Top 100 Kobe Quotes

Kobe was obsessed with the game of basketball.

Kobe is worth every penny, and I’d never had any doubt that he’d contribute to this team.

I’m blessed just making it to the NBA. That was my first goal and dream. Playing with Kobe and Shaq and for a coach like Phil Jackson, and then going to play with guys like Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse, it’s just a crazy experience.

Kobe meant a lot to me growing up.

I have certain guys who I looked up to. Jordan, Kobe, those guys. Passing that on to doing my part to kind of keep that influence of basketball where it should be is kind of why I play the game.

Kobe’s been criticized unfairly. He’s in a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation. If he passes too much, they say he’s not shooting. If he shoots, he’s called selfish.

I met Kobe during my first year, before a game.

During my rookie year, Kobe was always on me. Get in the gym early with him, getting shots and stuff like that.

A lot of players will tell you, ‘When I was a kid, I watched Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and I wanted to be just like them.’ For me, it wasn’t like that at all.

At the end of the day, the only person to have a better Kobe sneaker game than me is Kobe himself.

Kobe Bryant has always been my favorite player, and he was drafted No. 13, too, in 1996.

Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan. Not more successful. Hasn’t had a bigger economic impact. Hasn’t won more MVPs. Hasn’t won more titles. But he’s a better player.

The Laker brand and name itself is fantastic. When you have a guy like Kobe Bryant in that brand also, it takes it out of this world. I think the fact that everybody sees the work ethic this guy has makes them work harder.

Kobe Bryant should know how to defend a pick and roll.

Kobe’s dedication to the game is unreal. And I mean that in the truest sense… it was literally unbelievable.

Obviously, Kobe is one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

Me and Kobe are always going to talk trash and get into it. But when he talks trash to everybody else, some people tend to shy away.

I’m much more starstruck by athletes than I am by actors, and I think I saw Kobe Bryant at a basketball party, and I just kind of froze. He’s monstrous.

The thing is I’m with Nike and I don’t want to wear any other player’s shoe. No Giannis or LeBron – I’m not going to wear those, and it narrows what you can wear. But with the Kobe’s, who cares because Kobe is Kobe. You can wear his shoe because it’s Kobe. They look great, the feel great and it represents something.

I grew up watching Kobe and all these other dudes, but I was in love with that Oklahoma City Thunder team with James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant.

I think everybody’s ideal is to have a wonderful career with one franchise, like Kobe and Tim Duncan.

I always wanted to be on the same court as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

I want to be me – and people know it’s me. I don’t want: ‘He’s trying to act like Kobe’ or ‘His answers are like something Kobe would’ve said.’ Nah. If it’s me, I’m going to say it.

I feel like my game is more like LeBron’s than Kobe’s, so that’s why I think I gravitated toward his game more.

The craft of officiating is taught that people come and pay top dollar to see people like Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, all the stars, and you have to make sure when you blow the whistle against those individuals that it’s a foul that you basically can’t let go.

I’m a real mellow guy, for the most part – yeah, no, not with Kobe. By far my favorite player of all time. His career was basically my childhood.

For me it’s just amazing that I grew up watching Tim Duncan and KG and Kobe and Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson and all those guys and now it’s like, ‘Man, I can’t believe they actually got old.’ It’s like they actually walked away. It’s crazy to think about, but the game has to keep moving.

I think Phil Jackson started that feud. It happened many times that after team practice he would say, ‘Kobe said this about Shaq, and Shaq said that about Kobe… ‘ We couldn’t believe how could that happen, because just the day before we saw them together, jumping on one another.

Would I have been a great basketball player? No. But I think I would’ve been a good basketball player, one of those grinders getting eight to 10 rebounds. I would’ve been like Kobe and been in the gym five to seven hours a day and never missed a 10-foot jump shot. I would’ve been a great role player for a team.

Any free agent that would be afraid to play with Kobe Bryant is probably a loser, and I’m glad they wouldn’t come to the team.

