“It used to drive me crazy that he was so lazy. You got to have the responsibility of working every single day. You can’t skate through s—-.”
Kobe Bryant talking about Shaquille O’Neal in a profile of him in the latest edition of The New Yorker.
You should go read the entire article, this is one quote pulled from a fantastic longer piece. The article profiles Kobe as he prepares both for the last couple years of his career — he says he doesn’t plan to play after this contract. Kobe also talks about being focused on a successful life after basketball, about building a business empire and putting his energies and focus toward that. He talks about growing up in Italy and how he got to where he is now.
As you would expect in one of America’s best magazines, the piece is well written and researched. It doesn’t really break any new ground or new news, at least for people who are big NBA fans or around the game. It paints the Kobe/Shaq mess for what it was — they both were at fault, the egotistical O’Neal and the immature Kobe (who has an ego as well). Shaq and Kobe didn’t get along, Phil Jackson tried to keep them on the same page but he had sided more with Shaq because that was Shaq’s locker room and the other veterans were with him. Jackson made the only play he could, and yet was able to patch his relationship with Kobe upon his return. Kobe’s maturation during the Pau Gasol years is highlighted, his desire to be a leader and how that changed him, plus a lot of attention on what is next.
Just go read the entire thing.
