Transcription
[Music] Still hard to believe. Just 24 years after the 1996 NBA draft, the same number he wore for the final 11 seasons of his Lakers career, Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna and seven others. One year on, to remember the player and person that Bryant became, I spoke with Davide Judici, who was a friend of Brian's ever since they met in Reggio Emilia in the north of Italy when Davide was just 10.
[Music] I remember perfectly that day. Uh, I was playing here with Amelia and with my my my friends, and one one trainer come to us and say, "Hey guys, hello. This is Kobe. He's the son of Joe Bryant, and he is gonna play with uh, with you, with us this this next season. So please give give it to him, uh, welcome." And yeah, very, very, very, very nice memories.
So, were you the Scottie Pippen to Kobe's Michael Jordan? What was, what was your role on this junior team?
Oh, maybe more BJ Armstrong. We were very strong, but we realized when, when we still could be, we realized that you were very, very more much better than us.
Okay, Davide. Well, for the rest of this interview, I'll call you BJ Armstrong then. How about that? Um, I love this quote from Kobe during the later stages of his career with the Lakers. He said, "There must have been something in the pasta or pizza because I've come from Italy and been kicking ass ever since." What was the most Italian trait of Kobe's, do you think?
In Italy, we are a little, a little country. So he started to to to open his mind, and I'm sure that his his experience in Italy helped him to to become a very, very smart person. When Kobe spoke, it was very, very interesting. Always.
[Music] Where do you sense that he got that from? Just being a little bit more individualistic than other people?
His life was not so easy because I guess his his father was a professional player and one day decided to move to Europe to finish his career. For outside, it's not so easy to to change the country, uh, and the change city, uh, every two years. His best friend was basketball. This, this is my opinion. Okay. He, he found in the, in, in basketball the friends that he lost in every city he had to move.
[Music] Did you try and make him more, uh, "Come on, Kobe, let's go and do something other than basketball," or was that just too hard?
Yes, we, we try to to involve him in a birthday party or just just ever, ever worked together or, but Kobe was already focused on basketball. It's crazy to to explain for me, but he, [Music] he spoke as a professional player when he was 10 years old.
When Kobe was young, he used to play against the senior players. Did you ever see that? Kobe, you used to play at the end of the official match here in Reggio Emilia with, with the Italian professional players?
When he was 10, 11, he was better. Not in general, but his his style of basketball, his movement, he was very nice to see. He was better than Italian professional players. It's a quite famous story about Kobe. When, when we played in a normal game, not the final, and a normal game, he injured himself on a knee, okay? And he started suddenly to cry, to cry as as a child, you know, just, ah, like this, but cry seriously. And the, everybody, the teammates asked me, "What happens to you? What about your plea?" No, it's not about this. Please, maybe it's a, a big injury. So with this problem, probably I couldn't reach NBA. And everybody, "What? Because Max, this is important for us. The NBA is not like now. Then you can, you can see everything." When we were a child, it was very, very difficult to even to see some, some NBA game. So NBA was another universe.
Davide, when Kobe talked about Reggio Emilia, he said, "My story began in this town." And when he passed away, your mayor, Lou Cavicchi, said, "Kobe Bryant grew up among us and was a Reggiano." A lot of people cry here, you know. It's familiar because Kobe was a very good child, and many people have very good memories about him, about his family. For me, Kobe, and not for me, it's true. Kobe was a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend. But sometimes we lost that he was a person like me and you. And for me, it's very sad to lose, to think about him, um, in the, in the helicopter crash with his his daughter. This, that moment, that second that he maybe realized to what was gonna happen with his daughter. For me, this, this is very, very, very sad. I just, I, I can't, uh, stand this, this, this pain, you know? This, this is very sad for me.
[Music] Is there a memory that you will always remember from that time?
It was the last, the last time we we met here in Reggio Emilia, 2016. Kobe was in Europe for an a Nike, a Nike tour and I give promotional tour. In Kobe, say, "Guys, let's go to Reggio Emilia." So they called me the day before, and they they said, "Don't, don't, don't inform me and don't inform anything anybody about, sorry, don't inform anybody about Kobe's arrival." So because it could be a big problem for us. Emilia. And we saw each other, and they just just started to smile. And he asked me if I, if I still playing. And I say, "Yes, Kobe, I'm still playing. I'm 41, 42, and I'm still playing." And you, you, you, you quit? You stop? And you say, "Yes, I was very tired." Very, very excited.
I don't know if you remember, he released a rap album in 2000, just before the All-Star game. And when the, it didn't have the best reviews, I'll say that. And when reporters started to ask about it, he just responded in Italian very quizzically, like, you know, and they had no idea what he was saying.
And Max, I can, I can, I can tell you another funny story. Maybe when we won the, the championship, the tournament of our, our young, young league, I used to to be the first to take the cup, you know, to take the cup. And when Kobe, uh, will, Kobe play with us, he just say, "Hey Davide, sorry, let me take the cup in the first place in the line to take the cup."
Well, you know, Davide, he was just practicing because he had five NBA trophies to live.
Absolutely, absolutely. And they said, "Okay, amazing." He was always a winner. Hey. And in your eyes alone, Davide, what is the legacy of Kobe Bryant?
To make your best, you know, in everything you you do, at work, in sport, or like as a person. You know, this is the most important legacy. Maybe it's very normal things to say, but this is, I think, is the most important legacy we have about Kobe. Is to do what you do at your best.
Well, Davide, thank you so much. I hope that the day goes as well as it can for you, and, uh, and you remember Kobe as you'd like. So thank you for spending the time with me today.
Thank you so much. It was a pleasure for me. Thank you. Take care. Ciao.
[Music]