Transcription
But that was way back when he was 18. Now the 19-year-old veteran is making the types of impression that Van Go and Monae would be proud of. He's the league's leading scorer off the bench and much more. Bonnie Bernstein now with Bryant, "He's one of the most focused and competitive guys I've ever seen."
"Period. He feels that he's, he's unstoppable." And, "Uh, I label him probably the next Michael Jordan." Some pretty weighty words for the Lakers' 19-year-old sophomore swingman. Certainly a far cry from the final images of Kobe Bryant's rookie season. Second round of the playoffs, game five, Utah. 20 feet under regulation, two three-pointers in overtime, air balls.
"When you walked off the court, how responsible did you feel for not advancing to the next round?"
"Felt very responsible, but that's the way I like it. If you, if we were going to end our season, if we were going to lose that game, you, I'd rather have it on my shoulders than anybody else."
"I wasn't able to sleep myself. I didn't take those shots. Kobe asked me for that shot, uh, at the timeout. He said, 'Coach, if you let me shoot this last one, I'll drain it for you,' and I believed him. And, and I would believe him again."
Such are the growing pains for one of the NBA's youngest players. But Bryant says he's a bigger person for his playoff misfortunes last May. He's also grown a bit physically since then, one inch taller thanks to Mom Nature and 10 pounds thicker after frequent trips to the weight room in the offseason.
"So you're benching now?"
"I can't give out my secret now. Come on now. I can't let people know what I'm benching."
"Can you max? I can't say 50 pounds more than you could last year, something like that?"
"Higher, lower?"
"Something like that."
"Something like that. Approximately 50."
"How does that help you on the court, though?"
"Um, well, lifting weights helps you guard players a lot better. They can't push you around, they just can't throw you around easily. Um, you're able to squat a little bit more on defense. Uh, but the strength, that's the most important thing."
Bryant's become more durable on the court and developed a thicker skin for constructive criticism. The biggest knock on Bryant last year was he was a showboat, took too many shots, didn't look for the open man. And it was Harris's mission to break Bryant of those bad habits.
"Did you find that there was tension sometimes that he really wanted to be allowed to create?"
"It's the first time that he hadn't been a starter on his team, and the first time he hadn't been the best player, and the first time, time the coach had kind of had to criticize him. And, um, that's hard for anybody."
"Well, I'm out there playing hard and you're pulling the reins back. You can't, you can't stop a, you know, artist from from painting a picture. You can't slow him down."
"Last year, you know, it was, it was a little painful at times developing him. But this year, it's, it's a whole different thing. He's, we need him to come in. He's a key part of what we're doing. He's let loose the reins. He allows me to go out there and play. He has a lot more confidence in me. Um, and the most important thing is that he sees me trying, and, and I work very hard."
Bryant's learning to pick his spots better and to set up his teammates. He's turned last year's negative assist-to-turnover ratio into a positive one. Bryant's minutes are up, his scoring is up, and he's upgraded his defense.
"I can see things a lot more than I could last year. Last year, I would go through games where everything was like, was like a blur. I was moving so fast, I was so excited. This year, I can pinpoint things before they actually happen. That's got a lot more confidence now. After, after the way the season ended last year, I just wanted to come back hard and just show everybody I'm back. Don't forget about me."
"Since that Utah series, he's been a guy who's coming to training camp probably with the most confidence out of any player that we have on the team."
"Where do you expect this team to be in the postseason?"
"We're going to the finals."