Pro Voice Kobe

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VOICEISSUE 01
MAGAZINE

CONTENTS
8 DEAR BASKETBALL
10
LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF
14
MAMBA 101
18
A DOUBLE SALUTE
22
ONE LAST DANCE
26
EIGHTY ONE
30
THE SECRET I LEARNED FROM KOBE
32
MAMBA MENTALITY
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DEAR
BASKETBALL
BY KOBE BRYANT
Dear Basketball,
From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you.
A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.
As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.
And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.
I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.
But I can’t love you obsessively for
much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say
goodbye.
And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment
we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.
And we both know, no matter what I do
next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1
Love you always,
You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker
dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
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Letter to
My Younger
Self
BY KOBE BRYANT
Dear 17-year-old self,
When your Laker dream comes true
tomorrow, you need to figure out a way
to invest in the future of your family
and friends. This sounds simple, and
you may think it’s a no-brainer, but take
some time to think on it further.
I said INVEST.
I did not say GIVE.
Let me explain.
Purely giving material things to your
siblings and friends may appear to be
the right decision. You love them, and
they were always there for you growing
up, so it’s only right that they should
share in your success and all that
comes with it. So you buy them a car, a
big house, pay all of their bills. You want
them to live a beautiful, comfortable
life, right?
But the day will come when you realize
that as much as you believed you were
doing the right thing, you were actually
holding them back.
You will come to understand that you
were taking care of them because
it made YOU feel good, it made YOU
happy to see them smiling and without
a care in the world — and that was
extremely selfish of you.
While you were feeling satisfied with
yourself, you were slowly eating away
at their own dreams and ambitions. You
were adding material things to their
lives, but subtracting the most precious
gifts of all: independence and growth.
Understand that you are about to
be the leader of the family, and this
involves making tough choices, even if
your siblings and friends do not understand
them at the time.
Invest in their future, don’t just give.
Use your success, wealth and influence
to put them in the best position to
realize their own dreams and find their
true purpose.
Put them through school, set them
up with job interviews and help them
become leaders in their own right. Hold
them to the same level of hard work
and dedication that it took for you to
get to where you are now, and where
you will eventually go.
I’m writing you now so that you can
begin this process immediately, and so
that you don’t have to deal with the
hurt and struggle of weaning them off
of the addiction that you facilitated.
That addiction only leads to anger, resentment
and jealousy from everybody
involved, including yourself.
As time goes on, you will see them
grow independently and have their own
ambitions and their own lives, and your
relationship with all of them will be
much better as a result.
There’s plenty more I could write to
you, but at 17, I know you don’t have
the attention span to sit through 2,000
words.
The next time I write to you, I may
touch on the challenges of mixing blood
with business. The most important
advice I can give to you is to make sure
your parents remain PARENTS and not
managers.
Before you sign that first contract,
figure out the right budget for your
parents — one that will allow them
to live beautifully while also growing
your business and setting people up
for long-term success. That way, your
children’s kids and their kids will be able
to invest in their own futures when the
time comes.
Your life is about to change, and things
are about to come at you very fast. But
just let this sink in a bit when you lay
down at night after another nine-hour
training day.
Trust me, setting things up right from
the beginning will avoid a ton of tears
and heartache, some of which remains
to this day.
Much love,
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pro
VOICEMAGAZINE
FEATURES
ISSUE 01
MAMBA
101
A DOUBLE
SALUTE
ONE LAST
DANCE
EIGHTY
ONE
14
18
22
26
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MAMBA
101
BY TZVI TWERSKY
Welcome to
Kobe Bryant’s
Next Chapter
Kobe Bryant was 37 years old when his second half started. Now,
nearly three NBA seasons later, there are few reminders of his first half, of
his five championships, 20 years and 33,643 points as an L.A. Laker laying
around his spacious Orange County, CA, office.
Instead, Bryant’s deep-seated couch and coffee table are littered with
piles of advanced copy books and worn classics. The shelving, which is
on the other side of the half-court sized room, boasts more literature and
a gleaming gold Oscar, which he won in 2018 for his poem-turned-animated-short
Dear Basketball. Feet away, Bryant’s desk, which is wider
than Shaq and heavier than Oliver Miller, is covered with a tree’s worth
of white paper dotted with yellow highlighter and handwritten edits.
The only other items on the surface are some pens, a laptop and family
photos. It is in this floor-to-ceiling windowed room, at the nerve center of
Granity, his company, studio and, in a way, universe, that Bryant is sitting
this morning. The CEO and president showed up at around 8 a.m., later
than usual but early if you consider the fact that he and his wife Vanessa
arrived home from the Academy Awards and Jay Z’s exclusive afterparty
in the wee hours of morning. Still, Bryant is abound with energy.
“Listen to this,” he says. Bryant swipes away at his phone with a finger
that was mangled on the court and pulls up the audiobook version of
his upcoming novel, The Wizenard Series: Training Camp. “I think this
one is going to win a Grammy.” Boastful? Sure. Realistic? Definitely. After
all, in Bryant’s time since retiring his jersey and picking up his pen, the
creator has, among other things, won an Oscar, helped ESPN+ launch
his show Detail, penned a New York Times bestseller (Mamba Mentality),
turned a seed investment in sports drink BODYARMOR into a reported
nine-figure value, and opened a sports training facility, Mamba Sports
Academy. This list could go on for another 2,000 words. Bryant has
made clear on numerous occasions that he wants to accomplish more
off the court than he ever did on it. He wants to make more money than
he did hooping, win more awards now than then. He wants to leave a
legacy that inspires children to dream and achieve. That’s why there
aren’t many hoop mementos displayed in his office. “A friend asked me
the other day,” Bryant pauses, “‘Does it bother you that when Bianka
[his 30-month-old daughter] grows up she will know you as a creator
and producer and not a basketball player?’” “I thought about it for a bit
and said, Yeah, that’s true. She won’t know that part of my life, but that
doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, it excites me.”
