Kobe shares impressions of LeBron's first season with the Lakers & advice for Zion | Get Up!

so three years ago we were together and you were telling me that you had this idea for this book project that was sort of a Harry Potter esque kind of concept and here we are three years later because this project has come to fruition so congratulations tell us about it and how did Kobe Bryant decide to do this well it was just you know I just felt like I learned so much from the game I was trying to figure out different creative ways to share those those experiences you know without coming across as being preachy you know what I mean so like things that I've learned from the game that I try to teach to my kids for me to just come out and tell my kids with those lessons are they don't listen to me you got to figure out a creative way to package it up this way they can kind of find those Easter eggs on their own and that's when I started coming up with ideas you know creative concepts and stories to be able to instill those life lessons what's an example of a life lesson give me give me one huge life lesson fruit for this book in particular it's about handling fears how do you handle those like for these young men in the story they have fears that they've consciously or subconsciously suppressed and those fears manifest themselves in different ways and we see it manifest through the game so what they have to learn within the novel is to have the bravery and the courage to face those fears and then they can decide what they want to do with them right but at least they have the power over their fear versus the other way around it's interesting because I've said many times the courage it takes to play sports at the level you played it is the courage to take the risk of always being remembered for your worst moment there are some players who will be remembered for their worst moment that takes a special kind of courage doesn't it yeah but you know it's an acceptance too though right you have to be able to accept things and then you move on from the fingers you don't you necessarily combat them right you accept those things you you you you become at peace with those things and then you can move on now let's talk about pressure because there's a lot of lots of people face a lot of different pressure in a lot of different ways it feels to me like NBA stars right now feel as though they are under an enormous amount of pressure they don't seem to be happy most of the time and maybe it's because they are so public that we hear about it all of the time but we've seen different incidents whether it Kevin Durant señora Kyrie or others when you were at the top of the mountain when you were the biggest star in sports were you happy oh of course because I was playing a game I loved you know I mean that the happiness comes from that first and foremost and then obviously you know you have frustrations you have moments where you're happier than others right but when you're doing something that you love to do the happiness is already there and now there's a certain termination and you know frustration that comes along with the job but ultimately I believe that they love the game so how do you perceive that though when you hear guys talking about all of the pressure it feels like that is has been magnified I don't know if it is a function of social media of the pervasive attention that they receive how do you proceed yeah I I think I think that has a lot to do with it actually because the opinions are there you can see them whereas you know when I started playing many many years ago you'd have to wait to the next morning to get the newspaper and see what bad stuff people said about you now you go social media and you get inundated with that pressure and criticism and all that sort of stuff we're still in all you know it comes with the territory right you can't please everybody all you can do is do the best you can just accept it and move on with it how did you handle it how did you handle criticism exactly that way you deal with it you move on I mean the most important thing is is the game can't lose sight of that it's not what people think of you right but it's the game are you leading the team in the right way are you doing the necessary things to study your craft to put your team in the best possible situation to be champions that's the only thing that matters criticism is gonna come and go right you can have a great game on Monday everybody loves you have a horrible game horrible game on Tuesday you're the worst right it's gonna be cyclical until you want a championship and then everybody will calm down and love you for like two weeks and then they'll say you can't repeat that's just the way it is okay I've been dying to ask you this forever so for 30 years my job has been arguing this guy's better than that guy this guy's better than that guy right like it's Kobe and it's Michael and it's Michael and it's LeBron and it's it's magic and it's Larry and it's Russell and it's changing the great debates all those debates as one of the people in those as one of the people who's on the other side of that how important is that to you the way people perceive you to Michael Jordan Larry Bird no LeBron it's hard for people to believe but I really don't care you know like I've I moved on you know so like you have a career you do the best you can with the 20 years I was very fortunate to play and then you shelf it you're done you move on to the next thing so now I'm focused on these next 20 years and so those debates are entertaining I'm sure it's fun for people to engage on those engaging those but for me personally in that matter so when everyone gets into the is LeBron better than Kobe whatever it is and you hear it you can't not hear it you have like no reaction sure no I think the best way to explain it is I typically do not engage in things that I cannot definitively win you know what I'm saying it's argument are you for what there's that one moment I remember you I don't remember exactly where it was but someone was saying something to you in arena and you held up five fingers which suggested to me that that was one of you our closing arguments right well you know many other people know you know about criticism for example how do you deal with fat and people try to downplay your career in some shape form of fashion I just hold up five because most important thing that we do you know the goal is to win championships this is what we're here for people are always talking about the next so-and-so who's gonna be the next Kobe Bryant when you watch the NBA now who reminds you of you there's a lot of players that you know have that engine that motor and Russell certainly one of them James has kicked it into high gear and you know Kyrie and they even the younger it feels weird to say younger guys than like James Harden Kyrie Irving because they're still young to me but you got the Jason Tatum's of the world Donovan Mitchell's of the world I mean the NBA's in in great hands and the word that will always be associated