Kobe Bryant’s Last Great Interview

so at 13 years old I had a had a kill list I got a hunt them down now you got a problems right I don't think I'm as I said this before seriously seriously this is gonna be fun Michael and particularly become my big brother the greatest of all time but we call them black Jesus you're not intimidating me we're gonna go at it it's crazy yeah man you're about to take your shot and on all of a sudden boom the kiss of death you know my back was really spasming how the hell do you

tolerate that kind of pain I play games with the flu I play games with 102 degree fever man power they all thought I was absolutely crazy the day Mia shag on the fist fight spike oh yeah that's why I'm not backing down listen dude you got thrown me to Boston man [ __ ] that getting off the rebound if I miss broke you tell them this it doesn't bother you I'm finding what the hell do you want me to do got it [Applause] [Music] here's to tonight's speaker is you ready before I introduce him I

want to tell you what some of his accomplishments are hey I got to tell you some of the things he's done after the first one you're gonna know who it is and if you jacked up about it I want you to holler and bring this building down you ready let me say who it is first first sentence ready you got your lives on you ready he is the greatest Laker of all time five-time champion the only guard to play with one team for 20 years [Applause] more 40-point games than LeBron and Kady let me just

say this guy's more 40-point games than LeBron James and Kevin Durant's more 50-point games more 50-point games than LeBron Kevin Durant and Steph Curry combined and more 60 point games than LeBron James and Michael Jordan combined give it up to the one the only Kobe Bryant [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] bear all right now this is this is a company this is the cop business to come it's awesome wonderful so you know I gotta tell you guys I gotta tell you guys thank you thank you so we got to try to get through

this interview in 60 minutes so you know it's it's it's one of the things a lot of you guys don't know let me get your attention let me get your attention settle down settle you can stay where you are but just settle down just don't make a lot of noise so we can enjoy the interview I get it little balance so you know one of the things most you guys don't know we were in the back Mario was asking me a question Mario asked me question he says what do you think about when you think

about Kobe and I said the first thing that comes to my mind is my dad he says why your dad I said because you know he's born August 23rd 78 yeah I'm October 1878 so you're sick then I have seven weeks older than me so when he came to the lake up in a die-hard Laker fan since you know 1990 when I came to the States from Iran and I never forget this we would sit down watch the game together my dad and I would watch you play and one day Lakers are playing against 76ers

and it's Game one if you know my dad you know he's a lot of heart attacks we're watching Game one Iverson history over uh right yeah game ends they wouldn't get it first game my dad gets up on my dad says Patrick take me to the hospital we went straight to the hospital because it was hard so that's how much we go back grow up it was amazing doing what you did for one organization for twenty years but you know before we get into it before we get into it and kind of talk about what

you're working on today and some of the mental toughness stuff here if I was in high school with you if I was in high school with you yeah outside of your game mm-hmm outside you playing ball who was Kobe Bryant as an individual and personality in high school we were in high school together much the same that I am now actually which is extremely curious extremely curious I had a great teacher in high school name is Jane Mastriano well I'm still I'm still very close to and she sparked my curiosity in writing and the reason

why I felt it was important at the time was not for the writing sake or not for storytelling purposes but there are things in story inherently in story that can help me be a better basketball player be a better teammate a better leader understand emotions better so that's why I got into it it's a storytelling Ashley so it's just insanely curious man and you know trivial things weren't gonna pull my attention it had to be sayings weren't gonna pull my attention it had to be things that were I had a purpose I want it to

be one of the best basketball players to ever play and anything else that was outside of that lane I didn't have time for at what age did that goal become crystal clear down there I made that deal with myself at 13 years old at 13 years 13 years old I made clear about it crystal clear and what did inspiration come from the love of the game the love of the game the challenge like I would watch magic play I'd watch Michael play and I would see them do these unbelievable things and I'd say you know

can I get to that level oh no but let's find out let's find out and so that curiosity to see where I could push this thing led me down that path I think led you down that path I think so now were you were you always competitive from the day you were born you were super competitive competitive with things that I I participate in so I like I'll put it to you this way slight you know Michael is competitive in all things things that don't make sense right ain't pong yeah yeah you know you know

I'm saying so like he would try to get me to play golf all the time Mike I know about you I've written books report about you and like elementary school like I know you started playing golf when you were in Carolina so that means if I'm doing the math you've been playing golf like a hundred years I have not picked up a golf club ever ever the last thing you're going to do is give me on a golf course and annihilate me not gonna do it you've never picked up a golf no I did it

one time and I was hitting like 400 yard grounders grounders and so it got my competitiveness going like I gotta learn this game but then I broke my finger during that year and then I couldn't play much and I was it so so the one thing when I see with you and I think about like brain and I think focus like you know how so many different things brain can get distracted on and I'm gonna put focus on this and focus on this and focus on this do you think one of the edge you had

over everybody else was the biggest percentage of your focus was on one thing listen do you see that way like that was my edge over everybody else I do at the time I didn't really understand that right so you know basketball for me was the most important thing so everything I saw whether it was TV shows whether it was books I read people I talked to everything was done to try to learn how to become a better basketball player everything everything and so when you have that point of view then literally the world becomes your

