Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryantis an American retired professional basketball player. He played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships with the Lakers. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team. He led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, and ranks third on both the league's all-time regular season scoring and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth23 August 1978
CityPhiladelphia, PA
CountryUnited States of America
It's disgusting, but my father taught me when your mouth gets dry, just suck the sweat out of your own jersey. There's no bravado to any of it; it's just a disgusting little trick.
A lot of times things get blown out of proportion in a negative light, especially in the NBA, ... But there are a lot of players in the NBA who really care about the community and want to use their basketball-playing ability for a good cause.
It really doesn't matter to me. We're just talking about clothes. I can understand what the NBA is trying to do. I love my sneakers, but we're just talking about clothes.
I had some shots that I felt like I should've made; I just didn't make them. I'm not going to shoot the ball great every night.
It doesn't bother me at all. Do I hold any hard feelings? Not at all, ... Life is too short to sit around and hold grudges. I don't hold any whatsoever.
I have my own identity ... The whole Michael thing does drive me nuts sometimes because people won't leave it alone. He's bald, I have hair. He's almost 40, I'm 22. Seriously though, I wish people would let it be and let me just be Kobe.
I realize now that there's a strength in dunking that I can use to my advantage. When you dunk all the time it isn't as demoralizing to the opponent, but when you dunk at a key moment in the game you can use it to change the momentum.
The motivation for me is just the game itself, just playing the game the right way and trying to win, compete every time I step out there on the floor. That's motivation enough for me to go out there and play well.
You just try to take it one day at a time, ... You step on the basketball floor and just play. It's fun. I'm comfortable with it.
It doesn't matter to me what place I get traded to. If I was traded someplace - I'd play anywhere.
I'm just so excited. We all are. We've been waiting for this [the gold medal] for years now and it's finally here. This meant so much. It just felt so good.
The people who truly know me know what I'm like. There have been people who try to say things that aren't fair, and I check them. And then they don't like me because I checked them.
I don't just try to score. The challenge is elevating my teammates to be able to win a championship.
I grew up in front of these people, and now they are seeing me as an 'older' young man.