Kobe Bryant’s Legacy

Before his tragic death, the NBA star wrote “Mamba Mentality: The Secrets of My Success.”*

The best, those now playing for the National Basketball Association, those who compete in the the Disney World NBA bubble, beginners, basketball fans and everyone. We miss him, but we can still learn from Kobe Bryant in the legacy he left behind in print. The basketball star, who disappeared in a helicopter accident Jan. 26 along with his daughter, Gianna, and six other people, put the philosophy that took shape as his career developed into words in his book, “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.”

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar, a global role model for the sport of basketball, condensed his ideas into 208 pages. “The mindset isn’t about seeking a result, it’s more about the process of getting to that result. It’s about the journey and the approach. It’s a way of life,” Kobe writes. Rather than telling a story, the book decodes Kobe’s journey from 1996 to 2016, a journey so intense and triumphant that two (not one, which is normal) of his jerseys were retired, #8 and #24.

He describes his “biblical” practice sessions at dawn, his mental preparation, the difficult decisions he had to make, and his routine. And also his ability to absorb lessons learned by other greats: his moments with Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and even Muhammed Ali. From Ali he learned that you can manipulate your opponents’ strength and use it against them.

Kobe’s friend and teammate, Pau Gasol, writes in the book’s foreword, “He would challenge players and coaches to match his intensity, his desire, to bring the best of themselves every day basis, not just at games but at practices, too. Kobe wanted to find out what you were made of and if he could count on you to help him win, plain and simple. I will always be thankful to him. He brought the best out of me as a basketball player, and he made me a stronger person, too.”

And in the introduction, Phil Jackson, the renowned coach for the Lakers and for Bryant, alludes to the famous saying, “Basketball is an easy sport to play, but a difficult sport to master,” and writes, “This [book] is a window into the mind of someone who mastered [the sport]. The combination of Andy Bernstein’s exceptional photography and Kobe’s insights might make you a better player if you’re inclined.”

Editor’s note: The title of Bryant’s book is “Mamba Mentality: How I Play.”