Kobe Bryant has displayed a bit of a Midas touch since retiring. That,
to an extent, is not shocking because his creative wins (Dear Basketball,
Mamba Mentality, Detail) have largely targeted the sports-loving
audience he won over as a player. Bryant’s next project constitutes a
Celtics, circa 2008, sized challenge. The Wizenard Series: Training Camp
centers around a basketball team…and takes place in a mystical corner
(called Dren) of a fantastical universe (known as Granity) and involves
plenty of magic (termed Grana). Ostensibly, the novel—aimed at young
adults—hinges on an otherworldly coach, Professor Rolabi Wizenard,
turning confused teenagers into a successful team. On a deeper level,
though, Wizenard is about internal conflict and raw emotion, about
self-acceptance and growth Bryant did not write Wizenard. Wesley King,
an acclaimed Young Adult fiction author, did. Bryant, however, imagined
the story nearly three years ago and guided King throughout the process.
To do so, the globetrotter pulled scenery from teen years spent around
Philadelphia. Bryant also threaded characters together from wisps of
former NBA coaches-slash-teammates. He also infused elements from
one of his favorite Disney characters, Mary Poppins. “What clicked for me
was taking sports and making it something magical,” says Bryant, who
notes that this combo rarely comes together in literature. “Within that,
we try to teach kids through Wizenard how to process their inner emotions—good,
bad, indifferent. We teach them compassion and empathy,
work ethic and attention to detail. That is how I believe we should tell
stories.”
Writing and publishing, especially in the YA fantasy genre, doesn’t work
like pro basketball. In hoops, you typically practice and notice visible
results, practice some more and, with some luck, contend for championships.
In creating Wizenard, Bryant learned that writing comes in
fits and starts—better some days, impossible on others—and that the
publishing world operates in a very inflexible fashion. Bryant learned to
deal with some of newness. He eventually, for instance, acclimated to
the lack of tangible progress. “Around us right now, it seems quiet but
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people are working,” says Bryant. The staff of Granity are grinding on the
launch of Wizenard, as well as Bryant’s next book, podcast and show.
“It’s more like work, chip away, chip away, boom, big milestone. Then
chip, quiet, chip away again and here we are, a book is launching, a film.
It sneaks up on you.” Bryant could not sync with every aspect of his new
world, though. Wizenard was tentatively slated to be released by a major
publisher. Tight calendars and creative differences forced Bryant to pull
back and, in very Mamba Mentality fashion, form a book publishing wing
within Granity. The team, along the way, definitely learned some tough
rookie publishing lessons, but Wizenard is here and it looks and reads
just like Bryant envisioned.
If all of this sounds bold and daring—OK, crazy—that’s because it is.
This isn’t the first time, though, Bryant has shot a 30-foot three with his
off-hand. He did it in 1996, when he leaped from a suburban high school
to the League. He did it when he transformed into “Black Mamba” and
embraced the role of NBA villain. He did it when he demanded Nike
make his signature sneaker into a lowtop. All of these gambits, and a
high percentage of other ones, paid off. Soon, the results will be in on
Kobe Bryant, fantasy world publisher, too.
“There will always be a little [stigma] because I’m known for basketball,”
says the 15-time All-NBA team member. “If you look at the quality of
the book, you’ll know I’m not playing around. If you look at the people
I’ve hired for our publishing division, the writers, the editors, they are
all heavyweights. When you look at that, you understand how serious
we are.” Bryant is not measuring the success of Wizenard or any of his
upcoming books in dollars and cents, nor sales and reviews. He is not
chasing invisible scoring titles or non-existent championships. The goal
of Wizenard, of Bryant’s new fantasy book due out mid-year, can’t be
measured that way. The father of four girls—and hero/villain to thousands
of other people—wants his tomes to expand the YA genre and
to make reading more accessible to young athletes. He wants it to be
taught in schools nationally and to affect change worldwide. “To me,”
says Bryant, “Wizenard is successful already. It’s different than sports.
In sports, the objective is to win a championship. With this stuff, if one
person touches that book and is impacted deeply, then that’s success.”
There is still a place for basketball in Bryant’s life. Most noticeably, the
former guard occasionally works out with an exclusive group of rising
NBA and WNBA stars. “Players can call,” he says. “We can talk. If I have
time, I’ll train them.”
Truth be told, despite their virality on IG and Twitter, those sessions are
a rarity. Think hours, not days, this past summer. More notably, Bryant
coaches Gigi—his 12-year-old daughter—and her AAU team. Now that
team, and those young girls, practice under his tutelage five times a
week. On a recent school night, Coach Bryant and the group gathered
at a nondescript OC gym. The team was getting together for a SLAM
photo shoot. Practice, just this once, was postponed. The girls appeared
delighted. New crisp reversible black-and-white MAMBA jerseys, with
their individual names on the back, were handed out and immediately
donned. Parents took pictures, as did a professional photographer. Little
more than 20 minutes into the shoot, Bryant pulled the photographer, an
old friend, aside and asked how much longer he needed. The team, he
said, only had the gym reserved for two hours and Bryant had decided
he wanted to get a practice in. With an internal clock tick-ticking away,
THERE IS STILL A PLACE FOR
BASKETBALL IN BRYANT’S LIFE.
MOST NOTICEABLY, THE FORMER GUARD
OCCASIONALLY WORKS OUT WITH AN
EXCLUSIVE GROUP OF RISING NBA AND
WNBA STARS. “PLAYERS CAN CALL,” HE
SAYS. “WE CAN TALK. IF I HAVE TIME, I’LL
TRAIN THEM.”
the photographer hurriedly snapped a few more shots, tore down a white
seamless that was spilling onto the court and abruptly ended the shoot.
It was time for the players to play, coaches to coach. Over the course of
the next hour, Bryant and two other coaches ran an impromptu-yet-organized
practice. The girls, accustomed to the routine and pace, ran
through the workout with little wasted motion and even less wasted time.
They focused on their ability to finish around the rim, plus footwork and
handles. At least twice, Bryant stopped everything and provided the
entire team with a Detail-level lesson on ball movement and spacing. By
the time the team started scrimmaging, it was obvious that Bryant was
serious about teaching and the girls were equally serious about learning.
That’s not to say the girls are ready for DI ball. There is still a lot for them
to learn as both individuals and a team. “You should have seen us six
months ago,” says Bryant. “The girls are making incredible progress. Just
wait until you see us in six years.” Six years. That is what Bryant said. Six
years, after which the entire roster will be college-aged. Six years after
which the girls will be brimming full of Mamba Mentality and experts on
the triangle. Six years, or more than a max-length contract, is how much
time Coach Bryant has committed to this team and these girls. To that
end, Bryant is playing a long game with the team. That means not pointing
out every little mistake, not correcting every lapse in the triangle,
not attempting to teach them everything in mere months that it took
him 40 years to learn. “I have a year-by-year plan for them,” says Bryant.
