By Skyler Trepler (@skylertrepel)
Mamba Moments Off-Court:
On the latest episode of Mamba Moments, I interviewed Roy Firestone, who shared an all-time great Kobe Bryant story and is referred to by Sports Illustrated as, “The best interviewer in the business.” You may also remember Firestone from this Oscar-winning scene featuring Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire, which included the iconic line, “I’m not gonna cry Roy.”
Firestone is one of the rare individuals who has interviewed both Bryant and Michael Jordan, and that’s not even mentioning Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Dennis Rodman, and over 5,000 more. Firestone conducted seven interviews with Kobe including his first interview in L.A. when he was 18 years old in 1996.
Firestone shared many stories and insights during this interview, but there were two particularly interesting tales he told. The first involved lightning striking the building during Kobe’s first interview in L.A., which shorted the equipment and caused a two hour delay. However, he didn’t react as most would.
Firestone walked up to Bryant and said, “Kobe would you be willing to come back in two hours?,” to which Bryant responded, “I’m not coming back… I’m staying.” He talked to Firestone and his production crew about how the cameras worked and how the editing systems worked.
“It was just unbelievable how curious he was. My real takeaway from that is he wanted to learn everything he could learn,” said Firestone. “He was curious about life and how other people do what they do… he wanted to be a master at so many different things. He wanted to be proficient in a lot of things.”
This story in particular shows exactly how Kobe was able to go from one of the greatest and longest sports careers of all-time to winning an Oscar. Bryant’s curiosity was never ending, which allowed him to excel in multiple fields including five New York Times best-selling books and a successful $100 million venture capital fund.
Mamba Moments On-Court:
Real Kobe and/or Laker faithfuls will remember watching the end of his career where he was surrounded by young players such as Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. He not only showed respect to Clarkson and Randle, but was vocal about his belief in them as both players are now award winners in the NBA.
Randle not only made his first All-star appearance with the New York Knicks this year, but just won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. Randle’s career got off to a horrible start breaking his leg in his first game, but while on the court Randle always showed flashes of potential.
Randle was always like a bull in a china shop with a wide skill set, but unable to bring it all together in the early stages of his career. He was quick and powerful on his drives, but unable to finish with consistency.
Randle could hit the three, pass the ball, secure the rebound and even portrayed a strong basketball IQ. His game had unlimited potential, but hadn’t come together yet. However, some took notice of this, especially Bryant.
Randle learned a lot from Bryant too, including this amazing story that went viral earlier this year. He taught Randle to always hit shots in a gym right off the plane when landing a new city. Randle took this to heart as he showed up to a gym in a new city and was informed the last player to do that was Bryant himself.
In a press conference with the Lakers during Kobe’s final season in October 2015 he spoke about Randle’s abilities. “He can do everything,” Bryant said. He was right as Randle continues to build his game and has become a triple-double monster while beginning to live up to the potential of his younger years.
Clarkson always showed flashes of potential early on as he was one of the rare second-round picks to make the All-Rookie First team. In a 2014 press conference during the Lakers’ training camp, Bryant spoke on Clarkson as a rookie.
“I like Jordan….got a great pace, great feel for the game, grasps concepts very well and can shoot the deep ball, has a really good floater, can get to the rim,” said Kobe. “He’s got a lot of stuff in him.”
Clarkson just won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award with the Utah Jazz, which is ironic considering Kobe’s final play of his career was an assist to Clarkson against the Jazz on April 13, 2016. Clarkson spoke about Bryant back in January.
“He’s had hands on my career since I came in to the league as a rookie,” said Clarkson. “I didn’t really know much about preparing for a game, the details of what really goes into this. He really kind of taught me everything.”
Clarkson closed the interview by speaking about how he will continue to carry on Bryant’s legacy and desires to make him proud.
“We’re going to keep staying strong, keep his name alive. He’ll always be remembered,” Clarkson said.
It is more clear than ever that the Black Mamba’s legacy lives on in today’s NBA.
