The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

“Over the years, a lot of people have wondered how difficult it must have been to work with Bryant. It really wasn’t. All you had to do was understand where he was coming from, what he was about, and how badly he wanted to win. He would challenge players and coaches to match his intensity, his desire, to bring their very best every single day, not just at games, but at practices, too. Bryant 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 out the best in me as a basketball player, and he made me a stronger person, too.”

In the Introduction, Pau Gasol addresses an aspect of Bryant’s reputation; journalists and commentators have accused Bryant of bullying and aggression throughout his career in his interactions with his teammates. Bryant was known to apply pressure to those around him in ways he considered motivating, but which was not always well received. Gasol defends Bryant’s approach as rooted in his desire to determine the level of commitment among his peers.

“I could go on listing records and accounts of his scoring prowess, but that was really a side note to Bryant’s evolution as a player. My staff would meet at 8:30 AM at our facility before a practice or game to prepare for the coming day. […] He would be in the gym well before that, maybe by 6 AM to get his pre-practice workout done before anyone else showed up. That was the trademark of the final 10 years of his career. Bryant led by example for his teammates. They couldn’t keep up—but they were always challenged by the example he set.”

Coach Phil Jackson’s observations in his Introduction to The Mamba Mentality attest to the time commitment that Bryant describes throughout the text. Jackson, like Gasol, was continuously impressed by the way that Bryant stood out among his teammates, beyond his exceptional athletic prowess and insight into the game of basketball. Bryant consistently demonstrated a diligence that buttressed his success; it was his willingness to sacrifice time he might have spent in other areas of his life in service of the pursuit of his professional excellence.

“When it came to basketball, I had no fear. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind. I always focused on the fact that I had to try something to get it, and once I got it, I’d have another tool in my arsenal. If the price was a lot of work and a few missed shots, I was OK with that.”

Bryant attributes much of his early growth as a professional athlete to this willingness to make mistakes. He believes that the only regret he would be justified in feeling would lie in realizing in later years that he had squandered an opportunity to place himself further ahead than where he found himself had he only taken greater risks earlier in his career.