LAS VEGAS — Kyrie Irving has had great mentors he trusts around him his entire basketball career. It started with his dad, who coached him for years. Then there was Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. There were pro’s pros in Cleveland such as Anderson Varejao. Now he’s playing next to LeBron James.
But throughout these latest playoffs, Irving was reaching out to Kobe Bryant — including Facetiming with him right after the Finals.
Why Kobe?
“In terms of a mental approach, as well as some technical stuff about the game, I’ll always go to Kobe, because he’s as polished as they come,” Irving told NBCSports.com, taking a break from shooting his latest ad for Kids Foot Locker, of which his is a primary spokesman. “If you’re talking about a who literally just physically imposed himself on the game every single day, and that mindset, oh I definitely going to talk Kobe.”
Irving admitted Kobe was one of his idols growing up, someone he patterned parts of his game after.
“I never got a chance to play with Kobe, I always watched from the outside like everyone else did — and I’ve been watching Kobe for however long,” Irving said. “I mean, me and my dad used to watch Lakers games and I was just specifically watching his footwork. I’m just studying that dude constantly, constantly, constantly. And once he became a mentor of mine, it was just great.”
Irving said it has been a good balance for him having both Kobe and LeBron as mentors, because they have different leadership styles and very different personalities. LeBron’s influence is felt daily, in a million little ways and some big ones. Kobe provides another perspective.
“I’m very, very thankful to have those two guys in my life in terms of my development because it’s just been great…” Irving said.
“A lot of things that I feel separates (Kobe and I), from an individual standpoint, is very similar. I’m thankful that I have that from both of them, LeBron and Kobe, because they are two totally different guys, and they bring so much to the team, and so much as individuals, I just want to pick their brains on everything.”