He cuts an imposing figure in a pair of signature black Nike Kobe ADs,
black pants and Mamba-emblazoned top. “We are going to keep adding
pieces on a schedule I’ve already mapped out.”
As much as writing gets his “juices flowing” and business deals keep
his coffers full, Bryant still clearly loves the game that provided those
opportunities. It’s hard, then, not to imagine him one day hopping in a
helicopter, like he did during his latter years as a Laker, and guiding the
current Lakers back to prominence. It’s even harder not to imagine his
friends and Laker execs Jeanie Buss, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka not
embracing his presence in the building. If not right now, when LeBron
could likely use his guidance, then in six years when Gigi is off wearing
a college uniform. “The answer is no, I’m not doing it,” says Bryant. He
cuts off any follow-up question and continues. “I’m not interested. It’s
not even a couple years. I’m just not interested. I don’t want to be a GM. I
don’t want to own a team. I don’t want to coach. I have no interest in any
of that. That’s an easy answer for me.”
Kobe Bryant is busy with his business. Busy with his books. Busy with his
Little Mambas.
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A DOUBLE
SALUTE
BY MARK STEIN
For Kobe
Bryant, Two
Numbers Headed to
the Rafters
His name is in the conversation, surely, to land among the 10 best
players in the history of the game. At a minimum, Kobe Bryant absolutely
has to be classified as the greatest Los Angeles Laker of them all.
Doesn’t He?
We could probably debate it all day. Whether Bryant is both, merely one
of the above or neither really depends on whose scorecard you consult.
What can be said with certainty is that the time feels right to share some
of my own recollections on the fittingly gaudy occasion of Bryant’s double
jersey-retirement ceremony. It will take place in Los Angeles on Monday
night, when the only team he ever played for hoists both No. 8 and
No. 24 — the numbers worn by Bryant in 10-season chunks of his two
decades with the Lakers — to the rafters of Staples Center. The evening
was intended to put a commemorative bow on a future Hall of Famer’s
career, but when it came to Bryant, some of us couldn’t help but rewind
to the beginning. It was an unavoidable instinct for me, because my last
NBA season as a full-time SoCal resident was Bryant’s rookie season
with the Lakers, when a supersized teammate named Shaquille O’Neal
nicknamed the teenager “Showboat.” The moniker was not a term of
endearment.
Even at 18, Bryant’s best-of-all-time aspirations were apparent to everyone.
“Showboat” was O’Neal’s way of trying to keep Bryant humble —
and letting the youngster know who was the team’s actual focal point.
Instead, it just fueled Bryant even more. He was determined to prove to
O’Neal and every other doubter that he would ultimately surpass all of
the game’s greats. “Kobe didn’t care about night life or anything else,”
said Del Harris, who coached Bryant for his first two N.B.A. seasons and
the start of his third. “He only had one interest. His only focus was to
be the best that he could be. And in his mind that meant challenging
Michael Jordan. “People can argue how close he actually came, but
there’s no question that he fulfilled pretty much all of his dreams,”
Harris added. Having shadowed Bryant throughout his 1996-97 debut
season as the Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News before
tracking him pretty closely thereafter no matter where I was stationed,
I can confidently bill Bryant as the most maniacally driven player I’ve
ever covered, and the toughest I’ve ever seen when it comes to playing
through injuries.
Del Harris was Bryant’s first coach when he joined the Lakers as a
teenager just out of high school. And in Bryant’s first two seasons with
the Lakes, Harris rarely put him in the starting lineup. None of that, of
course, happened immediately. Bryant started only seven games in his
first two seasons on Harris’s veteran-laden, win-now squad.
HIS NAME IS IN THE CONVERSATION
TO LAND AMONG THE 10 BEST PLAYERS
IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME. AT A MINIMUM,
KOBE BRYANT ABSOLUTELY HAS GOT TO BE
CLASSIFIED AS THE GREATEST LOS ANGELES
LAKER OF ALL TIME.
Even before that, shortly after draft night in 1996, Vlade Divac tried to
short-circuit the agreed-upon trade that would send Bryant from the
Charlotte Hornets to the Lakers by threatening to retire at age 28 rather
than leave Los Angeles. Divac ultimately came to terms with swapping
Hollywood for Charlotte and consented to joining the Hornets. Bryant
went on to lead or colead five Laker teams to championships, clash with
O’Neal throughout their eight seasons together and tune out critics of
his often shot-happy approach to finish his career as the league’s No. 3
career scorer (33,643 points). With or without O’Neal at his side, Bryant
logged a 20-season run in Lakerland that was a constant roller coaster
marked by alternating glory and turbulence. Yet as he reflects on it now,
as the general manager of the Sacramento Kings, Divac said: “I wasn’t
happy leaving L.A., but if I was Jerry West, I would have traded me for
Kobe, too.” As the Lakers’ longtime roster architect, West was famously
smitten by the predraft workout performance that Bryant, then 17,
unleashed against the longtime Lakers defensive standout Michael
Cooper, who was an assistant coach by that point. As Harris tells it,
Tracy McGrady had an even more impressive audition for the Lakers
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one year later, prompting West to make a brief but serious push to try
to acquire McGrady’s draft rights and team him with O’Neal and Bryant.
“I don’t think anybody can look at an 18-year-old and say he’s a Hall of
Famer,” Harris said. “You couldn’t even do that with Jordan. And Kobe
was a young 18 in his first season. He was still in a pretty normal teenage
body, compared to when LeBron James came in and had a man’s body.
“McGrady came in the next year with a more mature body and worked
out so well that Jerry kind of tooled around with the idea that maybe we
should just go ahead and make a deal for whatever it took to get this guy
— even though it’d be a step back in the short term — to have two guys
like this on the same team.” It was the Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, hungry
to end a championship drought that would ultimately last 11 seasons
before Shaq, Kobe and their new coach Phil Jackson won their first of
three successive titles together in 2000, who shot down the idea of a Bryant/McGrady
partnership. Harris, himself, also didn’t want to surrender
an All-Star like Eddie Jones for McGrady, either, fearing it would take the
Lakers out of the title mix. Bryant was the first guard in N.B.A. history
to make the jump directly from high school to the pros and working
one teenager into a lineup with championship aspirations was already
a sizable undertaking. “I did tell Kobe there would be a time when
there would be some competition between him and Shaq,” Harris said.