library to help you to become better at your craft the world becomes your library to help you improve your craft better your craft yes indeed so because you know what she won the world's giving you exactly the information 100-gram better at it because you know what you're looking for so would you when you when you size your peers up how'd you size your peers up like if your size and people I'm talking you're 13 years old your size and peers up what lens are you looking through your peers so at 13 years old I had

a I had a kill list and so you know they used to do these rankings who Street and Smith basketball rankings and I was nowhere to be found because I was like six four scrawny like 160 pounds soaking wet so I was like 57 on the list and so I will look at 56 55 all the way up to number one who these players are with club teams they played for so when we're going to a you travel circuit I got to hunt them down right and so that became my mission in high school is

to check off every other person all those 56 other names hunt them down and knock him down that was it had a target on him right off the bat that was it very simple that's unbelievable let me let me ask you this question you say say I'm one of the guys on that list ahead of you and we play what are you doing to get a feel is it is your mind like are you asking let me see if this guy's better than me in this side and this side and they said are you just

going saying I'm gonna kill this guy well it depends what year so like in that 13 years old I played the longer game because my game wasn't about being better than you at 13 it was it be better than you when you know the chips are really on on the line so we played at 13 I was size you up and see what your strengths and weaknesses are how do you approach the game are you silly about it are you goofy about it are you good at it just because you're bigger and stronger than everybody

else right or is there actually thought and skill that you put into it right and when I play I play to my weaknesses I wouldn't play to my strengths I play to my weaknesses because when you're playing summer basketball there's so many games so there's not a lot of skill work being done so when are you gonna get better right when you're playing in competition situations you're only playing To Your Strengths why because you want to win right so what I would do I always work on the things during those games that I was weak

at left hand pull-up jump shot post game right so I have a strategy and so then fast forward to when I'm 17 and my game is completely well-rounded and that player at 13 that I saw at 13 is still doing the same [ __ ] at 17 now you got a problems right got a problem and you cut and you saw that you got a problem and by the way let me ask you so that's high school you're going to the lead when you're going into the league you're going with a lot of guys that

were you know same age same age you know same classes you were going in yeah will you sizing those guys at the same exact way as you did in high school I did but you know the NBA it was actually easier because what I found that MBA is a lot of guys played for financial stability and when they came to the NBA they got that financial stability so therefore the passion and the work ethic and the obsession the obsessiveness was gone so I'm looking at that I'm like oh my god it's gonna be like taking

candy from a baby that wonder Mike wins all these [ __ ] championships this is crazy you know I'm saying like and then you had the players that had that passion but weren't willing to commit their entire lives to doing that right it's a choice you have other things your family you have all these other things that you have to do the game can't really be your number one priority and so that's what's looking at that like ma'am this is gonna be fun and amuse and amuse you said I knew you couldn't do what I

was doing because I was obsessed I'm paraphrasing and then you said whether it's friends relationship it didn't matter it was all basketball yeah if the fun buddies with you from high school if I'm a cousin of yours what happened to our relationship how did that gravitate when you went into the league and you're you're determined to become the greatest are you determined to become one the greatest what happens to our relationship always suffers it does stuff oh yeah okay yeah and you understood that you were looking at well yeah and the people that love you

like friends and family right they know that about you got it so they let you be you and when you reconvene you know you pick back up where you left off but make no mistake about it everything in between is lost right so those long-term relationships the commitment of time of you know taking Vega like I see a lot of players take vacations with other players that are close friends and I'll just take vacations just to take vacations or just hang out just to hang out like I'm not I never did that why so what

why didn't you do that well because when I retired I didn't want to have to say I wish I would have done more I don't want that you know okay so okay so you come in it's it's very powerful what you just said some of your peers were in it for the money so they got the money okay great buy a house for my mom dad wanted that car get this get that have Fame go to different cities I'm partying I'm doing all this other stuff who are some of the guys that you saw on

your watch that weren't just driven by the money where there's some names that you looked at and says these three guys or as crazy as I am I do at the time I deal with what I've referred to as goat mountain I went to goat mountain and I talked to magic Michael Bird Hakeem Olajuwon Jerry West Oscar Robinson Bill Russell you know so I would talk to them what did you do what were your experiences Michael in particular he's become my big brother it's been my big brother since I first came in the league and

what was that process like so I went to them I started understanding the ins and outs of the game and you know how they approach things and their level of detail and obsessiveness and that's what I did why do you think first let me ask how it felt but I'm curious to know why you think as well how do you feel knowing like from the moment you got into the league the guy at the time he's the greatest of all time everybody wants to be like my Gatorade all this stuff the level of respect he

had for you when he spoke about you was different than everybody else and you're Nadine 19 year old kid at that time yeah how did that feel when you heard how we spoke about you yeah it made me feel good but like what I told him I was like you didn't say anything I didn't already know so you know so like wait I tell you like when we when I was in high school and I used to work out with the 76ers I used to ask him you know what's it like the guard Mike you

know Mike mean black Jesus like what though black hoof but we call him black Jesus or you can call him black cat I'm gonna call him [ __ ] Mike that's his [ __ ] name so the level of fear that he inspired in others was insane and I would tell him I said when I face him we're gonna go at it this is odd you don't want to do that I'm like what man you don't know me man so when we matched up I think he understood that and you know when I was 18

