0:02 I've always said that I wanted to be
0:05 remembered as a player that didn't waste
0:09 a moment didn't waste a day and
0:13 uh um I felt Extremely Blessed U by the god-given
0:14 god-given
0:18 talent at the same time I didn't take
0:20 take it for granted at [Music]
0:23 [Music]
0:25 all the most important thing for me is
0:28 to leave no stone unturned get better
0:31 every single day and if I live that way
0:33 then over time you know I'd have
0:35 something that was beautiful but that
0:37 was my philosophy it seems like a pretty
0:39 simple one but you know if you live your
0:42 life to just get better every single day
0:44 and do that for 20 years I mean what do
0:46 you have my kids at two could do a lot
0:48 of things MH right at two I could
0:50 dribble a basketball I could shoot a
0:52 basketball on the Nerf hoof at the house
0:54 and I would go to practice with my
0:56 father I would observe my father I'd sit
0:58 and watch games with him and so was he
1:00 your first coach um yeah man I guess you
1:02 could say that you know a lot of things
1:04 I learned by being just being around the
1:06 game right so by the age of six I was
1:09 already strategizing versus other
1:11 six-year-olds my
1:16 brain cannot it cannot process failure
1:19 it will not process failure
1:22 um because if I have
1:24 to if I sit there and have to face
1:26 myself and tell
1:30 myself you're you're you're a failure
1:32 I think that's that's a
1:35 worse that's almost worse than
1:39 death at 13 years old and I played the
1:41 longer game cuz my game wasn't about
1:43 being better than you at 13 it was to be
1:46 better than you when you know the chips
1:49 are really on on the line so when we
1:51 played at 13 I would size you up and see
1:53 what your strengths and weaknesses are
1:54 how do you approach the game are you
1:56 silly about it are you goofy about it
1:57 are you good at it just because you're
2:00 bigger and stronger than everybody else
2:01 right is your actually thought and skill
2:04 that you put into it right and when I'd
2:06 play I'd played in my weaknesses I
2:08 wouldn't played in my strengths I played
2:09 my weaknesses cuz when you're playing
2:12 summer basketball there's so many games
2:13 so there's not a lot of skill work being
2:16 done so when are you going to get better
2:17 right when you're playing in competition
2:19 situations you're only playing to your
2:22 strengths why because you want to win
2:23 right so what I would do I was work on
2:25 the things during those games that I was
2:29 weak at left hand pull up jump shot uh
2:32 post game right so I have a strategy and
2:35 so then fast forward to when I'm 17 and
2:36 my game is completely well-rounded and
2:38 that player at 13 that I saw at 13 is
2:41 still doing the same at 17 now you
2:43 got a problem what was really your work
2:45 ethic like and for how long did you stay
2:49 disciplined um well I mean I mean every
2:51 day I mean since you know for 20 years
2:53 it was an everyday process and trying to
2:55 figure out strengths and weaknesses for
2:58 example jumping ability man my vertical
3:01 was a 40 wasn't a 46 6 or 4
3:03 45 um my hands are big but they're not
3:05 massive right so you got to figure out
3:07 ways to strengthen them so your hands
3:09 are strong enough to be able to Palm a
3:10 ball and do the things that you need to
3:13 do uh quickness I was quick but not
3:16 insanely quick I was fast but not
3:20 ridiculously fast right so I had to rely
3:22 on skill a lot more I had to rely on
3:24 angles a lot more I had to study the
3:28 game a lot more and uh but I enjoyed it
3:30 though so like from the time I was I can
3:31 remember when I started watching the
3:33 game I studied the game and it just
3:35 never changed we were playing against
3:36 the Lakers Tom and we were out here in
3:39 La you know like I always try to outwork
3:40 people right that's just how I made my
3:42 mark so the game was at 700 I was like
3:44 you know what I'm going to come to the
3:45 stap center cuz we're playing this one
3:48 Lakers had Kobe and sha okay this is
3:50 this is like the championship Lakers I
3:51 like you know I'm going to get there at
3:53 3:00 and I want to make sure I make 400
3:56 made shots before I go back into the
3:58 room and then I sit in the sa and I get
4:01 ready for the game so you know get in
4:03 the car get to the gym get there and as
4:06 I'm walking onto the court who do I see
4:09 I see Kobe Bryant already working out so
4:11 once I set my foot across that line I