“People asking, ‘Whose team is it?’ and all that. I told him that he had
an opportunity to make it work just like Magic Johnson did with Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar; Magic publicly deferred to ‘Cap’ every chance he got.
Bryant sitting on the Lakers’ bench, flanked by Nick Van Exel and
Shaquille O’Neal. In their seasons together, Bryant and O’Neal endured
discord but won championships. “I told Kobe: ‘I don’t know if Magic
believed that, but he knew it was good for the team and good for
Kareem to say that. And I think it’ll work for you as well. You don’t have
to mean it. You don’t have to believe it. Just say it.’” Harris added: “Kobe
didn’t resist. He just never did it. It’s not a criticism of him, but just an
observation of how deadly competitive he was. To ask him to do something
like that just violated his focus.” The legend evolved from there, in
ways both astounding and troubling, on the journey to those five rings.
Sixty-two points in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks. Eightyone
points against the Toronto Raptors. The 60-point fairy tale against
the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016, in the last game Bryant ever played.
The regal standing he holds in Los Angeles will be evident throughout
Monday’s 21-minute halftime festivities. Even his old foil, O’Neal, will be
in attendance, and has offered to serve as the D.J. for a private pregame
party in Bryant’s honor.
In the later stages of Bryant’s career, after all that winning and scoring —
and in an L.A. touch, all that drama, too — no one seemed to mind that
the kid O’Neal had once dubbed “Showboat,” had started giving himself
nicknames. First it was “The Black Mamba,” and then “Vino.” By that
point, Bryant believed in his own mythology to the degree that, when
he tore his left Achilles’ tendon late in the 2012-13 season, he initially
refused to accept the severity of the injury that had struck him down As
the longtime Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti recalled on Saturday: “I
told him it’s ruptured and he’s done. He said, ‘Can’t you just tape it up?’”
It was classic Bryant.
As vintage Vino as it gets.
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ONE LAST
DANCE
BY MARK MEDINA
How Kobe Bryant’s
relationship with
LeBron James evolved
The two stars laughed with each other as LeBron James bantered along
with Kobe Bryant by the scorer’s table. Bryant later teased James at center-court
moments after he bricked an alley oop. Once the buzzer sounded,
Bryant and James hugged each other and offered encouraging words.
The matchup Bryant and James shared last year at Staples Center
conveyed the images of two close friends relishing both their tight bond
and respect for each other’s craft.
“They were smiling at each other,” Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving recalled.
When the Lakers (11-43) visit the Cleveland Cavaliers (37-14) on
Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena, more nostalgia seems likely to
emerge. After all, Bryant has savored seemingly every moment surrounding
his 20th and final NBA season. James told reporters the game
will become “very emotional just knowing it’s his last hurrah.”
“He’s done so much, not only for the Lakers organization, but for me
as a kid,” James told reporters this week. “Growing up, I was watching
Kobe and things of that nature and also competing against him.”
The Lakers technically list Bryant as questionable to play because of
soreness in his right shoulder. But there is no question plenty expect him
to play. Assuming that happens, Bryant and James appear likely to share
moments that will include words, hugs and even matching up. But neither
will be able to say with a straight face that they were always close.
James declined to tell reporters how his relationship with Bryant has
evolved. But Bryant admitted last season he would not have shown
such warmth toward James under different circumstances.
A relationship eventually developed on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
Then, James got a first-hand look at Bryant’s work ethic. Then, Bryant
saw how James related to teammates to help elevate their play. In a
joint interview on NBA Entertainment, Bryant praised James’ athleticism
while James complimented Bryant’s fundamentals.
“There’s a mutual respect that we have for one another,” Bryant said.
“It’s that level of respect that enables us to perform at a high level when
we compete against each other.”
Yet, that respect mostly came from afar. So much that James admitted
last year Bryant did not recruit him when the Lakers pursued him during
the 2014 offseason.
Lost Opportunity
The matchup seemed inevitable. At least, that’s what the Nike puppet
commercials suggested.
Though most in the league anticipated James and Bryant meeting in
the NBA Finals, something else happened. The Magic eliminated the
Cavaliers in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Cleveland’s season
ended early the following year with a loss to Boston in the Eastern semifinals.
Meanwhile, Bryant’s next two championships without Shaq happened
against a forgettable team (Orlando) and an old rival (Boston).
“I know the world wanted to see it,” James said earlier this season. “He
held up his end and I didn’t hold up my end, and I hate that.”
Bryant did not hold up his end, either.
“If we were contending for a championship, I would be my same moody
self,” Bryant said. “But right now, I tend to have a little more perspective
knowing I won’t get a chance to play him on the court for much longer.
You want to enjoy it.”
Keeping a Distance
James gushed he sported an afro growing up because Bryant wore that
look. James also had a poster of Bryant hanging in his room. Two days
before playing in the NBA All-Star game in 2002, Bryant saw a 17-yearold
James. The previous summer in New Jersey, Bryant spoke to James
at ABCD Camp and gave him a pair of his signature shoes.
But once James followed Bryant’s path in 2003 by jumping straight from
high school to the NBA, any connection they had stopped there.
On the night James was drafted in 2003, Bryant upstaged his big night
amid breaking news that he planned to opt out of his contract with the
Lakers and seek free agency after the following season. In 2010, former
Lakers coach Phil Jackson suspected Bryant did that to upstage James.
“He had to be the best every single night,” said Cleveland coach Tyronn
Lue, who played with Bryant from 1998-2001. “He’s not going to open
up to him and give him any leeway or give him any reason to try to
come in and take his spot.”
When James announced he would take his talents to South Beach for
the 2010-11 season, Bryant recalled thinking, “I’ve got to get my knee
healthy.” But Bryant’s knee stayed troublesome amid the Lakers’ fourgame
loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals.
Dallas then humbled the Heat in the Finals.