my first year he got the best of me a bunch of times I was right there the next play you're not intimidating me I'm not going anywhere and I think you saw that level of respect I think he was the same way at 18 years old and that common bond is what I think you know where our connection was built yeah it was great watching you guys going back and forth whether it was the all-star game or whether the famous scene where you know you're guarding him he's in front of you're asking him a question

there's a question and he same footwork and do this yeah it's just beautiful watching that take place with the two of you guys how's your relationship today that was my big brother man like I can't you know it's uh we talk often you sent each other's Christmas cards every year and each other Christmas kever year that we have nothing to do with but yet still you know but we're extremely close man extremely extremely close that's dream that's great - yeah you know it's a as a fan I'm not in your world your world is a

whole different world I just see it from a fan and I just see it from what experts say but as a fan I feel that's exactly how would be with you and him because the level of respect from both is reciprocal and it's great to hear that going a little bit past it you know you came into the league you start playing first year you get traded for devack which we were devastated when we lost Vlade Divac hard okay I think he got the sarcasm some of you guys who don't know basketball you missed out

like this but Kobe show I mean I'm like a kid in a candy so when you show up like oh no more sedale trees we can nothing against these guys but we want to entertainment you know yeah so you show up and you play and there was the one game I think you started getting a little bit more playing time I think you did seven point two points again because they won't let you play the coach was just not putting you in there yeah second season was like 15 I I bet if you take your

first three and you played ecology of twenty five point four would probably would be a twenty six five twenty six six top of a number yeah but your first three seasons then the one game it's the last game of the season you play Utah yeah the one where you shoot three air balls at the end I was like five and then you hit one at ystem doesn't go in right and Moses not Malone one of the Malone's came and spoke to you I don't know who was from the Jazz well oh yeah say something you

were not even paying attention Shaq was whispering something in your ear what did Shaq say to you in that moment I don't even know you don't remember no I won't pay attention you know like like it was you know like for me it's maybe it's a little like [ __ ] of me whatever but whatever he was like he was trying to whisper encouraging things I was like I'm [ __ ] fine okay I shot five air balls on national TV in front of millions of people that cost us the series and I'm 18 I'm

fine dude how do you get the meant how does somebody get there mentally with that public humiliation to some people Hurst them and they don't come back because you know there was a player Barbosa I don't know if you remember aboard course remember of course he was extremely talented for a quick first step but they said he wouldn't do well when the spotlight was on him yeah did you get mentally and emotionally so strong where it doesn't bother you well you know it's you got to look at the reality of the situation you know like

for me it's not you know you kind of got to get over yourself I think it's not about you man like okay you feel embarrassed you're not that important like get over yourself yeah that's where you go get over yourself right like you're worried about how people may perceive you and like you're walking around and it's embarrassing because you shot five air balls get over yourself right and then after that it's okay well why did those air balls happen got it high school year before we play 35 games right week in between spaced out plenty

of time to rest in the NBA is back to back to back to back to back to back to back I didn't have the legs so you look at the shot every shot was on line every shot was on line but every shot was short right I got to get stronger I got a train differently the weight training program that I'm doing I got a tailor it for an 82-game season so that when the playoffs come around my legs are stronger and that ball gets there so I look at it with rationale and say okay

well the reason why I shot airboats because my legs aren't there I know I'll make sure they'll be there that was it done done and then what is your process of improvement with your schedule leaving because you know Phil Jackson gets asked between you and MJ right because he coach both of you guys so you know you constantly gets asked that question he's always gonna pick the first child he's gonna pick the first child but I tell you he said something about you that to me it's a level of respect that any player can duplicate

what he said about you to me the level respect for that is a whole different level you can't teach big hands right right you cannot right right you cannot teach 49 48 inch whatever the vertical leap is and ya cannot teach that liar but he said nobody in his history of coaching had your level of work ethic I mean you hear so many so many guys tell stories about your work ethic yeah what was really your work ethic like and for how long did you stay disciplined well I mean I mean every day I mean

since 20 years it was an everyday process and trying to figure out strengths and weaknesses for example jumping ability my vertical was a 40 it wasn't a 46 or 40 45 my hands are big but they're not massive right so you got to figure out ways to strengthen them so your hands are strong enough to be able to palm a ball and do the things that you needed to do quickness I was quick we're not insanely quick I was fast but not ridiculously fast right so I had to rely on skill a lot more I

had to rely on angles a lot more I had to study the game a lot more and but I enjoyed it though so like from the time I was I came remember when I started watching the game I studied the game and it just never changed technical question here how you gonna answer this who would Shaq be if he had your work ethic he'd be the greatest of all time if Shaq had you'll work they'd be the greatest of all time by sure he he'd be the first to tell you that for sure I mean

this guy was a force like I have never seen I mean it was crazy you know a guy that size generally guys at that size or a little timid and they don't want to be tall they don't want to be big man this dude was he did not care he was mean he was nasty he was competitive he was vindictive I mean he was yeah I wish he was in a John Wood had [ __ ] 12 rings he had the work ethic my god yeah Wayne be close Wow and let me ask you let

me ask you this question by the way I'm not asking this question to create feud between you and I am you you don't care sodomy I mean Shaq talks it down all the time when I say dude if your lazy ass in shape I hear you've seen all the time any all right tell them all the time I'm asking this question for a different reason I'm asking this question because look we we've grown as a company extremely fast we went from one office with 66 agents to ten thousand nine hundred offices eight hundred eight and

