Transcription
At the same time that you were in Italy, the WNBA was starting up, and there was a a a young man by the name of Kobe Bryant that was that was out there with with his pops. And oh, I didn't even notice that shirt. There we go. Exactly. Maybe maybe speak a little little bit about uh, Kobe and his impact and maybe just that time. So, you know, it was just great to have Kobe in Italy. I I was there when he was a youngster. So he was playing on the club teams, the younger teams. Now, in Italy, they didn't really have school teams. They had younger club teams. So a lot of times the younger players on the club teams were playing or scrimmaging against that division one team or that A1 League team. Um, so it was great to have them over there. I'd heard all about them.
But really, when we got back to America and I would see Kobe, we would be speaking Italian to each other. Like, I remember one of the All-Star games, we're just sitting there half court, we're looking both ends, we're just speaking Italian to everybody or to each other. And and we're actually talking about the players. Kobe's like, yo, ain't none of these players better than me. And I'm like, I'm looking around. But then I realized we're speaking in Italian, none nobody understands. So it's just it was just great. And and I really, I I believe Kobe did this, and I did it as well. Like, any opportunity we had to practice our Italian while we were back in America, we we took advantage of it.
Not only that, you had a mama mentality. Quietly as a competitor and as a player, the similarities between you and the late great Kobe Bryant. You'd walk in the a gym and say, okay, who's who's gonna be starting opposite me? Or who who who who wants me to give them the business today? Who's stepping up to the chan? You wanted to impose your will as a competitor on anybody that you faced, male or female, because I really wanted to be the best. I wanted to be great. And you you can't be great if you're not willing to to compete against the best and the greatest players um that that are coming on the court. So, you know, so so yeah, that mama mentality is you never arrive. You always get better. You you never are are constantly, you're not treading water. You're constantly moving, swimming, getting better, getting bigger, learning something new. That's what greatness is. Greatness isn't winning a championship. Great is winning four back-to-back-to-back-to-back. I'm just saying.