While James won two NBA championships in four more NBA Finals
appearances, the Lakers soon spiraled downward, partly amid endless
injuries to Bryant.
“That makes me appreciate what I grew up watching with Magic (Johnson)
and (Larry) Bird,” said Bryant, referring to the Lakers and Celtics
playing against each other in the NBA Finals three times in the 1980s.
“You wanted to have that same kind of rivalry. But it never happened.”
An Appreciation
The details stayed fresh in Lue’s mind regarding a story that perfectly
captures Bryant’s competitiveness. During the 1999-2000 season, Lue
blocked Bryant’s layup attempt during a five-on-five scrimmage that left
Bryant fuming.
“He went crazy. Kobe wanted to fight me at first. Then he wanted to play
one-on-one after practice,” Lue said, smiling. “I said, ‘No, I’m not playing
you one-on-one.’ He was so mad. After that, every day we stepped onto
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THE MATCHUP BRYANT AND JAMES
SHARED LAST YEAR AT STAPLES
CENTER CONVEYED THE IMAGES OF TWO
CLOSE FRIENDS RELISHING BOTH THEIR
TIGHT BOND AND RESPECT FOR EACH
OTHER’S CRAFT.
the court, he just went after me every single day.”
Lue then described Bryant and Michael Jordan as a “spitting image of
each other” after also playing with Jordan on the Washington Wizards
(2001-2003). Does James have those same qualities? “LeBron’s the
same way, it’s just they’re more vocal about it,” Lue said. “They’re more
demonstrative about it. They’ll get on guys. They’ll cuss guys out. They’ll
even fight guys if they have to, so that’s just the difference, but they still
all have the same will to win.”
Lue also argued they react the same way to other things, too. He reported
that Bryant responded well to Jackson holding him and O’Neal
“more accountable than anyone else on the team.” Only two weeks into
his head-coaching tenure, Lue said he critiqued James during film sessions
and timeouts. As the 37-year-old Bryant has nursed season-long
injuries the past three years, the 30-year-old James has changed his
recovery and dietary habits. Yet, Lue considers James’ basketball IQ
superior to anyone else, including Bryant and Jordan.
“With their will to win and the way they got on guys, they would fight a
guy if they had to,” Lue said. “But LeBron, his IQ (is better) because he
can play 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. And he knows every position on the floor.”
Apparently, that would not have been possible without Bryant’s
influence from afar. “I knew I had to be better because of Kobe Bryant,”
James said this season. “I knew he was in the gym and I knew he was
working on his game. So every day that I didn’t want to work out or every
day I felt like I couldn’t give more, I always thought of Kobe. Because
I knew that he was getting better and I was like, ‘Man, if you take a day
off, he’s going to take advantage of it.’”
All of which spurred a distant relationship into moments both Bryant
and James will cherish on the court in Cleveland for one last time.
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EIGHTY
ONE
Remembering
Kobe's 81 Point
Game
BY DEVEAN GEORGE
My phone’s blowing up. Friends and family are all texting me the
same thing: “Can you get Kobe to sign something?” A towel, a sock, a
program, whatever.
Kobe’s still out on the court doing postgame interviews. Inside the
locker room, we’re all bouncing off the walls. “What the hell did we just
witness?” Me, Luke Walton, B. Cook … we’re just acting like giddy little
kids.
We’re high-fiving each other, chest bumping, standing on benches,
twirling our jerseys above our heads. “Did this dude just do that?
Really?” Kobe walks into the locker room and we all turn to him. He’s
got this look on his face … it’s hard to describe. It’s like a half-smile. It’s a
look like, No big deal. This is normal.
No, Kobe. This is not normal.
Phil scans the room and his eyes stop on Kobe. If you know anything
about Phil, it’s that he’s a man of few words. The room gets quiet.
“Hey, Kobe … I think that shoulder’s gonna need some ice.” We all erupt
again. We mob him. And there it is. Kobe’s grinning.
January 22, 2006. That’s the date Kobe scored 81 points. I played in
that game. Last week, I was determined to find the game tape. I hadn’t
watched it in years. First I checked YouTube, but there were only a few
short clips. YouTube wasn’t even a big thing yet back in 2006. Then I
checked the NBA Hardwood Classics channel. Maybe they’d have the
game saved. No dice. I called up an old friend at the Lakers. “We’ll FedEx
it to you. Wait, what do you need it for?”
“Research.”
When it arrived, I pulled the DVD out of the box. I went to my computer
to play it, but … wait, damn … I’ve got one of those new computers that
doesn’t come with a DVD slot. So I got someone to convert the DVD to a
digital file. Finally, I was ready to watch it. Ten years ago isn’t that long
ago, but suddenly it felt like it.
Here’s what it was like going back in time.
Pre-Game
Raptors fans: I want to apologize in advance. The Raptors are part of this
story, but not the kind you want to be. Maybe they didn’t know it at the
time, but the Raptors were playing a role. It was a role in a script they
couldn’t control — kind of like that supporting character in a movie that
you recognize but can’t quite name. They weren’t the main attraction.
And I get it, no one likes to be remembered as the team that allowed one
guy to drop 81 on them. But hey, look at it this way: It’s like the pitcher who
gives up Ken Griffey’s 600th home run. You’re still part of history. In a way.
The word “normal” jumps out at me. It may sound odd, but it really did
start like a normal game. The Raptors and Lakers were normal NBA
teams that year. Two teams with middle-of-the-pack records. It was
midseason, right before the All-Star break — not exactly when teams are
performing at their peak. Staples wasn’t even full that night.
So it started out as a normal day for basketball, except for one obvious
exception: We had Kobe. And we didn’t just have Kobe — we had 2006
Kobe. He was on an absolute tear that year. He was doing things we had
never seen. He was averaging 31 a game and leading the league. In the Dallas
game, four weeks earlier, he had outscored their entire team through
three quarters. He finished with 62 and didn’t even play the fourth.
I joined the Lakers during the Shaq-Kobe era. But by this time, Shaq had
been traded. This was Kobe’s team. When I re-watch this game now,
10 years later, I see a Kobe Bryant who’s testing his limits — like, really
pushing them — as a scorer. We knew he was cooking that year, but at
the time I don’t think we appreciated just how much. He was scorching,
even before that night.