ten thousand nine hundred agents in 49 states and would have fastest growing insurance company now but I say this I say it for one reason and by the way this message is directed to a lot of you so hear me out very simply the fanic that you say the work ethic side your in fact they say work ethic side and you say hey if you would've worked that hard as I did do you think if he would have had the same level of commitment to the game as you did you guys would have fewer feuds

between each other yeah because I listen I don't I don't deal with people that don't commit at that level but then act as if they do I don't deal with that I don't it's real [ __ ] I'm the other said so like we we used to get into stuff all the time because it was like you know you would say okay Kobe's not throwing me the ball and you know media would take it and run with and also stuff and I'm like well bro if you were in shape by the time I run down

on the fast break and run back and then run down you're still coming down the first time bro like what the hell do you want me to do right so a lot of our contention came from that came from that and even though he was older you were still fit confronting him you didn't you didn't kill I didn't care manly one bro from day one I knew for sure Rick Fox my teammates they all thought I was absolutely crazy the day Mia Shaq got in a fistfight after that day they were like okay Kobe you're

certifiable let's fight oh yeah I'm not backing down listen either you want to whip my ass or I'm we want to have a knife but you know hey no way you know there's a there's a level of respect and for Shaq to by the way now I know he's told me that that day was a big turning point for him because it was like you know he's generally used to talking trash and saying what he wants and nobody really stepping up and challenging him on that and when he saw me challenge him on that he

was like this kids crazy alright I can win with that you know and so that was kind of the beginning of our relationship I think that's probably never happened to him that's probably not something that's common to him no it's awesome salsa Terry years old or something right it was all this is all coming back to me right now this is also a game in Phoenix my first year we were playing he kept posting up but they can't found him so he kept going to freeze a lot of kept missing him and so he throw

the ball out to me I'm not throwing that [ __ ] back in there oh I kept shooting him right so we get the timeout he's like hey uh hey I'm open like okay so if we go out and same thing coming hey I'm open okay okay come again hey dude you gotta throw me to Boston man [ __ ] that get it off the rebound if I miss bro you told them this first you're 18 years old man 18 years old I must have been out of my damn mind so did you have guys

you went to outside of the players like when you come in to figure out a way to improve your your game we had Billy Beane here a couple days ago and I don't know if you know Billy Beane is if you seen a movie Moneyball he's worse Billy be horse so he talked a lot about predictive analytics he talked about the fact that the year Moneyball came out that your prior to that they paid players and looked at on-base percentage as eight stats and the your Moneyball came out all the scouts started making on base

percentage number one was a recruit aful right did you have ways to improve your game by looking at data looking at conditioning what were some of the factors you looked at on how to improve your game season after season the game itself was it's a it's a complicated answer so there there are very tactical things in terms of footwork and geometry of the court so you're looking at the court and looking at the 45-degree angle is that the court is is shaped in and how it needs to operate that's one component to it so looking

at spots on the floor where you can increase your efficiency right you can be on the wing but there's a certain spot on the wing that improves your angle to drive to the basket right so that's sort of stuff footwork of the opposition looking at the emotion of the opposition their tendencies their weaknesses and all that stuff understanding the momentum of the game how to create momentum shifts where momentum ships come from all this sort of stuff and then studying outside of that right looking at different industries looking at conductors looking at riders looking at

actors and how they get into character and then how they keep themselves in that mental space so looking at different different industries looking at nature itself learning from that and how you can incorporate that into the game man it's it was a lot of studying what's your process for making a decision do you have a flow of how you go through making a decision depends on the decision depends on the decision if we're talking about you know a basketball decision we're read a certain coverage or something like that and a lot of that comes from

the the pre-work pre-work and understanding what their defensive packages and how to put teammates in certain situations so for example if you look at players nowadays that are charged with taking game-winning shots or making game-winning decisions and you look at the play and then you look and say okay well that shooter was there the double-team came and you know the player can do anything but pass the ball right well that's because they didn't do the pre-work right so we do the pre-work you understand okay this team in a situation likes to run a double-team from

this particular angle all right so I'm gonna clear that side out force the double-team to come from a different angle move myself to a space on the floor where it's gonna take a long time for the double-team to come and now I can circumvent the double-team and get to a place on the floor where I can knock down a shot to get to the basket so it's it's all pre-work the decision when I say decision how was a if you're looking at somebody that you were sizing up or if you're looking at somebody to go

into business with if you're looking at a big investments you got to make what is the decision making process there do you call is their first you do your own research you take this much time you call an advisor reserve is there a system you know it's pretty pretty simple for me if it sits do you understand the business is it a business that you can help in some form of fashion whether the barriers entry to that business and then the entrepreneurs themselves the company that itself do they have a culture that you believe is

sustainable are these leaders people that you believe in are they people that are obsessive and in turn have they created a culture of obsessiveness so I tend to look at those four factors and that's it that's that's big right there by the way I don't know if you guys caught that right there that's pretty massive right there earlier you said I'm probably not gonna get this right a 16 year old a 13 or 11 year old yeah 13 16 13 2 & 1 that's a month 1 that's a month by the way right one that's