4:13 started working out and so I worked out
4:15 for a good hour hour and a half and when
4:18 I came off after I was done I sat down
4:20 and of course I still heard the ball
4:22 bouncing I look down I'm like this guy's
4:24 this guy's still working out he was
4:25 working out like it looks like he was in
4:28 a dead sweat when I got here and he's
4:30 still going and it's not like his moves
4:33 are nonchalant or lazy he's doing like
4:36 game moves you know um I sit there and I
4:37 unlace my shoes I'm like I want to see
4:39 how long this goes I sit out there and
4:42 watch another 25 minutes and he got done
4:44 I said okay I think I've seen enough go
4:46 play you know come back get in the sauna
4:48 get ready for the game that game he
4:51 drops 40 on us okay and after the game
4:53 is over I'm like I I have to ask this
4:57 guy I I have to understand like why why
4:59 he he works like that so after the game
5:01 was I'm like hey Co like why why were
5:03 you in the gym for so long he's like cuz
5:05 I saw you come in and I I I wanted you
5:08 to know that it doesn't matter how hard
5:10 you work that I'm willing to work harder
5:13 than you you know basketball for me was
5:15 the most important
5:18 thing so everything I saw whether it was
5:21 TV shows whether it was books I read
5:24 people I talked to everything was done
5:26 to try to learn how to become a better
5:28 basketball player everything everything
5:30 and so when you have that that point of
5:33 view then literally the world becomes
5:35 your library to help you to become
5:37 better at your craft you have to do the
5:40 hard stuff and watch that game and study
5:43 that game to not make those mistakes
5:45 over and over again just because you
5:47 weren't brave enough to face it got to
5:49 deal with it got to deal with it face it
5:51 learn from it and all those little
5:54 things and it sucks but but you don't
5:55 want to have that feeling again do you
5:57 right so you got to really study it face
5:59 it and uh not to say you winning the
6:01 next time you f but at least you you'll
6:03 give yourself a better a better chance
6:04 yeah so when you think about the
6:08 greatest players of all time 90 80% of
6:13 them have God gift of natural Talent
6:18 ability body right so Jordan 48 in
6:20 vertical right you got the big hands
6:22 right you got
6:25 LeBron right you have Shaquille O'Neal
6:28 right then magic 69 point guard with vision
6:30 vision
6:36 be standard M if I give you 66 and then
6:39 took every 66 guard in the NBA and NBA
6:41 history you would never find him right
6:43 you would never find Kobe cuz he didn't
6:45 have big hands right he wasn't quick he
6:49 wasn't fast 38 in vertical that's
6:51 standard like if you don't have a 30in
6:54 vertical you you you you're not even a
6:57 shooting guard in today's game right and
7:01 what he did with that body it's like you
7:05 took you took a
7:08 S500 and he was pushing it like a Botti
7:12 mhm that's what we look at we look at
7:16 the normal person fighting Gods yes
7:18 there's a quote from one of my English
7:22 teachers at La Maran named uh Mr Fisk he
7:24 had a great quote that said rest at the
7:25 end not in the
7:27 middle and that's something I always
7:29 live by
7:31 I'm not going to rest I'm going to keep
7:33 on pushing now there a lot of answers
7:36 that I don't have even questions that I
7:38 don't have but I'm just going to keep
7:40 going just going to keep going and I'll
7:41 figure these things out as we go right
7:43 and you just continue to build that way
7:45 so that I try to live by that all the
7:47 time you're playing against the Golden
7:51 State Warriors score is 107
7:54 109 you guys are close to getting into
7:56 the playoffs you're about to take your
7:58 shot and then all of a sudden boom falls down
8:00 down
8:02 again he's struggling he's at the line
8:05 to shoot free throws so he can't be
8:07 taken out of the game right now right
8:09 after you were injured you went on
8:12 Facebook and you posted a lengthy blog
8:14 this is such BS all the training and
8:16 sacrifice just flew out the window with
8:17 one step that I've done millions of
8:20 times the frustration is unbearable the
8:22 anger is Rage why the hell did this
8:24 happen makes no damn sense now I'm
8:25 supposed to come back from this and be
8:28 the same player or better at 35 how in
8:29 the world am I supposed to do that I
8:32 have no clue maybe I should break out
8:33 the rocking chair and reminisce on the
8:35 career that was maybe this is how my
8:38 book ends yeah maybe father time has
