah it was up in the air. - Talk to me about the difference of like when you came in straight
outta high school you went into a league in your team, grown men, people got kids,
families and all of that as opposed to now, these guys come in 19 whatever, they got plenty
of guys in their age group, everybody around them is the same age. Talk to me about how different
and how difficult that was for you coming in literally at 18 in the real grown men, like everybody said when you get to MBA you
in a grown man's league but right now it's more
of a young man's league than like when you came in
it was a true grown man. - Well, now it's like college just that you don't go to
class, you know what I mean? - Right, exactly.
- That level of college. - Yeah, back then it was true grown men and I think there was
positives and negatives to that like the negatives I didn't
relate to any of them and there's certain things
that they could do as a team that I couldn't do. You go out to a certain club as a team, you go out to a bar as a team I can't go, like I legally can't go. - Kinda like us.
- You know what I'm saying? - So it was hard and
I think that actually, I had nothing to do so what am I gonna do? I'm gonna play basketball
or study basketball. So I think that's where,
now that I think about it, some of my behavior originated from. And so, I got into that habit
so even when I became legal, I still wasn't going and
hanging out with the team because I was so conditioned to focus on one thing and one thing only, so - So speaking on that,
this is I always talk to my boys and everybody about this. I played for four years. I've never seen you anywhere
other than the Staple Center. Like literally, I don't
know how you do it, how it happens, I be like,
and I've asked so much like, yo, you ever seen like? No I ain't never, how? Like you the black Bruce
Wayne, you take helicopters to the (mumbles), you take
helicopters to the joint. - You just appeared. - Like how did it happen? - Well, I was obsessive, bro. I was really obsessive about this game and to me everything was
competitive advantage as well. I didn't wanna be around
guys that see me out and knowing I'm not working. I don't want that. And I was really, I was
really about that life like I was going at it and then to know what I'm doing now, I had to prepare for that early. So at 20, I started thinking about, uh-oh. I gotta think about what comes in the end. - Right. - All right, writing, I didn't know it was gonna be films and novels and all that sort of stuff but I knew it was gonna be
something around writing. So I had to practice that. So when I wasn't playing basketball or spending time with my wife and family, I was writing, you know,
so I didn't have time to be going out and doing
all this sort of stuff not to say I didn't do it but - Right. - At one point, you was writing raps too. - I was, I was. That actually helped me
a lot, helped me a lot. 'Cause it helped me
with similes, metaphors, you know with the creative
writing aspect if it and being able to say things
in a condensed format. - [Both] Yeah. - How can you say a lot in one bar. - In one bar, yeah. - Right? How can you minimize the arc of what you're trying to tell. It helped me a lot. - And get somebody to go
through the story with you that you telling. - Yeah, and like the rhythm of the words. - That makes more sense
because before I thought it was just like, you was like all the rest of the East-coast dudes. They all think they could rap, Philly, you know what I'm saying? (laughing) Like, yo son, I got balls. - It's a little bit of that too, though. It's a little bit of that too like, in Philadelphia, it's certainly was, rap game in Philadelphia is, we believe we better than
anybody from anywhere. - Right, right.