a month all girls all girls 4 4 4 so 16 means you're in your fifth sixth year 60 or having a baby yes it's something like that right give or take what was the conversation like with your wife to say listen this is the schedule because look you know some entrepreneurs they're coming home at night and late oh my gosh my wife is upset because I came home at 7:30 oh my goodness what a sacrifice I'm making you know this wipes you know I don't know if I can do this sure you're on the road

nine months out of the year if you play Doland you want to gold medal so you're doing that on the off season are you trying to get that part going and training for doing your camps what is the conversation life would like with your wife and kids to say listen this is what I'm doing how did that conversation go well what the kids is different so like the communication would be with our children is a Pop's is working hard this is the level of attention to detail you need to have in everything you do so

it's it's setting the example same thing with my wife my wife's a stay-at-home wife it's the hardest job man so she works really hard at that I mean it's you know and so her attention to detail with that as well or examples for our children and then for my wife it's you know she's as competitive as I am she's just like listen man if you're gonna be out here training eight hours a day if you're gonna spend nine months out of year away from the family you better [ __ ] win the championship go ahead

okay what are we doing this for what are we doing up what are we doing love that you know but it's a balancing act and that's the thing that's important is understanding that we have to have so much energy because for like Natalia and Gianna when they were babies especially not Thalia because it was doing prime years and I go to practice and I train and play the game and I come home and I'd be sore and I'd be tired and she wants to go swimming and she wants me to take her to the park

she wants to just jump on my back or whatever the case may be you can't say I'm too tired I'm going to lay down mmm that's not fair she doesn't know what the hell is going on right and if this was a game you'd suck it up and play I play games with the flu I play games with 102 degree fever man I can't do that hey all-powerful you gotta be on man that's they that you guys would you would you sit at the because you you're obviously very detailed your show I mean you're very

very detailed guide would you guys have a meeting like I sit in it's okay if I'm cold I'm thinking like Kobe let's just say Kobe's trying to schedule out his your season is about to start would you sit with her and say okay babe this is the schedule next 12 months tell me about birthdays tell me about this yeah is that is that what you guys do yeah I look at it and say okay birthdays what am I missing Valentine's Day Halloween Christmas you know Easter like all that fun stuff I look at the schedule

and see what I'm there for what I'm not there for Christmas is in a road game or a home game this year and then we make a family decision family travel do I come back like sometimes I fly back like I'd play a game and to not miss my daughter's birthday I'd fly back be there for a birthday and then fly back with the team yeah just to make sure I don't miss anything respect what's the least amount of sleep you played a game on no there's story where it's like you know no one knows

about what you went and played a game and it was so insane for whatever reasons no sleep you played a game games really seriously it's like you know kids Mitali I had a certain you know health situation what have you and you staying up all night and then you got to go out and perform because fans don't know teammates don't know nor do they care nor should they that you've been up all night you got to perform right and so you just got it's got to go to work man's respect that's respect and and I

think one of the things for some if you follow basketball or not that you and Mike had in common is that it wasn't say I'm gonna take eight games off this year to try to stay healthy you know like that to you as comic I like to do that the hell is that and I don't know that it is this crazy seriously it's crazy like you know you got a lot of people playing their hard earned money to come watch you perform perform before sure a job to be in shape it's your job to be

strong enough to perform at that level every single night and as a competitor I'm not I'm not ducking [ __ ] like it's not oh my god I'm my back hurts I'm sore we got to play Vince Carter and Toronto Raptors tonight we actually had this happening we had a game against Toronto and 2000 and Vince was tearing the league oh my back was jacked jacked but like the perception of that like blood Kobe's missing the game against Toronto Vince Carter because my back was really spasming but people will be like what oh he's ducking

Vince excuse me no I don't think so so I would be in the layup line like okay there's a lot of days where you know you can rest and recover today ain't one of them your back can bother you any other day that [ __ ] even bothering me today we gonna he gonna have to see me today yeah oh man yeah he was another one that came in you thought for sure you know he was gonna be where the and a whole different league when he came and obviously he just extract know what his

vertical leap was 46 47 out of this war or what he does best dunker I've ever seen insanity I mean insanity is why they call him that so crazy you're an alpha you have a very strong personality extremely strong personality and then you got a team with Shaq and then you got a team with Phil Jackson and you guys are all working together how was it taking coaching from an alpha in urine alpha and was there a progression of you finally understanding him or him understanding and what did that look like the relation between you

and Phil no at first it was rocky but I didn't understand it was rocky and let me elaborate I was extremely naive and with Phil and his genius his responsibility was to get the team to a place to win titles it wasn't a piece to appease one player it wasn't to look out for this player it was to get the collective whole to win a championship so he would do whatever it took to make sure that that happened hmm he would see the friction between myself and Shaquille and say okay how can I use that

alright I know Kobe has a passion of play so come hell or high water doesn't matter what's going on in his personal life doesn't matter what's happening here with the team he's gonna show up and perform no matter what Shaq is more emotional if something's going on he won't so therefore I got to figure out how to create a wedge between myself and Cole because then that brings me closer to Shaquille and then that helps me better man in Shaq so that was his ability to manage the team which was absolutely brilliant I should tell

him all the time I said Phil look I know what you're doing bro like don't insult my intelligence I know you're being a dick to me on purpose like just like tell me no no okay you don't stick stay with all right cool all right how's your relationship tilted em you guys want fights like a father-figure really yeah it feels like a father-figure man so when you were hearing all the experts saying what there was in comment there saying what they were saying about Phil how were you taking that when they were saying what they

were saying about him with when he was at the Knicks I thought it was funny I thought it was funny I told Phil said Phil I know this is all just Karma for writing literally three books about me this is your karma I did tell this is all in good fun but I was upset because people don't understand him and he is a genius and every sense of the word and how he sees the game how he sees the spirituality of the game and people don't understand that and worse than that they're intimidated by that

and even worse they try to discredit that because they do not have the level of passion and obsessiveness obsessiveness to get to that level so they figure the best thing to do is to tear that level down that's [ __ ] up I'm with you there are harder percent by the way [Music] obviously had a lot of interesting rituals you would hear about the yoga you would hear about all the stuff that we do he would do but it's a weirdest thing he did with you in practice that you're like what the hell are we

doing here yeah he had a Tai Chi master come to practice and we walk out there and you know the Tai Chi master standing center court and tells us to take our shoes off take our shoes off and I'm pissed because I'm I'm ready to like play basketball he's standing up there and says everybody closes your eyes and stuff and he does stuff like monk gazing at moon and talks about the fingertips and barely touching in the spirituality of all that and I'm peeking around like he's everybody doing it [ __ ] like going on

and there you know big-ass Phil Phil's there doing it himself he's like you know he's doing this whole like doing all this stuff you know I'm like damn okay I'm gonna try it but honestly it it I bought into it I bought into the meditation I bought into the deeper connection that exists within the game and so when you watch our teams or you watch any of Phil's teams or Chicago teams game 6 against Utah you watch our games you know Game seven against Boston we were never rattled ever because we're always in the moment

always in the present always extremely calm always looking at the reality of the situation and not letting our emotions cloud our execution and that comes from being a meditative state that you would teach and preach from day one what would he take you back would he take you back would he take you back and say you had a terrible game and it was you know the season prior would he take you back and say we're gonna watch this game it was a worst loss we had it was absolutely embarrassing for you to kind of see

what things you did to him for was he that kind of was he know it was more about fundamentals and improving the game one he was very hands-off in the sense of if you allow players to develop who allow you to find your truth and then go after it he was there to simply guide you along that journey which I actually learned from him and that's how I parent and that's how I coach my daughter's team now so that's why I say he's a father figure because I've learned so much from him as a coach

that I take as a father as a husband and as a coach myself but he was very he's very observant was he a one on better one on one or one on few like one on one versus one at 12 okay if I'm having a team meeting and I'm talking to guys to rally them or calm him down or it's okay strategy where is he very good one-on-one just you and him closed doors yes great conversationalist but hated confrontation he hated comfort direct confrontation is not his thing doesn't do it never did well with it

had a lot to do with how he grew up in his you know his brother his siblings and father and so forth I saw hates direct confrontation and he knew that about himself so that's why a lot of his challenges were indirect he went to the media with things so he's very indirect he would never challenge a player directly didn't like that yeah he said one time you guys had a meeting and he set you down a shack done and says listen I know you guys think you're alpha I'm a bigger alpha into both of

you guys did that ever take place was not really not no it was more like you know he would say it in film sessions not with me and shag like he never sat me and shag down like him me and shag he never told god no you kidding why wouldn't you those at the concert a I'm sure it'd be a little terrifying for got it it mad at me Phil you never seen Phil walk I mean Phil you know he's got like one good hip one like the best day of his life it's like if

some [ __ ] goes down he is doing nothing to break that up so I'm so much a little intimidating but what he would do is he would do things indirect and it wasn't about calming the waters it was about stirring up the waters and creating a storm that eventually will lead this broken ship to the shore it was trying to get to in the first place with you constantly instigating and steering kanessa way that's what he was doing it so like if you ever seen the movie Moana if anybody has kids here I'm sure

you've seen Juan oh right when she goes out and all of a sudden there's a storm and she loses her mind thinks everything is lost and all of a sudden she wakes up and she's right where she was supposed to be that's fit that's a great example that a great example so we're coming down to the last 15 minutes I got a list of questions that I'm not gonna get to but I do want to ask a couple these is you're playing against the Golden State Warriors score is 107 109 you guys are close to

getting into the playoffs you know exactly what happens in the game you go up you're about to take your shot and then all of a sudden boom you're Healy's happens right friend of mine Nima he is here just to listen to he played ball and he told me sis Patrick I don't think you understand he says when I told my achilles in high school there's four friends of mine dragged I was crying from there straight to the hospice it's I have no clue how the hell this guy did it he went and hit the free

throws and then you walked off the stage yeah you got the surgery back yeah how the hell do you tolerate that kind of pain you know I tell this example and I think this is the best way to explain it you know you have a hamstring injury you pull your hamstring really really badly you can barely walk right let alone play anything soccer basketball volleyball whatever it is can't do anything doctor tells you go home sit up on the couch rest your hammie right stay off of it don't get up no sudden movements you're at

home all of a sudden of a fire breaks out in the home right your kids are upstairs [Music] you know wife is wherever she may be you know as shits going down all right I'm willing to bet that you're gonna forget about your hamstring you're gonna sprint upstairs you're gonna grab your kids you'll make sure your wife's good you're getting out of that house right hamstring be damned you're not gonna fill your hamstring right and the reason is because the lives of your family are more important than the injury of your hamstring and so when

