Isaiah Thomas, like most players of his generation, grew up watching, and worshipping, Kobe Bryant. Now that Kobe’s in his last season, the Boston Celtics point guard wanted to greet Bryant, and maybe get an autograph. Thomas got much more than a “hello” and a signature, however. Via Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe:
‘[Bryant] came and sat down and talked, just me and him, for like 20 minutes,” Thomas said Friday. “It was probably the best talk I’ve ever had.”
Thomas always has admired Bryant’s competitiveness and focus. He asked Bryant how he avoided distractions so effectively during his dominant career.
“He told me this story about how a lion seeks food, whatever he’s gonna kill and eat,” Thomas said. “And you know how many bugs are on the lion’s eyes and gnats on his body? He’s so locked in on that zebra that he doesn’t get distracted by anything else. He said if you get distracted by little things, then you’re not as locked in as you think you are. He said for me to be a lion, and that’s gonna stick with me the rest of my life.”
Is that not the most Kobe thing ever? I’ve got to admit, despite being a Celtics fan, I love farewell tour Kobe. He’s like this wise old basketball sage who’s trying to impart his knowledge to the youth of the NBA.
Kobe also told Thomas that if he ever needed advice, he could just call Bryant up.
“He even said, ‘If you need to know how to guard somebody, I know how to defend everyone, so just let me know,’?” Thomas said.
“I was just like, ‘Don’t offer too much, because I’ll be reaching out to you all the time.’
“But it was an amazing time for me, just because that’s somebody I grew up on. I told him I’ve been watching him since I was 7. It was an amazing moment.”
This is awesome, and it will surely have a huge impact on Thomas. After all, Kobe is his favorite player ever. Thomas will surely take his words to heart; who wouldn’t take their childhood hero’s advice seriously?
This chat came before Kobe’s final game in Boston, a game which the Lakers won. Thomas played well in the loss though, scoring 24 points to go with 7 assists. He shot 7-13 from the field, and a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe. He was certainly very focused from the free throw line that night… perhaps the lion advice had already started to have an effect?