- You know what I'm saying, so it's a little bit of that too but at the time, I didn't understand what it was that I was learning but looking back, certainly because, a podcast show, for
example, like the Punies when you listen to the show, there's a lot of harmony and rhythm even the back and forth of the
dialogue between characters. There's a certain rhythm that
the ear has to be in tune to. And that just comes from music. - So what made you start the Punies? Talk about the podcast, you know and a lot of your stuff and the content, I like that fact that it's
geared toward the kids and trying to help them
learn and just getting them, especially with the books
man, cause my 15 years old, he's a big reader and like, he wanted the Wizenard
books, this and that, he wants the new books. So like for him, it's something like goal. 'Cause he's, for real,
like a kid who has a high reading IQ and a high reading level and he's originally form L.A. So he Kobe, he already know. So he like, yo, I gotta
get the Wizenard book. and then, now he heard about this book so, like it's dope to see
how you inspiring kids in that manner, like that's
they wanna go get the book. It's like, of course you
wanna go get your shoes or if you come out with a ball or a jersey but the book is a whole different lane that you inspiring the kids with. What made you go in that direction? - Just, you know, like
the kids are our future and so how can I take information that I've learned in
my 20 years of playing and before that and distill it down to teach kids at an early age? Teach them these things
at nine, ten years old and how to deal with pressure,
how to deal with anxiety, how to deal with these sort of things. How can I distill these messages down at an early age so that these
kids grow up with a leg up? And the Punies was
something that was just fun. Like I don't see any shows for children anymore that are fun. So every show that's for
kids involves animals, like I'm enough with the damn animals. I don't wanna hear about a
damn-talking chicken anymore. Like, I'm done. Like give me real kids dealing with real issues playing sports, which is the greatest
metaphor we have for life and learning from each other. Get the parents outta there get the overbearing coaches outta there. Let the kids hang out and trash talk each other
and learn from each other. - Yeah, learn that confidence and stuff. What teammate, you had
a bunch of teammates like a bunch of all star teammates, hall of fame team mates. What team mate that
you took something form that stuck with you for your career that you was like I took that from him and he it was great advice
and I always remember that? - A couple things, one was
more tactical in nature which was Eddie Jones and he taught me how to chase guards around
screens off the ball. So I kept getting hit
with screens on the ball, and he taught me how to shadow 'em. - He was sick. - He was great. He would trail behind you,
trail behind that outside, shoulder and once you get around the pick, he'd body up the hip and
then slide between you. - He'd slide right through that door. - Yeah, so he taught me that. That helped me out a lot
and I use that forever. - Gary Payton as well taught me how to get through screens on the ball, you know, so I think
those two tactical things. Yeah, 'cause getting hit with ball screens is like the worst feeling for a guard when you guarding a
ball and so he taught me how to move up to the ball
handler, make yourself thin and then slide through the screen. So those are the two
things that I take with me. - You think that our
era was so competitive that we weren't giving those secrets out? Like this era is like,
you know, it's so free, - They worked out
together, the take selfies. - It's so friendly but like we always, we never got a chance to sit down have a conversation with each other 'cause we was so competitive but there always was
a respect factor there and like you didn't know
I didn't grow up in a era I grew up in an era where you just play a level of basket ball higher that yours and that's
how you work on your game. I never was taught how
to come from the hood, I never was taught how to go
in the gym and put the work in or you gotta put your
weight room work in too. Like I got to the league
and I wasn't going to the weight room but
you playing 82 games so my body breaking on down the hole, like with you what was like that? - I had some really good mentors, man. Like information wasn't, guys wouldn't share information
generally but if you ask, they just may, especially
if they know you cut from the same cloth. Like GP, I asked GP, GP
he went on and on and on. He loves to share. And we were playing, we
faced him in the playoffs when we was in Seattle, right? But he was still sharing information because of the respect factor
of furthering the game. That's always there. And Mike wouldn't share
information with nobody, you know, but he did with me, why? Because he knows I'm about that life. See what I'm saying? And so, when I had those
mentors giving me guidance, Jerry West was a great mentor of mine. You know, the list goes
on and on and on, man. And so I had great guidance. - And you just absorbing it. - I just absorbed it. I looked at what they could do and I was like shit, I can do it too, that's the work, all right. - They placed it in you. - I'm gonna work harder than they did and see where I end up. - Obviously, we got drafted right when y'all was starting - One of the first ones.