the game is more important than the injury itself you don't feel that damaged not at that time so you go to the locker room you guys had a shot that you know to go into the play you guys were a team that no one wanted to face even though there was conflict you know maybe if you would have gone round one who knows maybe the white would have gone together he knows who knows what what's gonna happen you were the kind of team that look it's just a painting about to face these guys I was

hoping you don't make the playoffs right I'm sure a lot of people were very happy that you guys didn't make the playoffs a year but you go into the locker room and then one of the reporters comes up to you and he says to you Kobe are you convinced that they told you it's probably torn Achilles they're gonna do an MRI are you pretty convinced that's what it is and your ass and answer is yeah then one of the reporters says but if anyone is gonna get through this it's probably you right you put your

head down and you say oh man [ __ ] right in your tears in your eyes yeah did you say all man [ __ ] because everybody's expecting me to be invincible man like freaking let me just play the fan game I'm a human being is that kind of what you were thinking or so like the world's expect me to come back in the next month cause I'm Kobe like what were you thinking about all that pressure I was thinking like I don't know if I can do this the kilise were like the kiss of

death yeah athletes like yes I don't I don't know if I can do this I don't know there's so many factors is the surgery that has to take place the surgery has to go well right and then just it's a tendon I'm not dealing with anything that's muscular things that I can control I can't control a tendon you know and so I like No and then thinking about what that process of recovery is going to look like it's a long one do I want to do that [ __ ] I don't I don't know if

I only do it I don't know so that was the hardest part you don't know if you want to do it or you don't know if you are gonna be able to come back from it both like oh no if I can do it I don't know if I want to do without it miss it's a long process but like when I win the trainer's room my kids are in there and you know they're looking at you and stuff and I'm looking at them and I'm like you know sorry dad's gonna be all right would

be fine it'll be alright it'll be alright it'll be alright as a parent you gotta set the example you gotta set the example this this is another obstacle this obstacle cannot define me it's not going to [ __ ] me it's not going to be responsible for me stepping away for the game that I love I'm gonna step away on my own terms and that's when the decision was made that you know what I'm doing it doing it I noticed a lot of times you go and you talk about like the even the example use

right now if your hamstrings are this your down your wife's upstairs your kids your going to think of my gun or so did you have a lot of these sinners you will you use your wife and your kids to use as no excuse I'm gonna get through this was that a mental conversation you had that nobody could hear yeah you got to lead by example there's parents you got to leave by example if you want your kids to do whatever it is they want to accomplish in life you have to show them hmm you can't

you got to show them that's what I tried to do and you're obviously doing that man at a whole different level at alter ego let's do alter ego in and I want to kind of go into the story side and how you went into the story telling that you wanna get it guys this guy won an Academy Award he's a basket how the hell does that make any sense right there's a frickin Academy Award right so alter ego alter ego you know sometimes we are so worried about what other people think about us you know

it's like oh my gosh what if they think I'm crazy what if they think I'm over obsessive or competitive and what if this is like you're too much this is just not healthy for you to be thinking this way right yeah how did you get your mindset into this alter ego to be comfortable being black mama look how did that happen it's a good separation for me you know emotionally to be able to put myself in a place where at practice or when I'm training or during games I switched my mind to something else I

switched my mode into something else right for me it's the equivalent of Maximus Decimus Meridius and gladiator picking up the dirt smelling dirt is go Tom right so that was my mental switch it was like an actor getting ready for a film you got to put yourself in that cage when you're in that cage you are that character and then when you leave there is something completely different when I'm in that cage bro don't [ __ ] touch me don't talk to me leave me alone I used to be certain games like for like certain

key games I don't think I'm as I said this before this kind of makes me seem very psychotic but whatever I used to play the Halloween theme song over and over and over in my headphones pregame seriously seriously seriously and it was important that it was Michael Myers because the mask itself was the void of emotion void of emotion sure it has nothing to do with hype has nothing to do with camaraderie stone-cold killer and I would listen to that song over and over and over again that's that's when you know you better run because

that's what a lot of people that this probably coming out of you know my story yeah so told me you've probably made in this 50 minute conversation I don't know 12 metaphors so typically people that make metaphors they're storytellers to them everything has to paint a picture and from the day one you're talking on you were very curious right so when you finish the last game you had and I'll never forget we were having a training by the way in Dallas and we finished it this was three years ago and my sister and I get

home it's 12:30 I was hoping I could catch the game it's your last game you playing you Tom yeah and I'm stand-up the entire time I'm getting the last four minutes which is the best freaking four minutes and I see your shacks and go for 50 and then you you're just going and you're not heading easy shots these are not easy shots you hit your last shot you scored sick guys nobody has ever had a 60 point game to retire with or happen like it's insane for this to happen you hit your 60 points I

gotta say this my sisters in the room Kolby I got tears coming down now watching you when this happens because 20 years I've been following this guy and I relate to you because in the insurance world I take a lot of your similarity you may be in a complete different world I'm looking at the world here and it's just like seeing this guy he's so freakin determined to say I came and gave everything I had and I'm gonna give it to the last frickin second that's what you did but then you leave and you're like

no it's good I'm cool you tell your story you give your message everybody's flipping out you're like now Kobe's gonna come back now go Vinny you're going are you going to your story telling all this stuff how did that disconnect and going into that going you're still helping out a lot of players you're always advising Laker you know Jeannie calls you anybody calls you're helping out no problem but how did that just me go from there to all of a sudden now I got to go tell stories yeah did that happen because I love it

so you know started for me again in high school when I started learning about storytelling writing how to structure a story how to put together how to thread together a narrative that has a bigger message how to create compelling characters how to take some of the emotions from not from my own journey and instill them into characters that inspire or teach the next generation therefore they can avoid some of the pitfalls and landmines that I had to go through that's something I'm extremely passionate about so I loved it so it wasn't a matter of May

