After spending a year playing abroad, Metta World Peace returned to the Lakers in an off-the-bench, mentoring role. The 36-year-old averaged 5.0 points in 16.9 minutes of 35 games, shooting a career-low 31.1 percent from the field.
Below is a summary of his exit interview with assembled media on Thursday:
On Kobe’s 60-point night: "We wanted that. I know prior to the game, in the locker room, that’s when I felt the most emotional. Kobe was talking to us about how he wanted us to play hard, and to play to exhaustion, and he probably was the only one that played to exhaustion. He played hard, men."
On overcoming a lot to get to this point of his career: "For me it’s been great. My career has been strong. I should have been out of the league a long time ago given the circumstances. I was able to get it together and kind of maintain the focus on top of the instabilities that I had. I’m very proud of myself not becoming so depressed where I lose my body, eating bad and drinking and stuff. It was tough because there were times where I was maybe depressed. My career stats should have been way higher than they are. For me to stay with it, I’m proud of myself."
On coaching in the future: “I’m excited about that. I’m coaching now on weekends at (two local high schools). If there’s opportunity, I would definitely pursue it. A lot of great coaches had impacts on my life. Rick Adelman, Phil Jackson, Byron Scott … I learned so much from head coaches. As a kid I watched basketball, and now as I watch the coaches, one day I want to be a coach.”