- One of them first ones. So I'm like, they be like, yo, what was? I'm like dude, the biggest
comparison I give people when I first had to check
you and guarding I was like, yeah I remember the move you
loved in basketball, right? In the beginning when she's
like guarding the grill and this camera is like
this and she's moving. It's like, I was like
that's the perspective. I was like, I had that feeling with two, maybe three different people. The first time I got caught in transition, you get caught and Jay
King running down your back and you trying to turn around but he doing all of this. I said, I just ran out
of bound for a time. I could never get turned around. And I said, I remember that. And I remember AI, f**king, he coming here and you remember, he used
to jump over the dub. Like, you got your legs hit from dub. He used to jump over, that's
why he took the bunny hop side. So I said the end him. I say, y'all had to play him
like four or five times a year, 'cause sometime we get jump on pre-season. I'm sitting there like, here we go. and the thing about him, you know me. I'm gon try to play strong physical. I'm like the thing that
I got to learn about you, year after year is, "all
right, he ain't going. He know he ain't gonna get the fight so he gonna let you do all
this but the different is, the different between
you, a T-mac, a Vince or whoever, you's really
gonna try and put 50 on me. Like for real, like nah. I'm not about to just, okay. Like, word, okay. I'm not gonna say nothing
but it's just about to turn. Now it's gonna be like, here we go. You know what I'm saying, like. 'cause I swear, a couple
games, I then made few people chill out like
I'm gonna get on you ass. Chill out, you know, se and then, And he like, no, I'm smart enough. We not about to, this not about to happen. It aint nothing more than
a push you gon' have to be here, come everybody, then
I'm still gon' be here to spray your face off. (laughing)
I'm now about to really go crazy. I used to be like, dog, this dude tried to left hand shot in
the game when his arms. I say he the only person I
played against where, okay, he might do anything. Like for real anything. And then he'll look at
you and do some bullsh*t that he'd did and then
shoot you a look, like, yeah, I did (mumbles) - Your left hand, how did
your left hand get so good? Like you could shoot a
floater, like you can shoot, You would go off the wrong leg left handed and it's like, how do you work on that? - It's just consistency. It's just consistency. My daughter right now, her left hand is as good as her right around the basket. I had girls on my team that finish better with their left hand than they do with their right hand. Just 'cause of the amount of
repetition that we do everyday and just working on the left
and there's nothing to be done other than just repetition
and just continue to shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot,
get comfortable with it. And I gave them some work to do at home. Try to eat with your left hand. Try to write your name
with your left hand. Brush your teeth with your left hand. Just so you get comfortable using it. And those are the things I used to do. - I feel like when you got a game within your game, you got weapons. I used to call us like superheros. You put your jersey on then
I specially got the right to left cross so he go
hard right, he gon' dunk. You kinda go through the
categories or weapons that a person got. You, your weapons. I never seen a shot that you didn't feel like you couldn't make. And even from the adjustment
from you being athletic to you just got to get to your
spots and get over the end. and so, what created the more
repertoire that you (mumbles)? - The shot that really
matters is a pull up shot 'cause it all comes back to that, right? And so you do all these moves before hand. They don't matter. Eventually you gonna get to a spot, you gonna raise up and shoot. So doing that shoot
thousands of times got me so comfortable with the
shot that I can shoot that shot anytime. There's nothing you could do about it. And if you shoot a shot a thousand times, I can change the
trajectory anytime I want. I can flatten it out anytime I want. You can be in my face, it's
not gonna make a difference because it's on autopilot. - It's on autopilot.
- You know what I'm saying? So it's like, no matter what happens and transpires here
whether it's a jab step or a cross over or a double, it doesn't matter 'cause
when I get to that spot I'm raising up and I shoot, I've done it thousands of times, that's in the bottom of the barrel. You know what I'm saying? So it all comes down to that shot. - Before I got to the league, you know we was big MBA
fans, I didn't see you before I got drafted being
the second best player or arguably the best player in the league. You know, I'm a definite fan because you straight outta high school. You know what I'm saying? We straight outta high school, but I definitely didn't see you,
when we played rookie year and then seeing y'all play
y'all winning that championship that first year, it was no question in my mind that you was
the second best player. You couldn't really show
if you was the best player because Shaq was so dominating. It was like Shaq beast your team up, the whole game (mumbles) if the game was close, Kobe gon' end it. - Right, right.
