Kobe Bryant Jersey Retirement Press Conference (12/18/17)

Koby, to your left, remember these days, it's good to see them. Hi Coby, for someone who has been obsessed with the greats of the game since you were a kid. You're about to see your t-shirts rise to the rafters. Can you put it into words? What legacy means to you, well, you know, it's hard to put into words. I think that's what you know, growing up and watching all these great players play and learning a lot from them to now be part of that wall. You know it means everything to you. For me and I think legacy is really important in the sense that what we've done is incredible, but I think the most important thing for a legacy is how it affects the next generation, the

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s that are hanging in the rafters now.

The impact they have had on me and that led us to be here now at this moment. I think that's the true mark of a legacy: how well it impacts the next generation. go the message that the - to Sione's chambers of players to come - message for your response like you have that they want to dream big Christmas you have to work every day for this year more important than this you are going to be people who don't crane into dream load in every day that no for no no no it is not possible that your what to make come true - you have it that his charles to whose motives are low a motive motivation invoice fast to Kobe around here he is so driving today I'm sure you saw the crowd of people outside all these people and you're not even playing Tonight I mean you've been retired, the effect you have on this city is what you've ever been and all that or is it something you can feel, you know, it's strange , man, you know, because growing up you just want to play basketball, you know?

I mean, once I won championships, I wanted to be considered one of the greats and that was all driven internally on an individual basis and as you get older and now that I sit here, I realize that it's not really about that. things, those things have a greater meaning to them and the question is how well you can affect or impact others, not from the sense of fandom or whatever the case may be, but through your actions, your behavior, your commitment to the game, how can that inspire people? being so engaged in whatever field they choose to be a part of and that's where I think the connection that we have and we've fed off that energy.

I fed off his energy for many years and I think that's the best reaction you say Ted, so okay, here I go. I'm glad to see you again. I remember the first day you walked onto the ground and I'm thinking that little boy is still inside you somewhere. You can go? Go back there and think about even imagining this has happened and just the emotions of dealing with all this praise and at the same time, have you had a chance to look outside and see what's going on on Colby Lane? I have not had the chance. look outside and see, I mean, I saw it driving and what it's like and then second of all, I can remember being a kid again because that kid inside me never goes away and all the years I've been playing here.

That kid inside of me has never left, I mean, one of the first things I did when I walked into the forum when his lights were off, he was dimly lit and I looked up and looked at all the t-shirts that were there because I've seen him. many times on videotapes before and before each game. I made it a point to look up and remind myself what I'm playing for. You know how I got here and what we stand for. I appreciate all this. As you evolved as a person, appreciation comes in moments, it comes in increments.

You know, you go through a moment in time and you realize you're going too fast. You know, I really get to appreciate everything that's happening. You take a moment and you appreciate it, but the reality is you can't stay there, you know what I mean, because then you'll never be able to grow and evolve properly, so there are moments of gratitude and then eventually you have to move on and focus. with his head down on what comes next and then comes up for air from time to time we are in the center OB ciao for a needle totally Mazzio at work career in crafts Italy questa comedy receiving test pin Sato wisdom in veena molto cheerful volleyball Rima approaching at this moment come to arrest so the communist enemy sent Pachi Pachi I feel like a guru too the Koala to speak a fat cow acres of coral fat water are all inside the Apache right there mark Kobe, we saw you up in the medium I can never get it right guys like you know what I'm going to solve finally okay go ahead we could give you a pass tada we saw you obsess over basketball your whole life twenty years I think some people wondered what their life would be like It would be like no there would be basketball every day, so tell us how you manage, you know what has made many players and former players come to me.

Last year, really worried, right? You will be fine? Hey? Yes, I will do it. It's okay as it is, listen, you are going to be progressive, the first week, it will be a state of serious de

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ion, the second week, you will get angry, the third week you will start to recover, you will have a level of acceptance. I'm like no, seriously, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine and I think the most important thing is to find what you love to do, that's the hardest part and it took work like the basketball would have been born to play in the second phase.

