Very hard to dislike the man he grew into and we all saw it. I hated Kobe as a player but always respected him and grew to admire him the last 2 years of his career. But here is why people loved the guy over the past 5 years, including me. He became incredibly graceful his last two seasons of the NBA, and even more so in retirement.
And accomplishments are just off the charts, and this is why he’s loved (his off the court accomplishments were well on its way to matching what he did on the court)
Top 2-3 basketball player of all time
Net worth: $600 million
Won an Oscar within 2 years of retiring - it takes people 30-40-50-60 Years of disciplined training to achieve this yet he did it in only TWO
New York Times best selling author of children books within 3 years of retiring (Also nuts). Again, this takes some decades of disciplined writing but he did it in 3. Was also in the process of co-writing a book with the great Paulo Coelo - author of the Alchemist. Both of these are mind blowing to me.
We can stop here if we wanted to and be in total awe, because that would mean he was great and one of the best in the World in THREE career disciplines (hoops, film-making, and writing) but wait there is more!!
Multilingual - spoke 3-4 languages fluently
Became one of the most sought after motivational speakers in the world (Business, universities, coaches all clamores for his services)
Was a GREAT businessman....and he was a big name and great investor in the startup scene. He and Jeff Stibel created a $100M VC fund in 2016 - months after he retired.
Mentored athletes from every sport (tennis, football, men hoops, women’s hoops, soccer, college and pro athletes). He became a kind of sage or philosopher genius to many of his mentees.
Gave 1:1 and group training to G-league players, NBA players, WNBA and men’s and women’s college players
Mentored businessman and women
Ambassador for women’s hoops and was working in partnership with the WNBA
Family man and great dad - you saw his softer side here
Basketball coach for kids and created his own girls AAU team (he coached the **** thing!)
Created Mamba Academy for athletic training (all athletes) and for hosting boys and girls AAU tournaments weekly
Lastly- he was an authentic dude and he never “lost himself” unlike many athletes. Namely, he could role with any group or swimlane with ease. He could roll with and had friendships with businessman/women from any ethnicity, actors, entertainers, professional athletes, media, regular folks AND he has immense street cred/hood respect.
!!!!!! I couldn't stand his *** when he played, but I always knew he was a dope player. But since he retired I started paying more attention to dude. His basketball iq was thru the ******* roof. Loved hearing his take on the game and how he was helping younger players. Right when I was starting to like him this **** happens.... Smh
www.talkbasket.net