- You know what I'm saying? After that year, I think that was a year after you shot the air ball in Utah. After that year, what clicked to be like, I'm the best man on the planet? - How to get stronger. The air balls in Utah just
showed me I needed strength. In high school you play 30 games max. When you get to the league and you playing 30 games
before October come around and it's like, so it wears you down. So it wasn't, I was
nervous about the situation or the shots were off. They were all right on line. They were short. I gotta get stronger. I gotta get stronger. And I'm looking around,
I'm looking at Mike, and I'm looking at Mikes physique, strong. Right I'm looking at other
guys around the league, they're not. Latrell Sprewell's a great
player, but not strong. Mitch Richmond has a natural base to him. But I can tell he's not lifting everyday, you can look, Mike is. Scotty is. Them dude's got four or
five championships by now. I need to do that, right. And so that's when I started lifting. Started getting stronger
and stronger and stronger and stronger. And that's the adjustment I made. 'cause I had the fundamentals, I had the skill, I learned
some things technique wise defensively but then, I
just, my physical abilities caught up to the skill. - One of your moments, one
of my favorite moments of you is you come off the bench for the Lakers and you make the all star team. You playing, I think it's
Madison Square Garden and you playing against the Bulls, Michael Jordan, like that
was one best All Star games I ever seen in the history of the game. What was, I wanna know how
you felt about that moment. You going against your idol
who is on the other team, you get a chance to
thinking that Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel and
Shaq, they automatically gonna make the All Star
game and you make it to be a part of that group. What did that moment feel? - It was a huge honor, you
see the votes tallying up I'm like, wait a minute,
I'm a starter on this team? I only start on my own team. And it became very serious to me 'cause I didn't want to make a scene where I was just some bubble gum player. Popularity got me in there, it
was like, hold on I can hoop. So I wanted to prove I
belong here, sort of thing. And the hype of going against, Mike, okay, let's go. Show me. I've been watching you play
my whole life, show me. I wanna see this. Everybody calling you black Jesus and all sort of crap so
you got to show me, man. And I went out there and we went head up and I think his respect and appreciation for me really grew that day because you saw on the bigger stage, I didn't shy away form that confrontation. I looked forward to that confrontation. And George Karl which, later in the years became my motivation, we
played against Denver's and never let them win the play-off series because he didn't play me
the whole fourth quarter of that game. - I remember that. - You know what I'm saying? Because me and Mike went
at it three quarters and then the fourth
quarter the crowd's waiting for me to get back in there. He benches me the while fourth. And it was like, okay, okay. - Every time I see you
you getting his worth. - It's on site, it's on site. So when we playing the Denver Nuggets in the play-offs, it was like, hold on, you're never, you will never beat me in the play-off series. (laughing) It's not happening. - All your wins got you to blame for this. - Yeah, it's not happening. - All the Wings, it's his fault. - I was so pissed. - So I always respected that you cane in as a rook and you know as a
big name, super star rook type and you jumped into the dunk contest and you jumped on that stage,
you know what I'm saying? You handled it, you did,
won it, did your thing. What do you think about
some of the superstars, nowadays, it's not being in (mumbles) 'cause you know, you like us. We grew up watching Jordan and Dominique the greats was the one putting on a show and I'm not saying I don't wanna see some of these other boys 'cause nowadays, some of these other boys
got crazy hypes too. But I'm saying, I would
like to see our superstars if you're one of those crazy athletes, forget about all that, your brand, or I don't wanna lose,
like, go put on a show, like Aaron Gordon and Levine
them did, like how MJ and that, if you're a superstar and
you got bounce, go do it. - Yeah, no, I agree. I think the All Star game in general needs a little revamping because it used to be competitive.
- Yeah. - It used to be competitive in like, fans wanna see the best
pick up game in the world. That's what this is. They don't wanna see
you running up and down and dunking and doing all this crazy, they wanna see the what
happens when you get these collection of best
basketball players on the planet and they play and they go
head up against each other. - Yeah.
- Man! - I mean, you guys play harder
than a pickup game in UCLA. - For real.
- Yeah, they do. - And then billions of people watch it. - For real.
- Definitely do. - You know what I'm saying? - Definitely do. - I think the All Star Game needs a little needs a little changing. Always love competing in them. I didn't lose many of them. - No.
- ESCPs, we used to talk all the time
- You was one of the ones. You took it serious. - Yeah, we winning. I don't think me and CP
when we played together, also, I don't think
we've ever lost a game. - Yeah.
- And we used to look at each other and say, okay. (mumbles) Let's go.
- They don't wanna play, we gon' play. - Yeah, fourth quarter, let's go get 'em. - Yeah.
(chuckles) Let me ask you this. While we played in hoops in
Chicago during the summer, worked out when White worked out and you have all the big
name players in hoops and pick up basketball. Devin Booker said, you
don't post a double team doing pickup basketball. But the competition, we
used to have two courts. If you killing our team and we wanna stay on the winning court, we gon'
get the ball out your hand. But you should be happy, I feel that you can double team
Owen, on TV and off TV. That means that you are so special. You playing pickup. With teams, was people double
teaming you during pickup? - Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
- And what's, what do you think about? - Say you gotta send another one. (laughing) You gotta send another one. - Straight, straight the f**k up. Straight up. - Yeah, we used to
- (mumbles) time to send another one. - Yeah, no, but I understand
what Booker's saying, though, because in the summer time, you're working on particular skillset. And so when your in
that isolated situation, you wanna try the things
that you've been working on in a gym, right? That was coming and you
don't have time to do that. The same time, they gon' double team you in the season anyway. So you gotta figure out
how to get around that, how to manipulate those double teams. - See who's open.