Over the years, there are a few myths about the 81-point game that keep
coming up.
One of them is that Kobe came out of nowhere to score 81. When I hear
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people say, “Did you have any idea Kobe could get 81?” and I detect sur-
“Jesus Christ, Kwame! I hope the wife doesn’t let you hold the baby!”
It’s like Kobe’s flat-footed jumper from the baseline in the third quarter.
whole first year. We battled and battled. A couple years later, when my
prise in their voice, I answer, “We didn’t know when, but none of us really
Phil was joking, but he didn’t look happy. Then again, Phil’s a hard guy
I’m telling you, 98 percent of NBA guys aren’t going to practice a shot
contract was up and the Lakers had an option to re-sign me, I wasn’t sure
doubted that it was possible.”
to read. And, look, Kwame’s my boy. Always has been. This wasn’t about
like that. It’s not a high-percentage shot. But Kobe would grab me after
I would get called back.
First Quarter
Kwame — it was all of us, all the role players. We were all dragging, and it
was embarrassing.
practice and make me work on a shot like that — he’ll make me guard
him — 100 times. And then the next day, you’ll see him hit it in a game.
With a minute left in the third, we tied it at 85. That’s when Kobe got a
Kobe was the one who went to bat for me. He stood up for me and
helped get me back on the team. Of course he didn’t hate me. He wanted
Kobe gets three early baskets. First, an uncontested layup from the left
Phil didn’t have much else to say: “You guys figure it out. Run the offense.
steal. Jose Calderon dove for the ball, but Kobe left him in the dust and
to test me. He wanted to make me better, and make himself better.
wing. Then a turnaround jumper from the free-throw line. Then a wide-
I’m not gonna call any more timeouts to bail you out.” Kobe and Phil
dunked it on the other end.
I’m grateful to him for that. I’m grateful to be able to say I witnessed
open jumper with a weak hand in his face. He finished the quarter with
always had an interesting relationship. They didn’t see eye-to-eye on
one of the greatest games in basketball history. And I’m grateful that, a
two driving layups and some free throws, ending up with 14.
everything, but there was mutual respect. Phil demanded a lot from his
It was our first lead since the first quarter.
few weeks after the game, he was willing to sign those Kobe 81 special
A word to the kids: Don’t give superstar scorers easy early buckets. Just
don’t do it. It’s like catnip for a basketball genius. Even a guy like Kobe
needs confidence to fuel his game. Layups are the easiest way to get
scorers confidence early. Foul them hard if you have to, but don’t let a
players, but he wasn’t the type to give big speeches to fire you up. Kobe
has always been a self-motivator, so I think he liked that approach.
Out of the timeout, Kobe was much more vocal. I’m sure he was thinking,
Fourth Quarter
All madness was about to let loose.
edition shoes for my sons.
I can’t wait to tell them the story.
scorer get going like that.
Get me the ball. I’m hot. But he didn’t say anything like that. It was more
motivational stuff, like, “C’mon, let’s pick it up. They’re about to crack.
Re-watching it now, I know the stats: I know that Kobe started the fourth
It was an early sign of things to come.
We’re getting there. Pick up the energy.” He was trying to carry us.
quarter with 53 points. (He would end up scoring 28 in the final 12 min-
KOBE WALKS INTO THE LOCKER
ROOM AND WE ALL TURN TO
HIM. HE’S GOT THIS LOOK ON HIS
FACE … IT’S HARD TO DESCRIBE. IT’S
LIKE A HALF-SMILE. IT’S A LOOK LIKE,
NO BIG DEAL. THIS IS NORMAL.
NO, KOBE. THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
Halftime
Kobe finished the half with 26. Here’s another common myth about the
game. It’s not like Kobe had 40 or 50 at half. Twenty-six is good, but it
wasn’t a “he’s going to set an all-time Laker scoring record if he keeps this
up” pace. That was normal half for him — a really good one, but nothing
out of the ordinary. In the locker room, Phil was being Phil.
“We got them right where we want ‘em!” He joked.
utes.) I think he took every shot in that quarter. And he made almost every
one he took. But the crazy thing was, I wasn’t aware of it then. At the time,
I still didn’t really understand how big of a game Kobe was having. We
weren’t really keeping track. For one thing, it was a tight game. And more
than that, in my mind, I was just focused on trying to play hard and get my
energy up. I just wasn’t really checking the scoreboard.
I came out at the beginning of the fourth quarter because I picked up a foul.
People were starting to chant “M-V-P.” The crowd was getting louder. I
looked up at the scoreboard and it said 67.
We were all nodding our heads. But Kobe was silent. He looked pissed.
I was sitting next to Brian Cook on the bench and I’m like, “Wait, he’s got
Second Quarter
He hated that we were losing.
67?! And we’ve still got half a quarter left? That can’t be right …”
Another myth about the game is that it was a blowout. People assume
Third Quarter
“Yup.”
they just left Kobe wide open the whole game. But people forget that we
were getting manhandled in the first half. At halftime, the Raptors had
a 14-point lead, 63-49. The second quarter was a little embarrassing to
have to re-watch. Looking back, I blame our role players. That includes
me. My stat line tells part of the story: I took four shots the entire game
and missed them all. I had zero points.
We were down by 18 early in the third. It wasn’t looking good. And that’s
when it happened. Midway through the third, there was a turning point.
Or at least that’s how I remember it. With about six minutes left (we’re
still down 12), Kobe drove toward the baseline, just inside the threepoint
line, and it looked like he was stuck. Mo Peterson was all over him.
Kobe pulled out a move I’ve seen in practice a million times. He makes
We were both dumbfounded, looking up at the scoreboard. The crowd
started really getting into it by the middle of the fourth. Kobe went from
53 to 70-something really quickly. It was like three threes, then a foul on
a three-point shot, then a dunk. Boom. The scoreboard flashed a stat:
Kobe passes Elgin Baylor’s single-game point total of 71. Cook and I were
sitting there like spectators.
Kobe was the only one really playing with energy. None of us were
playing with any kind of pickup at all. We were lethargic. I don’t know if
it was because we had a back-to-back, I don’t know what it was. He was
the only one that was playing with any sort of urgency. It’s kind of ironic:
People will be watching Kobe’s 81-point game forever — and every time
they do, I’ll still go 0-for-4 with no baskets.
it look easy, but watch it again. After the shot fake, he’s flat-footed and
facing the baseline. He’s lost all his legs on the shot. Most guys wouldn’t
have the lift to shoot a normal jumper. And yet he’s able to rise up and hit
it with Mo in his face. And he gets the foul.
