On his 20th Media Day, Kobe Bryant was met by questions ranging from his health to what he expects from young talent like D’Angelo Russell. The 37-year-old doesn’t yet have an answer regarding his NBA future, but he provided some insight into his thoughts heading into the 2015-16 season.
Below is a full transcription from Media Day:
Q: On how he’s feeling physically:
Bryant: I feel good.
Q: On how he plans on dealing with the speculation regarding his potential retirement:
Bryant: I can’t control that. I don’t worry about it too much.
Q: On whether he has thought about managing his minutes:
Bryant: I don’t need to think about it. You guys think about it for me. I don’t worry about it.
Q: On what he expects as a team:
Bryant: I’m not sure. I think the guys have all worked hard this summer. I’ve worked hard this summer. It’s a big question mark. We have a lot of young guys. It’s a good mix, though. We’ve got a few veterans as well. The guys have never played together. It remains to be seen. We’ve done the work to get to this point. So now it’s trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I’m not sure.
Q: On how important it is to be patient with this team:
Bryant: It’s patience, but it’s an aggressive patience. We want to make sure that we’re pushing and pushing and pushing. We try to figure things out like yesterday so we can figure them out tomorrow.
Q: On whether he is happy to have Metta World Peace back on the team:
Bryant: I am. He’s extremely focused. He watches what he eats. He works very, very hard every single day in practice. I think it’s good for the young guys to be around that. He’s one of the most intelligent defensive players I’ve ever played with or played against. It’s great for the players to be around that.
Q: On being a veteran on a team with plenty of youth:
Bryant: It’s good to be around them and get that youthful energy. I’m excited for them. This is the beginning of their careers and their journey.
Q: On D’Angelo Russell:
Bryant: I think he’s got a good head on his shoulders. I think he has a lot of ambition. He wants to be great. And it starts there. Really my responsibility to him is to not lose sight of what’s most important, which is the game. That’s the heart of it all. Playing in this market with a lot of different distractions; a lot of criticism or critique that might come his way — it doesn’t matter. You just focus on what you’re here to do and what got you here, and that’s playing the game.
Q: On how much he learned when he was a rookie:
Bryant: I continue to learn, so it’s been the same for me since I was 17 to 37; being a constant learner and just trying to figure things out and ask questions and self-assess. I’ve learned a great deal my first year and continue to do so today.
Q: On his first Media Day:
Bryant: I don’t remember that exact moment, but Byron (Scott) and I were talking about it a little bit because it went by fast.
Q: On whether he anticipates his role changing this season:
Bryant: Probably. It’s hard. I don’t know what to expect. My philosophy has always been: Whatever you are asked to do, try to be the best at doing that. Whatever the role is, you’ve got to figure it out. And whatever it is, try to do it to the best of your abilities.
Q: On whether he expects the Lakers to ask him to be more of a facilitator and teacher:
Bryant: I’m not really sure what that stuff means, honestly. A lot of that stuff is media conversational, debatable content. The reality is that we’re all mentors and teachers in our own respects. Whether that means scoring a lot more, assisting a lot more — whatever the case may be — depends on the identity that the team takes on. It’s my responsibility to plug in those holes and pick up where we’re lacking.
Q: On whether this is the season with the most unknown factors in his career:
Bryant: No, I don’t think so. We have (Julius) Randle, who’s coming in and this is basically his rookie season. You have D’Angelo. You’ve got Jordan Clarkson. You’ve got a lot of young guys. You’ve got Lou Williams. You’ve got new pieces coming in trying to blend together. After two horrible seasons — don’t know.
Q: On whether he is open to playing small forward:
Bryant: I’ve been playing small forward for the past 10 years. Power forward would be different, but power forwards today are what two-guards used to be in the ‘80s. So it doesn’t really matter.
Q: On Phil Jackson saying that he could envision Bryant finishing his career with a team other than the Lakers:
Bryant: I can’t spend my season responding to (everything). … Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Hell if I know. I don’t know. Everybody’s gonna have opinions. I can’t comment on every single opinion everybody makes, even if it’s a coach I won so many championships with and know extremely well. It’s still his opinion.
Q: On his personal development over the past few years:
Bryant: I’m much more patient with (the media), which means I’m still extremely impatient. But it’s more patient than I used to be.
Q: On his expectations for the season:
Bryant: I’m excited about it. I’m excited to be back on the court. I’m excited to be out there with these young players that are starting their careers and journeys. I’m excited to help them out and kind of show them the things that I’ve learned. I’m as excited for this season as I’ve been in a long time.