- To me, that's a luxury. You get to practice against
what you're really gon' see. - Yeah, you get a chance to measure it. Like, where are those passing angles? Or what I wanna send this guy a message 'cause I'm gonna be playing against him in a season anyway, like
whether it was Ricky Davis in the summertime, we
play against each other double teams coming, play him
against some irregular season, all sort of stuff. It gives me bragging rights. It's like, even in pickup basketball, you need to double team. Right now, in a double
team wasn't sufficient. You gotta send three
mother f**kers out here in the summertime pickup, so
- Straight up. - You know. - If you wanna win the game or
you gon' get your ass kicked. - It just, it's just more
of an ability to kind of trash talk a little bit. And I always viewed it as a competition. - When Shaq, though, it's
like you couldn't wait to show everything.
- Yeah. - Like everything that you got. You went on a turn with the
40 points in a row turn, 81. 34 years
- That was when it got ridiculous.
- Or whatever. - It's, the reason I
rank the certain players that I rank higher than others is be like, how many years did you dominate the game? You know what I'm saying? If, out of a 10 year span,
like if you got four five years down to six years of you
being the best player. - Right. - Yeah, but then, are you the best player. that of that generation of that era or whatever or that decade or whatever? But like you went on a turn
for four five years straight of just domination and this
is when you didn't have field, you didn't have Shaq. What was, was there something
you was trying to prove? Or what was like
- Yeah, because here's the thing. When I was playing, I
would get chastised a lot for being selfish. Say, we just got off into a team, it's about winning championships. Okay, well, I did it, I'm doing it, right. Won three straight. Okay, I got it. You know, but I also knew
that when my career is over, they're gonna chastise
me for the same thing. They say, oh, well, you're only great because you played with Shaq. I'm like, whoa, hold up. You can't have it both ways, bro. Like, you know. So, it was important for
Massachusetts to and Shaq to go separate ways because
I didn't want people to use that against, they still do. But it was important that I
win championships without him. And you get a glimpse of what
I could have done individually had I not played with him. See what I'm saying? So, that was a big driving
factor is that hold on, don't get it f**ked up now. Yeah, I'm doing this thing,
I'm playing with Shaq and it's like, take
Mike put him with Will. Shaq was a force of nature. Right, so you gotta kinda take a backseat. But once that (mumbles),
it's like, hold on now. - [Quentin] Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's when it got ridiculous. - 24 and eight. Like, eight was those, I know,
number eight, Kobe Bryant. Everybody in the world is stuck on that and just all of a sudden, that you decided to revamp yourself and turn the 24, why the number 24 out of all the numbers that you could have chose? - A couple thins, like, 24
was a first number I wore in high school. At freshman year, that was number 24. And then philosophically, for me, it carried a significance because it was about approaching
everyday as if it was my last. And I had to have that
mentality because it shifts. Shaq's going, I have to
drive this team everyday. There's no days off. You come and practice, we're going. Right, and so, every time
I look at that number, it's like today is the most important day. Today is the day. It's one day, that's it. Right and that helped me stay locked in. - The triangle offense, this is when I got to the
league, I knew y'all play. I feel like if I got traded to Lakers, I already know the play. It's one play, y'all
got a couple of side out of bounds plays, but
y'all run this one play. In today's era, how today's
play, how today kids play. You think the triangle will work in this? - If you have the right
people to teach it, yeah. - I, 'cause y'all slowed the game. You had to play at y'all plays no matter how, - But he triangle can
be sped up too, right. So, it conforms to the
talent that you have. My 13 year old daughter's
team runs a triangle, right. But it's like, the thing
about the triangle offense, which makes it so deadly, is
that it gives you a structure. And within that structure,
you have complete freedom. So, even though,
defensively, you know what what it is the sequence
that we're executing. We have counters to it.