8:41 defeated me then again maybe not there
8:43 are far greater issues and challenges in
8:45 the world than a torn Achilles stop
8:47 feeling sorry for yourself find the
8:49 silver lining and get to work with the
8:51 same belief same drive and same
8:52 conviction as
8:55 ever one day the beginning of a new
8:57 career Journey will commence today is
9:00 not that day if you see me in a fight
9:03 with a bear pray for the bear I wanted
9:04 to be one of the best basketball players
9:08 to ever play and anything else that was
9:10 outside of that lane I didn't have time
9:13 for at at what age did that goal become
9:15 crystal clear I made that deal with
9:17 myself at 13 years old at 13 years old
9:19 13 years old that's the deal made clear
9:21 about it crystal clear and where did
9:24 inspiration come from um the Love of the
9:26 Game the Love of the Game the challenge
9:28 like I I would watch Magic play I'd
9:30 watch Michael play
9:31 and I would see them do these
9:33 unbelievable things and I'd say you know
9:37 can I get to that level I don't know but
9:40 let's find out let's find out and so
9:42 that Curiosity to see where I could push
9:44 this thing led me down that path I think
9:46 we were in Vegas for the start of
9:48 training camp and we're getting ready
9:50 for the Olympics in Beijing we're going
9:52 to head to Beijing and I wanted to
9:54 establish myself as a young leader on
9:56 the team by waking up bright and early
10:00 day one so the goal was to be the first
10:03 one at breakfast so I set my
10:06 alarm I make sure I'm up by Sunrise I
10:08 get out of bed I put on my gear and I head
10:09 head
10:12 downstairs but when I get there Kobe's already
10:13 already
10:16 there with ice packs on his knees
10:18 drenched in
10:20 sweat now it took me a minute to figure
10:22 it out but this guy wasn't only awake
10:26 before me he had already worked out he
10:28 had just played in the finals days
10:30 earlier meaning
10:32 meanwhile I'd been off for months and I
10:33 was still
10:35 exhausted what he had done that morning
10:38 was incomprehensible to me that
10:41 dedication he had only days after
10:44 falling short of an NBA
10:45 championship that taught me something
10:46 I've never
10:49 forgotten Legends aren't defined by their
10:50 their
10:52 successes they're defined by how they
10:54 bounce back from their failures doubt is
10:58 such a strange thing I mean it's um you
11:00 know be times where you succeed and
11:01 there times that you
11:04 fail so waste wasting your time doubting
11:06 whether you're going to be successful or
11:07 not is
11:09 pointless it is and you just put one
11:11 foot in front of the other you control
11:13 what you can't control and then you see
11:15 what the outcome is right if you win
11:17 great you're going to have to wake up
11:18 the next day and do the journey over
11:20 again if you lose sucks but you're going
11:21 to have to wake up the next day and do
11:23 the journey all over again anyway those
11:25 times when you get up early and you work
11:27 hard those times when you stay up late
11:29 and you work hard those times s when you
11:31 don't feel like working you're too tired
11:32 you don't want to push yourself but you
11:33 do it
11:36 anyway um that is actually the
11:38 dream that's the dream it's not the
11:41 destination it's the journey if you guys
11:43 can understand that then what you'll see
11:46 happen is that you won't accomplish your
11:48 dreams your dreams won't come true
11:50 something greater will I think the
11:53 greatest fear that we face is ourselves
11:55 actually you know I think it's um it's
11:58 not anything that's external or anything
11:59 that's superficial I think the greatest
12:02 fear you face is yourself because you
12:04 know we all have dreams and and it's
12:07 very scary sometimes to accept the dream
12:09 that you have and it's scarier still to
12:13 say Okay I want that it's scary because
12:15 you're afraid that if you put your heart
12:18 in Soul into it and you fail then how
12:20 are you going to feel about yourself
12:22 right so being Fearless means putting
12:25 yourself out there and going for it no
12:28 matter what go for it not for anybody else
12:29 else
12:30 but for
12:33 yourself if your job is to try to be the
12:35 best basketball player you can be right
12:37 to do that you have to practice you have
12:39 to train right you want to train as much
12:42 as you can as often as you can so if you
12:44 get up at 10:00 in the morning train at
