Kobe Bryant has seen plenty in his two decades of NBA experience, but that knowledge isn't limited to the hardwood. The 37-year-old touched on a variety of topics after the Lakers' loss to Denver, including the past, future and feelings on current events.
Below is a transcript from the Lakers' locker room.
Q: On whether he is able to take in the moment considering that he has reached the final 10 games of his career:
Bryant: I do. I absolutely do. I’m just trying to save up and have as much energy as possible to try to play all of these games. Just give it absolutely all I can.
Q: On if this season presented a different type of fatigue than in years past:
Bryant: It’s not fatigue. I can run all day. I’ve always been in great shape. It’s just a matter of injuries, (like) the shoulder and making sure it’s in place and not at risk of doing significant damage.
Q: On if he feels like he’s started to put his sore right shoulder injury behind him:
Bryant: I’m not gonna jinx myself. The last game I felt fine, and on the bus and plane on the way to Phoenix I had to grab an ice bag and throw it on. The shoulder was just aching like crazy. So I expect it to come and go, and I just try to stay on top of it as much as I can and just go out there and give it all I’ve got.
Q: On whether he was surprised by Julius Randle’s triple-double:
Bryant: No, he’s kind of been dancing around it a little bit. I’m not surprised by it. … He’s a great passer. He really is. He has really good vision. He can handle the ball very well. I said it at the beginning of the year: He’s Lamar Odom in Zach Randolph’s body. It’s just a matter of him getting a feel for the NBA game, and where he sees actions take place before they even take place. That just comes from experience and studying.
Q: On what he is trying to teach D’Angelo Russell:
Bryant: Being able to process the game, understand coverages and then how to manipulate those coverages.
Q: On Russell’s basketball IQ:
Bryant: There’s really no such thing as basketball IQ. It’s not an innate thing. It comes from watching the game over and over, and thinking about the game with a certain amount of curiosity. That’s where I think the IQ comes from. But (Russell) is certainly an intelligent basketball player.
Q: On whether he is giving more thought to his final game on April 13:
Bryant: A little bit, just kind of joking around about it a little bit. Nothing too serious. I know it’s going to come and I know it’s going to go. Then that’s it. The biggest challenge for me is waking up the next morning and working out, because if I don’t start immediately it’s a slippery slope.
Q: On playing through injuries during his career:
Bryant: I analyze (the injuries). I ask very detailed questions to the training staff about what the injury is. I’ve always had a great therapist, Judy Seto, (head athletic trainer) Gary Vitti and my neuromuscular therapist. I’ve always had great people that educated me about it. But I was on it nonstop. I’d hurt my ankle, go home and have my therapist come to the house and work with me until 2 o’clock in the morning. So I was on them, but if the injury’s not gonna get worse or be something that’s gonna require surgery — if it’s just pain — that’s easy to play through. You know it’s not getting worse. It’s just hurting a little bit. … It’s experience. Once you realize you can play with it and it’s not as bad as you thought it’s going to be, it’s fine. But the key is pushing your body through it. Once you go through it, then you know. But if you never push through it, you have no idea. You’re just always intimidated by it.
Q: On whether attending the Sweet Sixteen the night before made him wonder about missing out on college basketball:
Bryant: Part of me (does) sometimes, absolutely. Every time this time of year comes around, yeah. If for nothing else, than just to keep Richard Hamilton from winning one. I tease him about that all the time, like, “I beat you in high school and I’d beat you in college.”
Q: On his message to those in the armed forces:
Bryant: Thank you so much for everything that you do. You guys are the real heroes. That’s true pressure. Making a shot and missing a game-winning shot and losing a game — that’s not pressure because there’s always another game. What you guys do out on the field, that’s true pressure. You guys are true heroes in every sense of the word. Thank you from me and from all of us, honestly.
Q: On whether shooting airballs in the playoffs against Utah as a rookie played a large role in his development:
Bryant: It’s probably more lore. My reaction to that was a pretty basic one, which was: I need to change my training regimen. I need to get stronger. My shot felt great. I didn’t have the legs to reach the basket. You come from a high school season when I played like 35 games to playing that in two months (in the NBA). So that was one change I made: the program. Then I came back the next season. I was much stronger; legs were stronger. Second half in ’98, I still tailed off. I was like, ‘OK, now I have to readjust again.’ So for me, it was big just because I had to learn how to build an NBA body. For everybody else, it was more the overcoming of failure. That’s tough as an 18-year-old; you fail like that in front of millions of people. Now it’s like, ‘Damn, that is a big deal.’
Q: On the death of A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg:
Bryant: It was a passing of a legend. He made timeless music. That’s very hard nowadays with music being so “in the moment.” What they had been able to do was music that stands the test of time. You can release a Tribe album and it’s just as relevant and hot now as it was then. That speaks to the attention to detail and genius in their craft.
Q: On how he chooses his pregame music:
Bryant: I always listen to music that brought me back to a moment in time, because I think the game is such an emotional one. … Whether it’s high school or as a kid in Italy or the first few years in the league; whether it’s calm or exciting — that’s what music is to me. It’s not just listening to music to listen to music, but whatever music’s gonna put me in the right emotional setting that I feel is important to that game.
Q: On whether he plans on learning any new languages in retirement:
Bryant: I want to get better at my Spanish-speaking abilities. I’ve talked to the family about learning French. Mandarin’s an uphill battle; I don’t know if I have enough years in my life to conquer that one. Portuguese is another language that I’m very fascinated by. … You just go over there and it’s just sink or swim. You can sit there and play around with a book all day, or you drop yourself off there and figure it out. That’s usually the fastest way to learn.
Q: On the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium:
Bryant: Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Words can’t really express a certain level of understanding of what they must be going through and what’s going on over there. You just try to be as empathetic as possible and as compassionate as possible. Hopefully they know that we have their back 100 percent.