- Count to everything. - And we all know, it's hard to beat that. Right, 'cause we can, field can start out and say, we wanna run in single opposite. That's the sequence we wanna start with. Well now, if you deny the
wing on a single opposite, that play is off, now we have counters that come around that. - I used to hate when Robert always used to come up to the bus,
(mumbles), grab a ball and you back cutting. - Yeah, that's
- I'd just be he looking for that back cut every time. - That's the back door step, right. So, but that helped me game plan. So, these players now play
accidental basketball. It drives me to feel crazy because it's all penetrating pitch. You may make a shot, you may not. You have no idea who's
gonna be open or whatever. It's accidental basketball. We play basketball with purpose. If I got the ball, if
their fish is on the wing, I'm at the top, I know by (mumbles) that you guys like to deny the top. All right, cool, deny the top, I'll move up a little
bit more, drag you out, here comes Horry stepping in the hole. Catch it, here I go back
door, here's a drop. Off I go. So, it's playing those
sequences and understanding what the defense is gonna do again, so I made them dangerous. That's why Chicago was so dangerous, 'cause they knew how Utah was on' play. These actions, and then
they all five of them took advantage of it. - And they always keep you with space. - Always. - All the time, you'll
never lap over each other. - No, always. They were really big on
having 10 to 15 foot spacing. Always. - So, this is what I wanna know, right. When I came, well, couple
say coming into the league, I feel like I was offense on score, right? You know, you in high school,
come out with a score. But then you look at dudes like you. I wanna know what is the mentality when you gat, all right
you got 20, you got 30. What makes in your mind when you get 30, most people, like, all right, cool.? I'm going 40. I'm going 50. Now, I'm going 60. Now, I'm going, like, what is happening in your though process,
intuitive, life if, at some point, I know you're tired, 'cause
people don't understand. Score (mumbles) is like
that, that take energy. So, how do you continue to just go, because I was in New
York when you got the 60. And God bless my young
boy, Wilson Chandler. He recovered, he is good. Everything is good with
his life, his career, his still playing now, so you know, he made it through that but
I'm sitting here watching and I'm like, yo, he's not stopping. He don't look like he wanna stop. He still wanna get 100 if he can. Where does that mentality come from, where you see most guys,
30, 40 and they chill out, like all right, I got this? - No, it's a competition. My mission is to destroy you. It's to, it's not, you know,
I mean, like I don't see it. You know like, we're playing,
I'm not stopping at 30. I'm gonna keep going until you figure out something else to do,
I'm gonna keep going. And that New York game, I
knew D'antoni's philosophy, (mumbles) double got us hot. Because he always thinks they're
gonna cool off eventually. Right, so I understood that. So, once I got rolling, I knew
that was gonna be the case. But then, watching Phil
leading into the game, I knew Wilson. I knew he was just gonna
play sound defense. Right, he wasn't gonna gamble. He wasn't gonna try to block a shot. He's gonna try to play
a good position defense. So I knew I could get a good look. So, from that standpoint,
I said, all right, you gotta take more time, be
on balance, knock them down. - I was trying to, yo, at some point, when he catch LeBron, you
gotta put him in the first row. Put him right in form of Spike Lee's lap. I go there pumping him up. He talking, but my boy,
he aint saying nothing. He's just out there
being a good young boy. He gon' play hard. Spike Lee out here getting them going. How are you gon' talk to this man? You aint gotta check him. I was on the bench furious,
like, come on dude. You gotta, this man shooting for cash, Mark turning and looking and
Spike's (mumbles) (chuckles) listen, just running
back, I'm just like, bro, this is not cool. - That was one of those old moments, man, where things happen and
just led to that big moment. But like Andrew Bynum, we
just lost the game before. He had a injury against Memphis. It's, so I'm like, we just
lost to the Celtics 08. We think we got Andrew. It's gonna make a big difference for us. Now he goes out, I don't know how long he's gonna be out for. The team was a little deflated. I was pissed off. You know what I mean? Because it's like, we're
wining the championship. It should come hell or high water. My guys were down. And going into New York, big game. I said, I gotta send a message to my guys and say no, listen, we're doing this. I understand, it's hard, you went down. But damn it, we're getting it done. So, it's important to
get into that mind frame of no, nothing matters and I
don't wanna talk to nobody, I don't wanna see those
celebrities on the side line, don't dab me, don't say hi to me. I don't care about none of
y'all tonight. (chuckles) Yeah, you're just focused.