What we're doing took a lot of work, a lot of soul searching, a lot of research and trying things out, but when you figure out what it is that you love to do, do you do it? I wake up every morning with a sense of purpose, you know, so my life has been great. I am a member of a great routine. You know, I work out at five o'clock every morning, I take the kids to school, I have breakfast with my wife. through office work, picked up the kids and then from there, you know, volleyball here, basketball, here, soccer, there, you know what I mean and that's my routine, Coby, what process you went through when writing your speech and I assumed?

You may have talked to some people or some people, what a part-time speech. I didn't write a speech so I left to head your head and write a speech and also as to how often you come back, you think about hell. I'm going to say, I repeat, I literally didn't hear anything you just said right now he's completely thinking about what he was going to say. Go ahead, how did you work on your speech during halftime? What did you do? I'm doing everything. I was doing it while you were asking the question, okay, I don't know, I don't know, I guess you just sit in the moment and then you let whatever is inside me at that moment just come, just move forward. and you know, I think preparing for things like this isn't really true, you know you just have to sit in the moment, absorb it and then whatever comes out comes out, hey goby, last time you were here you just scored.

It's six to your last game after twenty years of playing tonight you're literally walking around with a stroller so what goes through your mind the first thing you think about is that you're walking again I hope all these cameras that are flashing don't Wake up Bianca, this girl has a lot of energy, man. I'm trying to make my biggest worry of the night whether she's going to be able to sit there for the entire game and try to run out onto the court because she does. I don't like to sit for too long, so that's my biggest challenge of the night, but I feel great and I'm very proud to come here with my family.

I'm proud that Bianca has the opportunity to be in this environment, even though she won. I don't really remember any of that. It feels good as a father to be able to have my family come and share this night with him. comforts when you realize, oh, I see that Kobe, you came into the league around the same time as Iverson, but you came to basketball from very different places, but the impact was similar and I'm wondering if you've thought about the impact that and he had that kind of Jordan-free post-LeBron era where the game was really floundering and needed someone to show the way, well, I remember when we came in, I mean, we were the draft that was full of a bunch of misfits, this is everything that's wrong with the game, I mean, an Ireson, you know, you just know he doesn't fit the mold, he's not marketable in this whole thing and then you have a kid that you need to Burt before every practice because he's so young, you know? so we were kind of misfits in all of this, but inside of us, you know, we just had a passion for the game, all of us, Ray, we all had a passion, Steve, you know, the passion for the game and you know math replaced everything, and so on. eventually things evened out and you know the fans started to see us for who we were and what we came to be, but yeah, I definitely had a significant impact on the culture and it was fun to compete against them.

Kobe, you obviously wanted to be the best player, what do you think about now when you hear the comparisons? Kobe Michael Kobe LeBron things like that I don't, I don't know, one thing about me is that I'm only going to worry about something that I know I can definitely win, it's not something I can definitely win, I'm not going to pay attention to it, you know, so yeah There is an argument, that argument will never go anywhere, everyone will argue about it, they are blue in the face, so why would I think? about it you know I'm here if we're playing ping-pong and I know I can beat you at ping-pong.

I'm going to beat you with the pink ball. I'll think about that. That is something definitive. No, I don't think about that much, hey Kobe, everyone is talking about who was better Kobe, number eight or number 24. I really want your answer, thanks, well, it depends, it depends if it helps playing at 24 after you broke his. Achilles and it's a problem for 24, you know, I mean, if 24 is playing it's 8 when he knows Tori's shoulder and it's a problem for number 8, so it just depends Joey Joey the questions the first one like this life after Valence this the second how is it good tonight Morales very nice because this with family every day school I go round like wagon sports dispersed school school dinner Kamiya all the things that before I leave no one no one I said yes turn look like this step step ok so poor guy I'm here with my family I have to talk about us OS OS one thing I can't do no no so I can do no no so my happy very happy Kobe Anthony Gilbert who magazine nba.com my question for you is when you talked about looking at the numbers of the retirees

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s you saw Wilt Chamberlain and you're from Philly even though you grew up here most of your life, what does it mean on a night like tonight to be the only player to have two jerseys retired?

What does that mean for your hometown and for your family, well, I mean, that's the attitude I play with, the temper, the competitiveness, the trash talking, it all comes from there. I mean, I spent long days in Tustin that summer and playing against Overbrook, Chamberlain did his thing. You know, I mean, it all comes from there, so I'm really happy to represent at that level and to have the guys from Philly with their jerseys hanging there is pretty awesome for all of you. You should get free water ice every time. I got there by the way, not only the US but the world is watching and we know that you just announced plans for the first MBA school in China, what kind of legacy you want to leave in China and also around the world, and also I.

I'm curious: do you still sometimes wake up at 4 in the morning? Well, I wake up at 4 every morning. I just do not know. Don't know. I wake up at 4 and have nothing to do. so miles would work and I was fine and I'll do the things I need to do and in terms of moving forward it's about educating it's about teaching it's about teaching the game it's about teaching the game within the game and a lot of that is emotionally driven you can teach the fundamentals you can teach footwork you can teach the basics but we also have to teach that goes hand in hand with that is how to deal with anxiety how to deal with

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ure how to understand how to calm the ego, all those little internal battles that take place, we have to be able to teach that also through sports and then through sports, hopefully we can make children grow up and become outstanding citizens.

Andy, you talked a little bit earlier about some of the younger players. Over the course of 20 years, you conditioned the city not only for success, but also in a very specific way about how it's supposed to be done. What challenge do you think following you creates? You know who could be next. Well, I mean, it's a challenge, but you know, isn't that where we're here for you? No, I mean, it's, I don't think it's something that should be looked at through a broad lens, I think. You miss your job to do that, I think it's the fans' job to do that, but for the players that you know, for Koos, for Lonzo, for Ingram, for the guys, they just look at it day by day, that's it, you know How can I improve today?

How can I do better today than yesterday? You look at it in incremental steps and then when you do it, you end up forging your own legacy, which you look back on years from now and everyone will marvel and marvel at, but it's your job. look at the macro viewfrom this. I lost the players' work to look at the micro steps to get there. Two more questions. Bill over here. Hey, I will.even answers before you could give the answer eight or if you had to remove a number eight or 24 if they make a statue of you out there eight or 24 of your statue, you don't necessarily have to see the number anyway, you know if you comb your hair, I guess that's a dead giveaway, but you know I come and go, but you know eight has something that 24 will never ever have and that's the ability to grow here, so honestly, it's hard.

You know, I'm with you, I'm with you, I didn't understand your plight years ago, but now I certainly understand, it's really very difficult for me. I think 24 was more challenging and you know I tend to gravitate towards things that are harder to do and physically for me it was very, very difficult to get up night after night, man, it was really, really, it's a grind, you know, facing the Boston Celtics, you know, having a bone fragment and my foot during that series having a broken toe and muscles during that second half of the run, some of the toughest stretches a man has ever had in basketball, so I guess if you forced me to pick one, I'd probably pick 24 because of that last question.

Center Kobe, obviously there's this big celebration for you today, you spent two decades here, you know, it's kind of a celebration of your entire career, what you've talked about before, what it's going to take for this franchise to officially move on to the next chapter after Kobe. . Well, the thing about sports is that the chapters are coming, whether you like it or not, the stories are being written now. Okay, new legacies are being created now and I think for the players that are here now, like I said at the beginning, it's just focus. on the micro stuff, the day to day stuff, that's it, man, that's it, just work on your game, write down the little details, how you improve by studying film and then as time goes by you'll look back to this beautiful thing. that they have created, I have been in the moment, you mean, it is creating you, right?, you don't know, you know, if you guys 15 years ago said Kobe Bryant, I would be sitting here giving advice to the youngest players in the NBA.

You're kidding me, this guy doesn't make sense, so you never know, you never know, you just go day by day, appreciate it, stick with it and that's what these players do and years from now the fans will look up. and they will say, man. You built the dynasty again, so it's okay, thank you everyone, thank you, I appreciate it.