with you is Mamba the Mamba mentality and it feels that that's a moving target like the Mamba mentality can mean so many different things I see you post Mamba mentality stuff all the time as we sit here what does Mamba mentality me well really it's just about curiosity and when you have a curiosity up a thirst to learn and to get better and that's that the foundation of everything is asking why why did this move work why does this particular tactic work and you're just that curiosity how do you train better how do you eat better from curiosity everything else is built upon that one other thing on this you once upon a time but the most famous high school basketball player ever to come to the NBA and then by the time LeBron came to the NBA there was all of this intention was magnified now Zion Williamson is in the middle of something I can't even fathom being him at the age of 18 or 19 which he is what advice do you have for someone like him who right now is as famous as any person in sports in America at that age just focus on the game it seems very very simple but that's that's the challenge right people pulling you from different directions you have different requests and opportunities and that's fine but you gotta lock in and focus on the most important thing which is the game everyone will yell at me if I don't ask you this so everyone talks about Golden State now the Warriors they're awesome yeah pick your best team you and check whatever year you guys your mind we're at your best we're debating in a seven-game series you were guys against the Warriors who wins yeah we will win that's what I would say it was what are they gonna do with Shaq right I mean now they have boogie cousins so I mean he might as well if I give you it like a real tactical answer about it it's really just a matter of who can impose who's will right and style of play do we do a good job moving the ball getting into open areas and slowing the game down or will Golden State control the tempo and control their pace with their shooting and their ball movement so it's it to be completely honest it's hard to really tell who would win I like our chances Shaq so Shaq was a handful man and you got a can't forget that he could run the floor like a guard right he moved like a guard which is pretty scary the game is so different now to just just analytics have played such a huge role and that they've been a big part of it do you like it all the threes all the reliance on analytics it's threes and it's layups and it's free-throws do you enjoy it I think it has a place in the game I don't think it gives the full answer of understanding why things happen right and how to create momentum I mean the game really is about momentum and who can control momentum more soda numbers there's the emotion of the game of who can dictate tempo and pace those things aren't the most important because those actually win games numbers look good right and you can kind of tell you a story but the true story lies in a tempo and the pacing of the game let's talk about your old team the Lakers it's been obviously a difficult season for them how did it compare to what you expected LeBron comes first year what what has this season been relative to whatever you expected it to be well yeah I think they got it you know it's unfortunate because it got hit with so many injuries and rapid succession whenever a roll I mean they're playing very well I think exceeding people's expectations and then they got hit with all these injuries kind of set them back knock them off kilter a little bit and it's hard to reboot that so now you know they're caught nap Rudd but nature should be better and so what if you were to give advice to Magic Johnson for example what would it be me give advice to magic yes well you know I think it's just it's just a matter of being patient right and obviously they'll make smart decisions you have opportunities things pieces that you can trade assets and things of that sort or you can stay with the young guys we're extremely talented and have great upside and let them develop but you got either direction you go should be a good direction and how about LeBron if he were to ask you for some advice as a guy who has been the face of the Lakers yourself for such a long time what would you advise him oh you just got to keep pushing right this season's like this or would make the championships worth it you know and I mean you just got to stay with it it'd be fun the one other thing I wanted to ask you about is the biggest storyline of the entire NBA season now it feels like is the upcoming offseason there's all this talk about free where's this guy's now here's gonna be an entertaining offseason that's a look I'm not taking off the first week of July yeah yeah what do you think all the player moving all the guys coming together you played your whole career in Los Angeles through the good years and the bad years a guy like Dirk it almost feels like this is the end of that time what does it does it diminish it in any way when these guys go from one place to another team up to try and win I don't think it diminishes it because everybody's doing it so you want to have having the collection of teams that are competing against each other if you have all these super teams competing against each other so it makes it makes for good competition it's certainly compelling as a fan but yeah you're right I mean it's different I remember calling dirt back when he was a free agent and I said I called him I said dirt listen I know you know you're not leaving Dallas I get it but I gotta make the call what do you think says yeah man you're right bro I'm a lifer like you man you know we don't leave and so it's just a different philosophy about it but looking back on it now like of all the things that you treasure about your career we're on that list is you played your whole career for top team that the saga understand the Lakers are my favorite team growing up by far right so the play with one franchise and also it's a two-way street right you can have an athlete that wants to be with one organization but if the organization doesn't have that loyalty in return then you have that fraction that separation so I was very fortunate the last things I have to let you go you've climbed this mountain again three years ago you told me about this book project and here you are congratulations what is the next mountain you have so many you have your hands and so many different things they wanted since last I saw you you want an Oscar for crying out loud what's next what is the next mountain for Coco we have more stories coming so this is the first there is an art series and we have another novel that's coming out in September another one that's coming out in November so you know we were this is the beginning of us launching our publishing business that will then turn into animated features and you know Broadway musicals and things of that sort so we're working then it's great to see you thank you very much for doing this Kobe Bryant everybody how about that