Now Kobe’s at 44, and now we’re down by nine. The crowd’s still not
really into it. And honestly, I had no idea how many points Kobe had at
When Kobe hit 81, there were six seconds on the clock. Devin Green
checked in for him. Not a bad way to get your first minute of playing time.
Re-watching Kobe’s 81-point game made me pretty nostalgic.
The funny thing is, I almost never played in that game — had it not been
for Kobe. When I joined the Lakers in 1999, I thought Kobe hated me.
At one point in the second quarter, we hit a low point. We were trying to
run the Triangle, but we just looked lost out there. I’m not going to try
to explain the Triangle here, but basically we wanted to get the big man
involved early in the offense and run our guards off him with cuts to the
basket. Phil kept telling us to enter it down low to Kwame Brown.
But that wasn’t working because Kwame kept bobbling the pass.
Phil called a timeout.
that point. I tell people about this all the time. The reason Kobe is one
of the greatest players ever and why he has dominated for so long, year
after year is that the dude has a God-given ability to put new things in
his game — overnight. He can work on something for 20 minutes and be
doing it in tomorrow’s game. And it’s like he’s been doing the move for
his entire career. He can change his game based on how they’re playing
him, what they’re giving him, overnight. Most people, like myself and
pretty much the entire league, will work on our game, bring it to practice,
We were about the same age, but he was the rising star … and I was just
the rook from a small D-III school. Everyone knew Kobe liked to test
the rookies. I’m not sure if he still does, but he used to do that all of the
time. I remember getting in drills as a rookie — the first couple practices.
Coach paired me and another guy up, but all of a sudden I turned my
head and I’m going against Kobe. It’d be a ball dribbling … and all of a
sudden Kobe’s on me. Or a one-on-one drill … Kobe’s there.
So I’m like, “What the hell? This dude doesn’t like me or what?”
Another thing about Phil: He was hard on Kwame. He really rode him. I
think he wanted the best for him, but he really rode him.
bring it to the gym, then bring it to shootaround. Then, maybe after a few
weeks, we’ll try it at 7:30, at game time, on primetime TV.
Pretty soon it got to the point where Kobe would start every scrimmage
by walking up to me and saying, “You … you guard me.” This went on the
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The Secret
I Learned
From Kobe
BY BUDDY HIELD
I remember hearing this story about
Kobe a few years ago.
The U.S. basketball team was in Vegas
one summer, and on a day off Kobe
rented a bicycle and went for a 40-mile
bike ride. Through the desert. In July. All
by himself.
If you heard that about almost anyone
else, you’d say “Nah. That’s made up.”
But the crazy thing is: With Kobe,
you’ve got to at least consider that it
could be true.
I remember thinking, Yeah, why not?
Not impossible.
There are a lot of legends about Kobe,
about his crazy work ethic in practice
and his intense drive to be the best.
I once heard that he would watch game
film of the first half … at halftime of the
same game.
Then there’s the story that whenever
the Lakers signed a new player, Kobe
would make him play him one-on-one
in front of everyone. Just to show the
new guy who was the boss.
I also heard that in high school Kobe
used to make the bench guys on his
team play him to 100.
I also heard — but, honestly I don’t
know if it’s true — that during draft
workouts, Kobe showed up to another
guy’s session with the Lakers without
asking. Jerry West was there, and he
had never seen someone do that. I
guess the rest is history.
There are only a few athletes in any
sport who have achieved at such a high
level that myths about them mix with
the truth.
Kobe was a myth for me growing up.
I’m from a neighborhood in the Bahamas
called Eight Mile Rock, about as
far away from L.A. as you can get. But
as a kid I only wore number 8 or 24. I
watched a lot of Lakers games on TV.
Those were the Shaq-Kobe championship
years.
On draft night, I got a text from Kobe.
Just like those other Kobe stories, my
first reaction was, Wait, is this real?
(I’ve also heard that Kobe is known to
prank-call people for fun, but I don’t
know if that’s true.)
Draft night came up fast — one minute
it was the NCAA Tournament and
the next thing I knew I was getting
fitted for a suit and all that. Sitting
in the green room I was seeing a lot
of numbers on my phone that I didn’t
recognize. So many people were calling
and texting with advice and predictions
about where I would go, or where I
should go.
A few people were asking, Could the
Lakers take me at No. 2?
So when Kobe texted, my first thought
was, Does he have some … inside info?
I still have the text saved on my phone.
First he said, What’s up? and then said
congratulations. But the last thing he
wrote to me is what I still think about.
“It doesn’t matter where you go,” he
wrote. “It matters more what you do
when you get there. Just go there and
work.”
No inside info. No tips. No recruiting
me to the Lakers or anything like that.
Soon after, the Pelicans picked me at
No. 6.
About a month later, I got another text
from Kobe. Actually, it wasn’t from
Kobe, it was from a mutual friend of
ours. I was out in L.A. working out. Did I
want to work out with Mamba?
Of course I said yes. The friend told me
that Kobe would meet me at the gym at
6 a.m. the next day.
I got nervous. Another story I’d heard
about Kobe was that he has been
known to arrive like 30 minutes early
and if you’re not already there by then,
he just bounces. That’s how serious
he is about being early. So the night
before I set like five alarms. I ended up
getting up at 4 a.m. and just staying in
bed, awake, till about 4:45. Then I drove
to the gym to make sure I was there by
5:30.
When I got there, it was still dark out.
No one was there yet. I had beat Kobe
to the gym. See … that’s the problem
with myths. The story about him arriving
early … I don’t even know if that
story is true. I just believed it. Kobe was
in my head already.
At 6 a.m. sharp, a black Range Rover
pulled up. Kobe got out, shades on, and
said, “What’s up?” We went straight
to work. I tried to observe everything
about Kobe during the workout. I didn’t
know if I’d have another chance like this
again and I wanted to impress him. The
dude is very serious when he works
out. He doesn’t joke around in between
drills or talk about nonbasketball stuff.
