Top 219 Kobe Quotes & Sayings - Page 3

You walk in our locker room and you see Pau Gasol, you see Andrew Bynum, you see Kobe, you see Ron Artest ... we have so many players that can play.

Growing up, I loved what Kobe did and Dirk did. My intentions are to stay with the Pelicans my whole career, but if something happens, I wouldn't leave because I hate the place. It's just the business.

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.

Nobody can guard Kobe one-on-one. Nobody.

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.

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.

Kobe has a different temperament than me. We're both competitive, but he was much more outspoken. I would let anything roll off me. Nothing bothered me. I never complained.

I'm a fan of Kobe and LeBron. People always try to make me pick one or the other, but I think they're both great. They both deliver.

I think, at the end of the game, guys gotta trust themselves more. I think sometimes - not myself, but sometimes, guys - they look to Kobe too much.

Tokyo may have more money and Kyoto more culture; Nara may have more history and Kobe more style. But Osaka has the biggest heart.

I would like to say I do some pretty good impressions. I'm also one of the best basketball players in the world. I just chose not to go the NBA route, but people say I'm better than Kobe and LeBron.

I would get mad if Kobe was like, 'I'm not going to shoot that much tonight.' No, no, no, that's your gift. The people want to see you do what you're going to do.

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.

Because Shaq played alongside one of the most disliked, phenomenally talented players in NBA history, Shaq became a great guy without really having to do anything. People love Shaq because he's not Kobe.

Now, the mistakes that I made with my other two sons, Penny and Kobe, I won't make with D-Wade. We can't let them break us up and we can't break each other up.

I'm a musician - I'm always making music. Kobe Bryant is always playing ball. Well, Snoop Dogg is always recording.

Kobe Bryant, to me, is still the best basketball player in my mind. He played with me and he was in my era. I still love him to death. He's a little brother to me.

I'll stutter step, then drop the shoulder, a little pump, a little Kobe Game 7 fade-away, and the hooks coming too. And Malcolm [Subban] knows, he's got an inch on me but he can't defend that. He knows that.

When I look back at the people who were most influential in my life, it wasn't Kobe Bryant, it wasn't Michael Jordan, it wasn't Muhammad Ali. It was regular people who do, like, regular jobs in Ames, Iowa, who had impact. My hero was the secretary in the department of music - my mom.

Lakers are my boys! I'm 100 percent the biggest Kobe fan on the planet. I text him after every game to tell him what's up.

They say things happen in three. I won with the great Kobe, the great D-Wade and now it's my job to win one with the great LeBron James. We have everything in place. We just got to get it done.

I remember watching when D-Wade and LeBron were here playing for the Heat. I remember watching them play the Lakers with Kobe. So I just was able to watch those games growing up and really watch my favorite players.

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'm the biggest Laker fan. Probably more of a Kobe fan.

I didn't like it in the beginning, but later on, if I was in Jerry West's shoes, I would do the same thing. I would trade myself for Kobe, no-brainer.

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 would always ask Rob Pelinka what Kobe was doing to be who he was. How to get his game to the next level - how does he get that good?

Part of the reason why Kobe Bryant is such a big inspiration to me is because he was shipped off to the Lakers right out of high school. He went from English class to the Great Western Forum.

On the nights the Lakers played, I wouldn't miss a second of the game. Every timeout, every commercial, I'd run to the front yard to imitate my favorite Laker, Kobe.

I have my own identity ... The whole Michael thing does drive me nuts sometimes because people won't leave it alone. He's bald, I have hair. He's almost 40, I'm 22. Seriously though, I wish people would let it be and let me just be Kobe.

It was a lovely story that I finished my career with Kobe, with somebody who I was traded for. I have a lot of respect for the guy. I think he's definitely, by far, the best talent that I ever, ever played with.

Paternalistic is a very good word. They think they have to look out for these guys? Don't worry about it. Why? Because of history. Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant. They did okay.

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.

People will think there are no other great ballplayers. Look at Garnett. Look at Duncan, Shaq, Kobe. Look at the players with Sacramento. The have a really good basketball team.

Michael Jordan on his worst day is ten times better than Kobe Bryant on his best day.

I really like Damian Lillard, I like Iman Shumpert's raps, Stephen Jackson, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant. Those are my favorite ones. I like Lonzo Ball, don't know about him as a rapper yet, but I know he's cool.

Kobe is part of the Laker family and he always will be. There's not many players who play 18-19 years with the same franchise, and it's important to us that he has a chance to play his entire career with the Lakers.

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.

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.

I want to be a winner. But you can see Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky - that kind of people - where you can see and say yeah, this is players who win everything. I want to be in this page, too.

We live in an impatient world. Everybody is always looking for the next big Kobe, the next big LeBron, the next big Twitter.

The best players are always in the thick of the action. (Michael) Jordan did it with the Bulls, (Kobe) Bryant does it with the Lakers and Leo does it here. We want him to stay with us because he's the best and we wouldn't swap him for anyone.

Kobe's footwork I'm a huge fan of because he prides himself on that and I feel like that's an important piece to the game - having the proper footwork and the strength, and just knowing where you are on the floor by just looking at the floor.

Well, it used to be Kobe Bryant... the second best all time.... now, I have a new favorite player to play against... my former teammate, LeBron James.

In contrast to New Orleans, there was only minimal looting after the horrendous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan - because, when you get down to it, Japanese aren't blacks.

The first investment he made, he like made literally a 50x-plus. I mean that's Kobe. He was a winner in absolutely everything he did.

I don't want to be Kobe, I want to be LeBron.

There's no doubt that there is star treatment. It's discussed in the meetings. Obviously, people don't pay an enormous amount of money to sit in those courtside seats to see players like Kobe, LeBron, Shaq - all the greats - sit on the bench and be in foul trouble.

Kobe made an impact on basketball in a big way. He came in the League when he was 17 years old, but he was working on his game every day... The way he played, people all around the world loved the passion that he put in for basketball.

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.

I always wanted to play with Kobe Bryant. I used to tease him all the time. Every time I was a free agent, I was like, 'What's up, bro? You got a chance to get the pit that you need. You feel me? This is your chance.'

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.

In my 20s, I could just power through stuff and be fine, but now, in your 40s? It's kind of like Kobe Bryant. He plays basketball a little bit differently than he did when he first started out.

I want to be that type of guy - I want to be Kobe Bryant. I want to be Tim Duncan. I want to be Dirk Nowitzki - stay with one team my whole career.

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.

As a two, you gotta see the guys I have to guard on a nightly basis, like Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant or J.R. Smith. I have to be mentally prepared and battle-tested.

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 don't really celebrate victories. Kobe Bryant just kept playing. Michael Jordan just kept playing.

He practiced against Kobe all of last year, so obviously it was sweet revenge for him. We deserved that. We didn't know who he was, we gave him up to Charlotte, we had no idea how good a player he was.

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.