It’s hard not to respect Kobe Bryant’s game: He’s one of the all-time greats.

Kobe taught people how to work hard, he taught you how to work hard. He gave you the blueprint of what you should do to be a successful basketball player, and work hard.

I grew up – obviously I’m from Philly, where Kobe is from, so we grew up idolizing Kobe. He meant everything to us.

I got a lot of respect for Kobe.

I think the bottom line, even though there are some bumps and bruises here and there, is Kobe will lead you to victories.

My whole thing is if you want to do it, then do it. Kobe told me this, but he said, ‘You don’t wanna lay all your eggs in one basket, but you wanna lay all your eggs in one basket.’ If you wanna do something and be great at it, that’s what you’re going to have to specialize in. Just take it and run.

I knew Kobe pretty well and he was a guy that was always moving forward.

There are very few LeBron James and Kobe Bryants.

Honestly, I don’t listen to nobody else’s music but my own. It’s kind of like sports to me. You don’t see Kobe Bryant at a LeBron James game – he just works on his own game. And that’s what I do. I only listen to me, so I can criticize and analyze and all those things.

I had an opportunity to meet Kobe and he’s just an unbelievable person.

It’s been one heck of a ride. I came into the league playing with Kobe and Shaq and for Phil Jackson. Playing with Jordan. And so, it just has been a blessing. I can’t describe it any other way.

Every since I started playing basketball, I wanted to be just like Kobe. To get to see him play in person, and to meet him, was just a dream come true.

Kobe Bryant was the reason I started playing basketball – always was and will be my favorite player of all time. I love the way he could get his shot off, his footwork down in the post, just his determination to be the best player.

I guess, if it wasn’t for Jordan, there would be no LeBron or Kobe who plays like that.

Whenever I hear people crying about Kobe yelling at people in practice or wondering whether or not LeBron is best friends with his teammates, I just roll my eyes. You know how many off-court conversations I had with the Zen-Master Phil Jackson in my entire time with the Lakers? One.

I’ve been watching Kobe ever since I can remember.

I had the Kobe jersey. I would do the Kobe walk. I would walk around the house doing the Kobe stare-down face. Anything you can name, I was idolizing him, trying to be like him.

My friends, they all say that I’m turning Hollywood. Big-time. And I want to be that. I want to be a guy who’s bigger than what they say. You look at Kobe. Michael Jordan. Somebody like Michael Jackson. Those guys are bigger than life. I strive to be that.

At Kobe, whither I fled from Hong Kong, I took a step of great importance. I cut off my cue, which had been growing all my life.

I didn’t work out with Kobe. I don’t know where that came from. I wish I could have.

As a player, you model yourself after other players. Kobe takes the same approach as Michael Jordan. But I follow someone like Magic Johnson; he showed emotion, he smiled and jumped around, he was happy for his teammates. There needs to be more players like that.

I grew up in L.A., so I’m a huge Lakers fan and Kobe fan.

If everyone had a superpower, Kobe would be the Hulk. Kobe could take on a whole team by himself and he’s willing to do that. So, Kobe is like I’ll go 5-1, I don’t care. I’m still going to win. I put in more work than all five of you guys.

Kobe is Kobe. He is one of the best to ever play this game. Given the opportunity, he can embarrass you.

Kobe Bryant is a walking stat himself. He doesn’t have to explain what he brings to the table.

I’m like, ‘No, I don’t wanna be the next Shaq. I wanna be Kobe.’ So I always just dribbled the ball everywhere I went… It was kind of a natural thing. I don’t even work on it, honestly.

Even in practice, me and Kobe get into it every day. I do my best to challenge him. He’s still going to be Kobe, talking trash.

Kobe woks harder than anybody I’ve seen.

Most guys don’t want to play with Kobe.

I don’t want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I’d be happy.

If I would compare anybody to Michael Jordan, it would be Kobe Bryant.

The basketball great Kobe Bryant started his own venture-capital firm. LeBron James has rebranded himself as not just an athlete but also an investor and entrepreneur.