12:48 11:00 right 12 say 1200 train at 1200
12:50 train for 2 hours 12:00 to 2 um you have
12:52 to let your body recover so you eat
12:54 recover whatever you get back out you
12:56 train start training again at 6:00 train
12:59 from 6:00 to 8:00 right and now you you
13:01 go home you shower you eat dinner you go
13:02 to bed you wake up you do it again right
13:04 those are two sessions right now imagine
13:06 you wake up at 3:00 you train at 4:00
13:09 you go 4: to 6 come home breakfast relax
13:13 so so now you're back at it again 9: to
13:15 11: right you relax and now a sudden
13:17 you're back at it again 2 to 4 and now
13:20 you're back at it again you know 7 to n
13:23 look how much more training I have done
13:25 by simply starting at 4: right and so
13:28 now you do that and as the years go on
13:30 the separ insiration that you have with
13:32 your competitors and your peers just
13:34 grows larger and larger and larger and
13:36 larger and larger and by year five or
13:39 six doesn't matter what kind of work
13:40 they do in the summer they're never
13:43 going to catch up cuz they're 5 years
13:46 behind right so it makes sense to get up
13:48 and start your day early because you can
13:50 get more work in if I start earlier I
13:51 can train more hours and I know the
13:53 other guys aren't doing it because I
13:55 know what their training schedule is
13:57 right so I know if I do this
13:59 consistently over time
14:01 the gap's just going to widen and widen
14:02 and widen and widen and widen and they
14:05 won't be able to get that back so to me
14:06 it was just common sense I'm like
14:08 thinking how can I get an advantage oh
14:10 start earlier and this is right after
14:13 that playoff game we flew back to LA
14:16 that night and I got home it's probably
14:19 like 3:00 in the morning and I went down
14:21 to the high school which is down the
14:24 street from our house and the janitor
14:29 let me in the gym and I shot all day
14:35 all day I mean all day and um I didn't
14:37 leave the gym I just kept shooting
14:38 shooting and shooting and shooting and
14:40 shooting and shooting and practicing and
14:44 practicing and uh I got a chance to let
14:47 out the steam of disappointing my
14:49 teammates and millions of fans I got a
14:52 chance to let all that out instead of
14:56 bottling it up and envision that moment
15:00 over and over and over and over and over
15:01 that that was a huge summer for me
15:05 because I I um I felt like everybody had
15:08 written me off after those air balls you
15:09 got a lot of people playing their hard
15:11 ear money to come watch you perform it's
15:13 your job to be in shape it's your job to
15:14 be strong enough to perform at that
15:17 level every single night and as a
15:20 competitor I'm not I'm not ducking
15:22 like it's not oh my God my back hurts
15:24 I'm sore we got to play Vince Carter and
15:26 Toronto Raptors tonight we actually had
15:27 this happen we had a game against
15:31 Toronto and in 2000 and Vince was
15:35 tearing the league up um my back was
15:38 jacked jacked like the perception of
15:41 that like what Kobe's missing a game against
15:42 against
15:45 Toronto Vince Carter because my back was really
15:45 really
15:48 spasming but people will be like what oh
15:51 he's ducking Vince excuse me no I don't
15:54 think so so I would be in the layup line
15:56 like okay there's a lot of days where
15:58 you know you can rest and recover today
16:00 ain't one of them your back can bother
16:02 you any other day that ain't
16:04 bothering me today we going he going to
16:07 have to see me today yeah am man yeah a
16:09 lot of the kids that I was playing
16:12 against were inner city kids and so they
16:13 looking at me as if okay this kid is
16:15 soft right he's from the suburbs of
16:18 Philadelphia his father played in NBA
16:20 played professionally got it easy got it
16:22 easy born on second you know all this
16:24 sort of stuff right and so they felt
16:25 like they could try to be physical or
16:27 try to intimidate me and do all other
16:29 stuff which they couldn't right but now
16:30 I'm saying okay well you're trying to
16:32 attack me how am I going to attack you
16:35 how can I mentally figure out ways to
16:37 break break you down how can I show you
16:40 that no I have the edge right and so
16:42 that's when it first started for me is
16:44 figuring out how to get the upper handle
16:46 on an opponent that way and what would
16:48 you do to mentally break people down
16:49 then we used to have an All-American