Q: On whether he considers this a “season of redemption”:
Bryant: That’s been every year for me. There’s been some form of criticism every single year. It’s old hat for me. I’m used to dealing with that stuff.
Q: On the learning curve for this season:
Bryant: How quickly we can grasp the pro concepts, because we have a lot of young guys. So it’s just a matter of how quickly they can transition from the collegiate style to the pro style. It’s a different pace, strategy and concept. That’s going to be fun to do.
Q: On what he did to prepare mentally for this season:
Bryant: You can find inspiration everywhere, honestly. Once you have your sights set on what your objective is, you can pull inspiration from everywhere. So the answer to your question is: anywhere and everything.
Q: On how whether he plans to measure success by “player development, playoffs, or health”:
Bryant: It’s a combination. It’s wins and losses, but it’s also what we’re learning and grasping. Health is a big thing. The last three (seasons) we’ve been decimated by injuries. So knock on wood that’s not a problem that we have to worry about this year.
Q: On what he makes of many Lakers spending the summer training at the practice facility:
Bryant: It means they love the game. Players that love the game you never have to convince to get into the gym. They’re here naturally.
Q: On what he makes of Scott’s optimism for the season:
Bryant: Hopefully we’ll be healthier than we were. (Hopefully) we can get through training camp without injuries. That’s one. And two, I think the young guys that we have and the energy that they bring is going to be infectious.
Q: On what the biggest factor will be in deciding whether he will retire after the season:
Bryant: I honestly don’t know. I thought about it a little bit in terms of: What is the deciding factor? How do players actually know when it’s time to hang it up? Everybody kind of gives (the media) the standard, cookie-cutter answers: relaxing, golfing, spending time with the family, things like that. But really, how do you truly know? And I don’t know. I’ll have a much better answer for you when that time comes for me.
Q: On whether working with his company, Kobe, Inc., over the offseason gave him a peek into life after basketball:
Bryant: Yeah, I’ve been working on that now for two and a half years. It’s actually executing things versus it being a vision before. It took a long time for me to figure out what it’s going to be, but we’re here now with that, and I feel comfortable.
Q: On whether he feels he can sustain a high level of performance for a full season:
Bryant: Absolutely. It’s old hat for me. I’m used to it.
Q: On James Worthy being named an assistant to the coaching staff:
Bryant: I think it’s amazing. I think it’s an extremely smart move. This organization is very fortunate to have some of the all-time greats that have played here. Gotta use that.
Q: On what the offseason was like for him:
Bryant: It wasn’t as bad as the Achilles (tear). When I had rough days I could always kind of look back. That year and and a half put it into perspective.
Q: On the reason for not having any teammates work out with him in Orange County during this offseason:
Bryant: Part of the reason was we didn’t know who the hell was going to be on the team. And then when we did I was out of the country.
Q: On whether he has talked with any other athletes about when to retire:
Bryant: Yeah, (Derek) Jeter and I have spoken several times. Initially just for the business partnership we have together. But we talked a little bit about the retirement and what the last year was like for him. We joke: He and I couldn’t (have) any more opposite personalities. It’s fun just kind of hearing his perspective on what he went through and kind of what triggered the decision for him to step away from the game. I don’t know what that’s going to be for me.
Q: On whether he would want a game-by-game “farewell tour” like Jeter:
Bryant: We’re completely different people. I couldn’t do that.
Q: On whether he finds it funny that there is so much speculation on his potential retirement when he doesn’t even know:
Bryant: It could get to be a pain in the (butt), but when I sit back and think about it it’s actually cool, because it means that you’ve had a really good career and people will want to know when the time’s coming for you to hang them up. Like me or don’t like me, you respect the career that I’ve had, and that’s a pretty damn cool thing.
Q: On whether there is a part of him wondering if this is his last year:
Bryant: A little bit, but I don’t dwell on it too much. If it is, it is. If it isn’t, I’ll be ready for next season. I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. I’ve got enough to think about it.
Q: On whether he is going to wait until the end of the year to decide on retirement:
Bryant: There’s a lot to think about here. It’s such a young team. There are a lot of things to solve. I have to, in all seriousness, spend my energy thinking about that stuff. I’m not gonna B.S. you guys. If I were going to think about it, make a decision and know, I’d say it. It’s no big deal. But I really have to focus on this group, because it is going to be a challenge to put this together.
Q: On whether there is a way to quicken the development of the young players:
Bryant: I don’t think so. You feed the information. You put them in positions to learn. You put them in positions to be successful. You let them run. You let them play. You let them succeed and make mistakes. In terms of how to speed it up, I don’t know.