It’s all basketball.
That wasn’t a big surprise, but a couple
of things did amaze me. During our twohour
workout, we never left one half of
the court.
That said a lot to me about how Kobe
approaches the game. It’s not all over
the place, it’s very methodical. The way
we did our shooting drills impressed me
even more. It was different. After warming
up, we didn’t do a normal shooting
workouts — like taking 10 shots from
one spot and 10 from another. Kobe was
having me copy specific moves he was
doing, and then repeating them over
and over until I got bored of doing them.
It wasn’t like one dribble to the elbow
for a jumper, it was full sequences —
moves that you might not even attempt
once a game. One move started in the
high post. Kobe pump-faked at the free
throw line and reverse-pivoted into the
lane for a floater. He made me do that
one move maybe 100 times in a row
while he watched.
“MSG!” I said. “I know this one.”
I did know it. It was this move:
“Oh, you’ve studied?” Kobe laughed.
“I’ve studied.”
It was nice to see him crack a smile.
“Well you still don’t have it down,” he
said and pointed to my feet.
We did another 20 reps from the same spot.
I know people like to say that basketball
is all about footwork, but if our workout
was anything like what he did during
his career, Kobe took it to a whole other
level. Actually, if that’s how he worked
out during his career, Kobe treated footwork
kind of like a religion. I watched
a lot of Kobe when I was growing up
and even when he was in his prime
there were other guys in the league
who were way more athletic. But I think
footwork was his cheat code.
At 8 a.m. Kobe said he had a breakfast
meeting to get to. My arms were like
noodles. I was drenched in sweat, we
both were. It felt good. Two hours in the
gym. A good day’s work.
On his way out, he turned to me and
cracked another smile.
“You know, when I was younger I’d have
come back in the afternoon and done
the other half of the court.”
Damn, Kobe.
I’m lucky to be in New Orleans. Everyone
in the city has been really cool to
me. We’ve got Caribbean food here,
which makes me happy, and a lot of
people talk fast here with an accent,
just like me. It’s laid back — my style.
And it’s not a huge city, so I can walk
around and actually talk with people.
People will say things like, “Buddy! You
gon’ put on for the city?”
I can feel their excitement for our team.
I’m a rookie. I’m still adjusting. If I have
an off night, I don’t get down. I see it
as a growth thing. I know it’s a long
season.
Sometimes I think about what Kobe
texted to me on draft night, about the
work being more important than where
you are.
New Orleans is the where part. I’ve got
a coach, team and a city that has my
back.
Now comes the work part. And that
part … you can’t make that part up.
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MAMBA
MENTALITY
BY KOBE BRYANT
I remember when, as a kid, I got my first
real basketball.
I loved the feel of it in my hands. I was
so enamored with the ball that I didn’t
actually want to bounce it or use it, because
I didn’t want to ruin the pebbled
leather grains or the perfect grooves. I
didn’t want to ruin the feel.
I loved the sound of it, too. The tap,
tap, tap of when a ball bounces on the
hardwood. The crispness and clarity.
The predictability. The sound of life and
light. Those are some of the elements
that I loved about the ball, about the
game. They were at the core and root
of my process and craft. They were the
reasons I went through all that I went
through, put in all that I put in, dug as
deep as I dug. It all came back to that
special tap, tap, tap that I first grew
infatuated with as a boy.
My balance, as a young player, is off.
Just look at the dichotomy between us,
starting with posture. Michael is standing
straight from the waist up. He’s not
leaning in either direction, and because
of that he is balanced and centered. He
is in control of his body, and the play.
Compare all that to my defense. Now,
I’m using my forearm to thrust weight
into his back, just like they teach it.
Unfortunately, that’s about all I’m doing
right. I’m leaning forward, which is a
major no-no, and putting too much
pressure on him.
That alone, by dint of gravity, causes
me to be off-balance. As a result, one
move by Michael, one decisive spin right
or feint left, would throw me off and
give him room to either shoot or spin
off of me. This defense is definitely no
bueno. Thankfully, I actually saw this
photo back in 1998. After studying it, I
corrected my posture and balance. After
that, it was a lot harder to operate
against me in the post.
Allen Iverson was small, but he was
also incredible.
My philosophy was to use my height advantage
and shoot over the top of him. I
don’t need to try anything, I don’t need
to go anywhere, I don’t need to try to
back him down. I’ll just shoot over him,
because I can get a clean look.
What I’m talking about is not the same
as settling for a jumper. When Allen was
covering me, I’d receive the ball in favorable
locations, in attacking positions
like the mid-post, because he couldn’t
stop me from catching a pass.
But couldn’t I have caught it even closer,
maybe in the post? Couldn’t I have
taken him off the dribble from 25 feet
out? Maybe, but that wouldn’t have
been smart.
I chose not to catch the ball in the
post, because the Sixers would have
just fronted and trapped me. I could
have squared up and dribbled, but
they would have helped and trapped
in that situation, too. By catching it on
the elbow or mid-wing, I mitigate all of
these schemes, because they couldn’t
front me on the pass and I didn’t need
to dribble to get an open look over the
top of him.
I wouldn’t say my leadership style
changed over the years.
I liked challenging people and making
them uncomfortable. That’s what leads
to introspection and that’s what leads
to improvement. You could say I dared
people to be their best selves.
That approach never wavered. What
I did adjust, though, was how I varied
my approach from player to player. I
still challenged everyone and made
them uncomfortable, I just did it in a
way that was tailored to them. To learn
what would work and for who, I started
doing homework and watched how
they behaved. I learned their histories
and listened to what their goals were.
I learned what made them feel secure
and where their greatest doubts lay.
Once I understood them, I could help
bring the best out of them by touching
the right nerve at the right time.
I always aimed to kill the opposition.
The main thing LeBron and I discussed
was what constitutes a killer mentality.
He watched how I approached every
single practice, and I constantly challenged
him and the rest of the guys.
I remember there was one half when
we were messing around. I came into
the locker room at half-time and asked
the guys—in a less PG manner—what
in the hell we were doing. In the second
half, LeBron responded in a big way—
he came out with a truly dominant
mindset. And I’ve seen him lead that
way ever since.
28 | pro VOICE
pro VOICE | 29

pro
VOICEMAGAZINE
Los Angeles, CA
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