I got you know I got to put this aside I got move on to something else I was excited and I can't wait to get started I can't wait to move on and do something else and everybody kept saying man like it my wife asked me one time we were filling out a form for school and it said father occupation she's like what am i what am I supposed to put down you know I want storyteller you want me to write storyteller or your kids form Wow yeah I guess I mean that's what I'm doing

because dude really artifice producer I don't know right but during that year everybody kept coming up to me and saying okay you're gonna have stages of grief when you retire are you're gonna go into a state of depression when you retire and those are all normal and also their stuff and I'm like dude I'm fine yes of course you would say that I said that to my two [ __ ] man and so I have to a while just start listening like oh yeah yeah you know and then my competitive competitiveness inside was like no

I'm gonna do something in the next 20 years that is better than these last 20 you might not understand that I'm doing that you know you know so the competitiveness kicks in you gone same determination what's your current work schedule look like today it's it's uh it's different because I personally am NOT writing every word of the novels I am not animating the films what I have to do now is make sure that the people that we bring in these obsessives that we bring in are challenging themselves to do the best job that they think

they can do that's what I'm there for is for them to constantly look in the mirror and self assess and challenge themselves if we have a project and you're saying okay I can do that that's not the project we want the projects that say I don't know if I can animate that I don't know how to write that story I don't know how to do that those are the things we want because through that curiosity you'll reach a level that you didn't think was possible and so running the studio that's what I'm doing [Applause] are

you a you a big movie guy your views okay so how do you watch movies like you know my experience that people watch movies in many different ways not everybody watches movies the same way when you're watching movies how are you watching a movie I watch him multiple times and I wear different hats every time so the first time I watch it I watch it just as a fan for pure entertainment value then I watch it from the directors lens and see why he made some of the scissors or she made some of the decisions

that she made for the film and then I look at the lighting lighting oh yeah light and assuring the important course oh yeah that now listen to the music and then you can challenge yourself by really understanding the directors point of view if you watch a film without music and without sound then you can actually see the film for what it is so I'll watch it at different different stages I mean obviously Academy Awards that you won the gentlemen you hired for the sound was in a jump is it John William John will do the

right and John Williams is like the goat in his world oh you know a modern-day Beethoven yeah this guy I mean this guy's compose any song right now that you can remember from a film he's done Superman theme did that Indiana Jones did that Jaws did that Harry Potter did that the Olympics theme did that - I mean the list goes on and on and on and on and you know he's like 85 years old that's crazy yeah man doing the new Star Wars film now Oh Star Wars - that part you did that one

- yeah so when you say recruiting and putting a team together with your projects today who are you recruiting like you know if you're putting a basketball team together Union GM president you know trainers all this stuff assistant good coach what do you need right now when you put it for example right now building out an animation house right so you got to start with the head of the snake yeah look at the person that's better understands the type of animation that you want to create and they have to be obsessives have to have a

knowledge base the historical knowledge base because I love people that understand the history of their industry ends an ounce of it all and then you you bring that person into the picture and then you allow them to do what you brought them in to do so you leave them alone kind of like Phil left you guys alone - I'm not gonna hire you to tell you how to do your job got it so recruiting well obviously in the league you were known as a great recruiter so what is your recruiting approach so if you're sitting

down with me I'm somebody you really want you really want me on the team what's your approach to recruit me you want first place come play with me you want a second place go somewhere else it's too much fun here final thoughts man what are we going to see with Kobe next 20 years what other projects got in mind that you're working on right now the biggest challenge for us is looking at the entertainment industry and how to diversify it particularly in animation but also in writing and and and young wai' a novels middle grade

novels how to create more diverse characters how do we have better representation how do we create better opportunities not just an ethnicity but also gender diversity I have four girls right so my mission is to make sure women have opportunities that they are haven't been afforded that is my made I'm the father of four girls so that is my next obsession is how do we lead that charge from the front how do we take an animation industry that lacks in diversity substantially lacks in diversity how do we take some of those old animation techniques and

teach a whole new generation of animators to come in and create films to inspire the world and we're getting after it I think everybody knows crystal clear Kobe is gonna get whatever Kobe wants man brother appreciate you for coming out and truly this has been a blast maybe some noise Kobe Bryant thank you I got a gift for you my doll I gave him the gift thank God let me give you this gift alright let me give you this gift you have it so first one I'm gonna give you is this this is something that

you represent and we have to go get your size and it's just saying that post-game you are now an entrepreneur so we're giving you shirts this right that's your word and next one word you said script so we went and got a Star Wars for the hawaikan script signed by JJ Abrams man space oh that's amazing I hope roll wait thank you I hope you enjoyed thank you thank you thank thankful coming on then thank you no thank you for coming out thank nabob thank everybody make those Kobe Bryant well [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]