Channel: ESPN

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Keywords: kobe bryant interview, kobe bryant, kobe interview, lakers, kobe, lebron james, kobe bryant detail, espn, kobe on lebron, lebron james interview, detail kobe bryant, kobe bryant on lebron james, zion williamson, lebron interview, kobe detail, kobe bryant 2019, lebron, kobe bryant interview 2019, kobe bryant lebron james, kobe lebron, get up, kobe bryant espn, kobe and lebron, kobe talks about lebron, kobe espn, get up espn, mike greenberg, kobe interview espn, #nba, nba

Id: 4LBkDbmNY68

Length: 13min 8sec (788 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/DFWnation]

I think he also said this in a presser years ago as well. Either way, Dirk and Kobe has some great battles. Man those were fun years to be a Mavs fan!

[u/Greentempo]

We need a Player's Only Roundtable with this centuries greats. Imagine one with Dirk, Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Yao, Mcgrady etc. Would be awesome to see their thoughts on certain players or moments during their time playing.

[u/TexasCoconut]

Dirk, Duncan, and Kobe are going join up to form the "Lifers", and dominate BIG3.

[u/death_by_laughs]

Kobe could be fluently cursing in German by now

[u/SavingsSpray]

Could you imagine the pick and pop action with Kobe and Dirk?

[u/Source10]

DeRozan probably would've wanted to be a lifer in Toronto had we given him the chance. Tough.

[u/J-Dawgdizzlefizz]

How does Dirk play away games if he won't leave Dallas? Asking for a friend.

[u/Old_Man_Riverwalk21]

It was so crazy reading the dirk transcript of that interview where he said he was a lifer and everything but would have considered the Miami heat call if they made it when they were forming the big 3, only for him to go on and beat them for his only ring a year later

[u/armandocalvinisius]

unpopular opinion : Dirk 2014 FA will be different if he didnt win the ring in 2011. ring solidify all his time with mavs.