Michael Jordan Speaks at A Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant

in 1996 our next speaker faced an 18 year old kobe bryant on the court for the first time midway through the game while playing kobe asked him for tips on his jump shot kobe scored 33 points that game against his boyhood idol michael scored 36 and won the game two please welcome michael jordan [Applause] i would say good morning but it's afternoon i'm grateful to vanessa and brian family for the opportunity to speak today i'm grateful to be here to honor gigi and celebrate the gift that kobe gave us all what he accomplished as the basketball player as a businessman and a storyteller and as a father in the game of basketball in life as a parent kobe left nothing in the tank he left it all on the floor [Applause] maybe it surprised people that kobe and i were very close friends but we were very close friends kobrez was my dear friend he was like a little brother everyone always wanted to talk about the comparisons between he and i i just wanted to talk about kobe you know all of us have brothers and sisters little brothers little sisters who for whatever reason always tend to get in your stuff your closet your shoes everything it was a nuisance if i can say that word but that nuisance turned into love over a period of time just because the admiration that they have for you has big brothers or big sisters the questions they're wanting to know every little detail about life that they were about to embark on he used to call me text me 11 30 2 30 3 o'clock in the morning talking about post up moves footwork and sometimes the triangle at first it was an aggravation but it then it turned into a certain passion this kid had passion like you would never know it's a it's amazing thing about passion if you love something if you have a strong passion for something you would go to the extreme to try to understand or try to get it either ice cream cokes hamburgers whatever you have a love for if you have to walk you will go get it if you have to beg someone you will go get it what kobe bryant was to me was the inspiration that someone truly cared about the way i either played the game or the way that he wanted to play the game he wanted to be the best basketball player that he could be and as i got to know him i wanted to be the best big brother that i could be [Applause] [Applause] to do that you have to put up with the aggravation the late night calls or the dumb questions i took great bride as i got to know kobe bryant that he was just trying to be a better person a better basketball player we talked about business we talked about family we talked about everything and he was just trying to be a better person now he's got me i'll have to look at another crime meme for the next i told my wife i wasn't going to do this because i didn't want to see that for the next three or four years that is what kobe bryant does to me i'm pretty sure vanessa and his friends all can say the same thing he knows how to get to you in a way that affects you personally even though if he's being a pain in the ass but he always you ever have sense of love for him in the way that he can bring out the best in you and he did that for me i remember maybe a couple months ago he sends me a text and he's saying i'm trying to teach my daughter some moves and i don't know what i was thinking or what i was working on but what would you what were you thinking about when you were trying to as you were growing up trying to work on your moods i said what age he says 12. i said at 12 i was trying to play baseball he sends me a text back saying laughing my ass off and this is at two o'clock in the morning but the thing about him was we could talk about anything that related to basketball but we can talk about anything that related to life and we as we grow up in life rarely have friends that we can have conversations like that well it's even rare when you can grow up against adversaries and have conversations like that i went and saw phil jackson in 1999 maybe 2000 i don't know when phil was here in la and i walk in and kobe is sitting there and the first thing i'm in a suit first thing kobe said did you bring your shoes no i wasn't thinking about playing but his attitude to compete and play against someone he felt like he could enhance and improve his game with to me that's what i loved about the kid absolutely loved about the kid no matter where he saw me it was a challenge and i admired him because his passion you rarely see someone who's looking and trying to improve each and every day not just in sports but as a parent as a husband i am inspired by what he's done and what he shared with vanessa and what he's shared with his kids i have a daughter who's 30 who just became a grandparent and i have two twins i have twins at six [Applause] i can't wait to get home to become a girl dad and to hug them and to see the love that the smiles that they bring to us as parents he taught me that just by looking at this tonight looking at how he responded and reacted with the people they actually loved these are the things that we will continue to learn from kobe bryant to vanessa natalia bianca capri my wife and i will keep you close in our hearts in our prayers we will always be here for you always i also want to offer our condolences and support to all the families affected by this enormous tragedy kobe gave every last ounce of himself to whatever he was doing after basketball he showed a creative side to himself that i didn't think any of us knew he had in retirement he seemed so happy he found new passions and he continued to give back as a coach in his community more importantly he was an amazing dad amazing husband who dedicated himself to his family and who loved his daughters with all his heart kobe never left anything on the court and i think that's what he would want for us to do no one knows how much time we have that's why we must live in the moment we must endure the moment we must reach and see and spend as much time as we can with our families and friends and the people that we absolutely love to live in the moment means to enjoy each and every one that we come in contact with when kobe bryant died a piece of me died and as i look in this arena and across the globe a piece of you died well she wouldn't be here those are the memories that we have to live with and we learn from i promise you from this day forward i will live with the memories of knowing that i had a little brother that i tried to help in every way i could please rest in peace little brother [Applause]

Channel: Los Angeles Lakers

Views: 15,244,299

Keywords: Lakers, NBA, Basketball, Los Angeles, Showtime, LakeShow, LA, Sports, National Basketball Association

Id: R5Ue3B_Eu94

Length: 12min 5sec (725 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 24 2020