- That was it. - Was that also part of like
you was coming into the garden and everybody loved to play
well in the Madison Square? - Not that game. - It didn't matter. - No, that game, it was bigger than that. It was about us winning the championship, like my guys were
deflated and it was like, no, we're going, we're getting it done. I understand injury how it sucks. But we gotta keep on moving. And I had to find that space. I didn't go out to dinner in New York. I stayed in room. This is actually the story Rob told that you got confused about
the Heath Ledger stuff. Because I stayed up watching Batman and watching Heath Ledger. And then I went and started researching about Heath Ledger and
how he got into character and how he just became all consuming. I was like, that inspired me
to go into my garden mode. While I go in there, I don't
wanna say hi to the janitor. I don't wanna say hi to these people. I don't wanna talk to nobody. Everybody leave me alone. - That, ever since I seen you, like, highlights of you in high
school all the way up to the end of your career, you always been a aggressive (mumbles). Like, what did you learn? Who installed aggression in you to, - I don't know, man.
- To compete the way you compete? - I don't know. I watch my daughter, Gianna,
and she's aggressive as hell. I didn't teach her that. - She got the face. (mumbling) She got the face, everything. - She's aggressive. You know, it's not something
that we taught her how to be. She's just naturally aggressive. - Got it.
- Yeah so, - You just (mumbles) - Always kind of aggressive
and temperamental and I grew up in a competitive household. My cousins were all competitive and we compete at everything,
trash talk everything. So, that kind of added to the
feistiness of it a little bit. - We fell in love with this ball. This ball then showed us the world, and it showed us so many different things. To see your daughter fall in love with the same ball that
you fell in love with, how did it, how that makes you feel? And to coach her
- with that passion. - To help her out, to
give her the juice of it, like have a passion for
it, like, care about it. - It's a great feeling but,
it would've been the same if it was anything else, as long as they got the passion for it. That's the hardest thing is trying to find something that your kids
are passionate about. My eldest loves film. She loves volleyball too,
but really loves film. And Gianna loves basketball. All right, cool, I know
basketball, I can teach you. So, it's also because
it's like a blank canvas when I first started two years ago. So, I started teaching
them all the footwork. It took me 20 years to learn. I'm teaching them now at 11. So now at 13, they fade away. There are up and unders, their spin moves, their balance, like their footwork is really really sharp because
it's like a blank canvas. And it's fun to watch them figure it out. You know, to watch them learn and like - Did you ever think you would coach? - No, I didn't think my kids
would ever play basketball. - Yeah, I was thinking like, I wish my kids can do anything. Anything you wanna do, I gonna support it. But when you choose the one
thing that I fell in love with, it's like, it's still
a special thing to me, like, babies, you love this? - No, it's exciting.
- I'll give you everything you need. - It's exciting and you
get a chance to go back and go through the basics all over again. So, I have practice plans everyday. And it's like a six year
plan and we're in year two right now, so you can patiently teach them every little aspect. Teach them how to use screens,
teach them how to be patient, teach them how to anticipate on defense. All those little balance,
all that little stuff. It's awesome, man, it's awesome. - So, I want you to take a
second to talk to me about The Legacy and The Queen. And how this came about. I like the (mumbling) the tennis, the tennis
ball feel with like, this is, this is not just something. To me, this is something, as a kid, you get excited about the color and like, this is like when I would buy CDs. You know, we buying Nolan. It was like, look at the graphics. This is like in comparison, 'cause this is not your normal book. You got feel and texture and sparkles and then it still got the tennis racket. So, talk about how you
cam up with this thing. - Well, we wanted to create something for children that they feel
that they're important. Like a lot of time, in
the children's space, we kind of dumb stuff
down, the materials down because it's for children. They're not gonna tell the difference. But I feel like if we create
something that's high in value, they understand it as being cared for. That means that they matter and they do. For parents as well, you
look at this and you put this book up and you can feel that
there's been a lot of care put into it. You may not understand all the hidden gems that are in this book yet. But you can feel them. So you understand, this is
a studio that we can trust. And then for the story itself, it's about how do we
teach kids how to handle the inner monologue? The emotional things that we experience, how do we teach them that? Which is why it had to be tennis. Because tennis is such
an individual sport. - And it's hard. - But different that golf. Golf, you're dealing with
the elements and yourself. And tennis, you're dealing with yourself, the elements and that
person across the net from you trying to beat you, right. So you gotta have those
inner conversations, navigate those while competing with somebody else who's
across the net from you. - The story behind it, what inspired you to do that story? - Well, the way I look at it,
inspiration drives the world. So, if I'm looking at the
kingdoms in the worlds that we create,
inspiration is what decides who's going to be the ruler of these particular worlds? All right, so them how you inspire? You can inspire in a myriad of ways. Right, you can inspire through love. You can inspire through fear, right? Hatred, there's a lot of ways to inspire. And so how are these athletes in the world using their platform to inspire? And that's where the conflict
ensues in all our stories. - I know what I wanna ask you. This aint, now you know,
you're like Bruce Wayne now. You got the LA actors and stuff like that, but I wanna know like all of us, when you first got in the league, got some bread in your pocket. What did you do that's
something your mamma, your dad looked at you
like, boy, what the, what's the hell wrong with you? Like, we all did something. - Yeah, you know what? Nothing like that but
the first thing I did when I came out here
and I got some per diem, I just wanted to go somewhere. Like Philadelphia,
everything's relatively close. You know, and I'm staying in Santa Monica and so I get a taxi, call
a yellow pages, get a taxi. Kids don't know what that is. - Right. - And I get in the cab, I
say well, take me to a mall. Take me to the mall. So he takes me to the
(mumbles) Center, right? And I had 80 bucks in my
pocket, per diem money. The taxi cab arrives, it was like 65. (laughing) I was like, - I wanna get back.
- What the hell? What the hell is going on right now, man? I didn't, you know, so,
I'm walking around the mall with 15 bucks in my pocket. And I didn't know who the
hell, what anything was or whatever, is Jerry's
deli across the street. I'm hungry, I want a sandwich. I look in the menu, a
sandwich is like six bucks. I'm like, yo, I can't,
this is ridiculous, man. Yeah, this is some crazy it's crazy. This is absolutely crazy. So, I got a cab driver
to give me a ride back in good faith that I was
gonna go up to the room and find some more money
somewhere and pay him. (chuckles) - [Quentin] Wow. - Andrew Luck, Andrew Luck just retired because he was saying it
was a mental drain on him with the injury. I kind of feel that 'cause
eight of my 10 years, it was a mental drain
everyday with the injuries. You had injury after injury after injury. You played with a broken
finger the whole year. All that, just describe to other athletes the focus and the, how you
gotta compete with yourself to get yourself back on
a level to steady go. I know, we all go through
the pain and stuff and it's the hardest thing you can do. If I could just, so easy to give up. - Yeah, it's really hard, man, because it's such a tedious process. What I found helpful was to not look at the top of the mountain because the mountain is so
damn daunting, you know. Just like, so instead, I just choose to focus on one step at a time. And then when you, by the time you realize you at the top of the mountain, and that's how I handled
all of my recoveries is just focus on the next
thing, focus on the next thing. Focus on the next thing and
also, you know how time flies. Like time goes by really
fast, so when you're sitting here in the moment dealing with a injury that a nine month injury, I can't do that. But when 12 months go by,
you're gonna wish you did. 'Cause it goes by like that,
you know what I'm saying? So that's always been my approach is just one step at a
time, one step at a time. and I didn't want the injuries
dictating when I retired. I wanted to control that. It's like, no, my body,
sit down, be humble. You're not telling me
when I'm walking away. I'm gonna tell you when I'm ready to go. - You man, you know, appreciate
you coming on the show, man, this bottle is from Hennessy VSOP, they got a special bottle. - That's what's up. That's what's up. - Kobe Bryant, knucklehead. Man, we appreciate the love.
- Appreciate it, man. Thank you.
- Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. - I'm gonna put this to good use. - Yeah, you know. (chuckles)
(mumbles) So, that's a wrap, man. We out here on location
and the Black Bruce Wayne's private studios in a secret
location in California, man, but we definitely appreciate
you, dog, coming through and letting us come
through and rock with you. It's hall of fame.
- Hall of fame. - You know what I'm saying? This top three all the time, y'all. You know what this is. It's the mamba mentality. (upbeat music)
What’s my reaction to a double in practice? Y’all gonna have to send another, that’s legendary Kobe.