[h2]Q. & A. With Kobe Bryant[/h2]
Q.
Does a player have to evolve his game to remain relevant and what has the process been like for you?
A.
KOBE BRYANT: They're all one in the same. It's just working, enjoying what I do. I think I'm really fortunate because I really love what I do. They're players who do it because they're good at it or use it as a means just to provide or accolades or adoration. That's a different kind of motivation. When you do something that you truly, truly love doing, you find yourself wanting to do it all the time.
Q.
Why did you start using Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's former trainer?
A.
I was just having some issues that I felt I could get better at, areas that I felt were weak that my previous training program wasn't hitting on, so I wanted to get better. I had kind of plataued doing the other stuff. So I wanted to get better and improve, so I sought him out.
Q.
What areas?
A.
All kinds of areas. I won't go into specific, but I just wanted to get better.
Q.
Do you feel like you still have room to grow as a player?
A.
I do. I do. I think there's so much more to understand. A lot of it just has to do with winning. It has nothing to do with me as an individual. Just more so, how can I lead these guys? That's kind of been the evolution as a basketball player. When you first come into the league, you're trying to prove yourself as an individual, do things to assert yourself and establish yourself. But then once you've done that, there's another level to the game that's more complex than figuring out how to put up big numbers as an individual. That's easy to do.
Q.
Do you think your game has evolved since even two, three years ago?
A.
Oh, without a doubt. A lot of that has to do with the team that I have because they allow me to explore those other areas of my game because they're better basketball players, so that enables me to sit back and say, 'OK, I don't have to score 40 points a game to keep us competitive.' I can start thinking the game more and thinking how can I use the pieces that I have here as opposed to thinking, 'Damn, I've got to put my head down and go out there and try to beat two or three guys just to keep us in the game.' So, I think they help me get to another level of understanding the game."
Q.
What areas do you still have to improve upon?
A.
It's all leadership, how I get the best out of these guys, how I make these guys better. Because them better makes me better. For years, all I hear people say is this player makes these players better. But they're all great players already. It's like kind of silly to me to say Kobe has become more unselfish or yada, yada, yada with these guys that I have. Pau Gasol's a great player in his own right. It's a lot easier for me to make him better. It's easier for me to make Lamar better. It's easier to make Derek Fisher better. They have the commitment, they have the work ethic. They're already here. They're just making me look a lot better than I actually am.
Q.
Have you thought about how much longer you want to play?
A.
Not really. Not really. I think the reason why I haven't thought about it is I still feel good. I feel like I've still got a lot left in the tank. Even though the light at the end of the tunnel is much brighter than the one at the beginning, I'm not quite there yet to think how many years I want to do this.
Q.
Other players have gotten injured before they reached your tenure? Have you ever thought of yourself as fortunate in that aspect?
A.
Very fortunate. Very fortunate. My father also taught me at an early age, you've got to think the game. You're not going to be able to do the same thing all the time. I still have a lot of gas, but I don't have as much as I had when I was 19, 20, 21 years old. So, you've got to make adjustments. You can still be as effective. You're just effective in different ways.
Q.
Have you realized how much you're scoring from the post in the early season?
A.
Oh, yeah, I heard that. I think it's just a testament to work. I can change my game. It doesn't have to be the same. The strengths that I have now were weaknesses when I was a kid. The strengths that I had as a kid may be weaknesses now. So, you just kind of flip flop and get the same results.
Q.
Is it easier for a post player to age in this league than a guard?
A.
For some. I'm fortunate. I'm 6 foot 6. So, my body is easily adaptable. I can go to a leaner, quicker look or I can go to a stronger, bulkier look, or I can have a combination of the two. So, I can go to a perimeter-orientated game or I can go to the post. I can do a multitude of things.
Q.
Do you want to talk about working over the summer with Hakeem Olajuwon?
A.
Not the details of it. I'll leave those a secret. But I had a great, great session with him. Absolutely great session with him. It was just one. I flew up there. I only had a day available. Flew up there late the night before, got up, did my own little workout. He came and picked me up at the hotel, went over to his house and we began working. We worked for about five hours straight. Just hung out with him, ate some dinner and he took me out to the airport.
Q.
But always had the postwork as part of your game, right?
A.
It's a lot more than that. But the details that he gave me, it's one thing to look at players do this, do that. Look at Hakeem's post moves, spin moves, this that and the other and then it's another thing to really understand them, get the details of them and the little nuances of them and that's what he shared with me.
Q.
How much film do you watch now, as compared to a decade ago?
A.
I watched more then than I do now. I was just learning. I'm still learning now, but I've watched so much film, my memory is, I can remember pretty much everything that happens pretty much through a course of a game, so I watch film to prepare for a particular team, but I don't watch as much as I used to.
Q.
Do you lift more or less weights now?
A.
Maybe even a little less. But everything is very specific. I know exactly what I'm doing. I have a great program and it's tailor made for me. It's built for me.
Link:
http://offthedribble.blog...23/q-a-with-kobe-bryant/