16:51 camp that I used to go to and you know
16:53 at the time when I first showed up was a
16:56 sore and um one of the things I would do
16:58 is everybody would be at the cafeteria
16:59 work you know eating doing all other
17:01 stuff I just go back to the gym I just
17:05 go back to the gym they be resting they
17:07 and they see me leave right but now
17:08 you're in a tough position cuz you're
17:09 like okay I want to be like I'm
17:11 following the kid to go work out but I
17:13 know he's working he's up early and he's
17:15 doing all this s stuff so that was my
17:18 way of show of showing them yeah I may
17:21 be from the suburbs but you're not going
17:23 to outwork me wow and I'm mentally going
17:26 to did someone teach you that was that
17:27 just a thing that you decided like I'm
17:30 going to get in people's mind
17:32 um I think it's just it's just figuring
17:35 out ways to to to be better what does
17:39 losing feel like to you uh it's
17:41 exciting why is it
17:43 exciting um because it means you have
17:46 different um ways to get better there's
17:48 certain things that you can figure out
17:50 that you can take advantage of right
17:53 certain weaknesses that were
17:56 exposed um that you need to shore up
17:59 right so it was exciting I mean suck to
18:02 lose right but at the same time their
18:05 answer is there you just look at them um
18:07 cuz you get the information from losing
18:08 more than from winning probably yeah
18:09 yeah I mean the answers are there when
18:11 you win too you just have to look at
18:13 them yeah right so it's a constant
18:15 process it's exciting when you win it's
18:16 exciting when you lose because the
18:18 process should be exactly the same
18:20 whether you win or you lose as you go
18:21 back and you look and you find things
18:23 that you could have done better you find
18:25 things that you've done well that worked
18:27 figure out how did they work why did
18:29 they work and how you make him work
18:31 again yeah and uh but the hardest thing
18:33 is to face that stuff I think the best
18:36 way to prove your your value is to work
18:40 it's to learn it's to absorb um to be a
18:44 sponge you always want to outwork your
18:45 potential you know as hard as you
18:48 believe you can work you can work harder
18:50 than that and that's what I tried to do
18:51 when I first came in the league but you
18:53 know basketball is such a direct
18:56 competition Sport and me coming in at 17
18:59 I hated when like my teammates say you
19:01 know I get hit with an elbow right Shaq
19:02 would hit me with an elbow in practice
19:04 and like you
19:06 know Nick Van XEL would come up and say
19:09 are you okay what
19:13 what M are you okay the hell is wrong
19:14 with you you know so like I always had
19:16 that extra chip on my shoulder so like
19:18 every day in practice for me was really
19:20 trying to annihilate everybody that was
19:22 that I was playing against cuz I wanted
19:25 to prove you don't need to babysit me
19:29 like I I'm fine you know Mama mentality
19:31 simply means trying to be the best
19:33 version of yourself that's what the
19:36 mentality means it means every day
19:39 you're trying to become better and it's
19:41 a constant Quest it's an infinite Quest
19:43 so starting at the age of two when I
19:45 first started playing the game and on
19:47 and on and on I always ask questions I
19:49 always try to get better every single
19:52 day the lesson I cherish the most is how
19:55 important it is to love what you do if
19:57 you love what you do and it's making you
20:00 happy all the hard work and perseverance
20:03 will pay off when you know you're truly
20:05 giving it your all there is no greater
20:07 feeling in the
20:09 world I once had a gallons counselor
20:11 tell me that I shouldn't play
20:13 basketball that it would never amount to
20:14 anything for
20:18 me you know what much to your
20:20 surprise I took that counselor's
20:23 advice I took it and I used it to be the
20:26 best basketball player I could be his
20:29 negativity towards me Made Me Stronger
20:31 you can't stop people from trying to
20:33 limit your dreams but you can stop it
20:36 from becoming a reality your dreams are
20:38 up to
20:42 you I encourage you to always be curious
20:44 always seek out things you love and
20:47 always work hard once you find it so
20:49 with that I'll let you carry on with
20:51 your evening please know I'm thinking of
20:54 you supporting you and encouraging you always
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