Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles I want to now bring in a man one of your teammates during Kobe's rookie year and certainly for a lot longer. Mr. Byron Scott. Thank you so much, friend for joining us. Kobe gave a great shout out to Byron in his mamba mentality book, mentioning how much he learned from you early in your career. So, Byron, what was it like for you the first time you faced up against Kobe in practice? Because, as Robert said, he came to you. All is a young pup, you know, Big Shot knows that. I mean, we have some great practice of some very competitive practice. Big shot, big time competitive himself. Uh, Kobe and 17, 18 years old, just wouldn't back down to anybody, you know, He wanted to take that challenge. That's why we got so close is because he wanted to ask all these questions about the MBA, how he could take advantage of his talents. And what were people gonna try to do to take advantage of him? And, you know, as a rookie, you'd always know people will come at you, especially vest. They're gonna come at you. You gotta be ready for that. Try to take advantage of you. But his, you know, his mentality even then was that he was gonna be the best. You know, he was gonna outwork everybody way. All knew he had talent. That was obvious. From day one on, you had to kind of guide that talent. But in the long run, we knew that talent is gonna take over in the work at just made him that much more special. Uh, you know, But he said from day one to me one and all the conversations that we had, uh, that he wanted to be wanted to be one of the greatest players in the league. And I looked at him way out of the and I said, Man, the way you work, you will be on, Uh hey. Turned out being working greatest of all time, you know? Think about Kobe. Also, he wasn't afraid to ask questions. A lot of guys are afraid to ask questions, and Kobe would go to you if he wants to know about another player. He would ask questions. So that was the best thing about him. He was gonna learn some way or another. He was gonna figure it out. Well, I like about all three of you guys had interactions with Kobe very early. And then, of course, also very late. And Byron, you were in such a crazy position. We just showed that page from Kobe's book. The photo he put up of the two of you was him hugging you. I believe that's an Andrew Bernstein special and just thanking you for all of the conversations that you had. But that not only came when he was a young player, it came when you turned around and then coached him at the end of his career. What was that like to span the very beginning? To then, of course, the very end. You know, the last two years that I had in L. A coaching, having having KP on that team, it was the best two years of my life and coaching and some bringing success early with New Orleans and New Jersey. Um, but it can't compare it to the last two years I spent with Kobe here in L. A way got to read, you know, reunite, reconnect way. Spent a lot of time together. You know, I got a lot of five o'clock a m calls in the morning about like, man, do you ever sleep? You know, I mean, he was just one of those guys that, you know, it was driven. And I loved that about him and, like, you know, like, Robert just said, you know, it wasn't afraid to ask questions. Uh, you know, and that's the thing I loved about even at 37 years old, you know, Wasn't afraid to ask me questions about, you know, game planning, practice planning, whatever it may be. And, uh, he was just one of those guys that he just felt that every day you can learn, You know, every day you can get better as a basketball player every day you can learn as a person. And he took that, you know? Literally e I know. That's the one that he changed his number 2. 24 because he was always talking about, You know, you got 24 hours in the day and that day, you know those 24 hours you get better on. And I loved about him because of his spirit, his passion not only for the basketball, but for life. You know, we know how much. He loved his girls in this family, but most very competitive I've ever been around. You know, Magic Johnson was unbelievable competitor in practice. You know, I've been with big Shot when we have practice. When Kobe was how competitive he was. I know how competitive man Matt Barnes is. I know that dude. He just goes out his going up. Are you gonna make it rough on you? But Kobe just had that about him that every day he was gonna give you 110% and he was gonna go at you. And he didn't respect you if you didn't go back at him, that's the one thing about did not respect you. If you look back at it, if you if you looked at him and just thought he was bigger than God or you know I can he didn't have no respect for you. But if you went at him, you know, he had all the all the respect for you. And that's the thing that I loved about his competitive nature. His passion for the game is passion for life. His passion for his family. I mean, those two years, like I said, rich. I'll never forget those two as bad as our team. Waas e two years I've ever had as a coach. That's an amazing statement. Byron, You're someone who won multiple rings, played with magic, as you said, coached in the MBA Finals. And yet your two best years coaching were those really great message that it is not. It is not all about the wins and losses, and especially with someone like Kobe Bryant. He was known as such a winner, but it's what he gave us all along the way that we really want to celebrate today. It's about so much more than just the titles. Byron, thank you so much for joining us today. Excellent to see you, my friend. Thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.
A2 NBA kobe byron competitive practice passion Byron Scott on why coaching Kobe Bryant on the Lakers were the best years of his career | The Jump 6 0 林宜悉 posted on 2021/01/28 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary