Kobe Bryant Trying Quotations

The people who truly know me know what I'm like. There have been people who try to say things that aren't fair, and I check them. And then they don't like me because I checked them.

You want me to own a team and deal with these rich, spoiled stubborn athletes, and try to get them to perform? No thank you.

Twitter is great to connect with fans and be transparent. I enjoy that aspect about it. But really, I'm still trying to figure it out.

At the end of 2003, my game was complete. Shooting, defense, using the dribble, transition, midrange stuff was all there. Then it was about fine-tuning and trying to improve in each area.

I absolutely hate it. I just hate it. I don't want to hear any comparisons between me and him. Enough is enough. He had a brilliant career, obviously, one of the greatest careers ever, if not the greatest, and I'm here playing with my team and we're trying to do great things. Just let the past be the past. Just embrace what I'm doing. Stop trying to compare it to what he did. Just enjoy what's going on now.

I thought we'd have our ups and downs being that it's a new system, trying to learn it. It's just moving the ball, spacing, timing, rhythm, things like that. I knew it would kind of be like a roller-coaster ride.

You just keep trying to play aggressive until you foul out.

We're starting to play with more of a purpose now, and a clear concept of what we're trying to accomplish out there.

During the regular season, we were trying to find our rhythm and I had to shoulder the scoring load. We know we can start attacking teams as a unit and not me going out there trying to score 40 or 50 points.

During the regular season, when everyone was trying to learn the offense, Phil and I both knew I was going to have to shoulder the scoring load. Now in the playoffs, everyone has a rhythm for the game and we can start attacking as a union.

I'm just achy. You've got to push through it. My teammates talked about doing a better job trying to pick me up sometimes and not having me shoulder the whole load all the time.

They came out and they zoned up and they trapped and they doubled, and we just continued to move the ball. It took me three quarters to kind of get the rhythm down on what they were trying to do defensively so I could go into attack mode in the fourth quarter, where I was able to start attacking the basket a little bit and get something going.

I just take it as him trying to motivate us.

It's a huge honor. I'm very proud to be a part of the team and us trying to gain back what we feel is ours -- and that's the gold medal.

This weekend is smooth for me. I'm looking forward to competing with these guys, getting out there on the floor and competing and trying to raise the game for all of us.

Being a leader, it's the art of trying to find the balance, the right times with each individual and what they need at that moment. It requires looking outward as opposed to looking inside.