Basketball Player

It's hard for me to grasp the concept of somebody being nervous when I'm talking to them.

I love going one-on-one with someone. That's what I do. I've never lost. It's a whole different game, just to have them right in front of you and be able to do whatever you want.

The Black Mamba collection of watches is me: It is my alter ego, so to speak. As I mentioned before, it is sharp, cutting edge and sleek which are characteristics I try to apply when I'm out there on the basketball court.

Christmas morning, I'm going to open presents with my kids. I'm going to take pictures of them opening the presents. Then I'm going to come to the Staples Center and get ready to work.

I'm more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It's just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.

I like playing for the purple and gold. This is where I want to finish up.

I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.

One thing you gotta know about me is I have absolutely no filter. I have no problem saying what the hell I think of someone.

I'm extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. Scoring titles and stuff like that... it sounds, well, I don't care how it sounds - to me, scoring comes easy. It's not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.

I've played with IVs before, during and after games. I've played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don't miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn't that serious in the first place.

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.

Winning takes precedence over all. There's no gray area. No almosts.

Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they've taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.

I'm reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.

If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail.

It never bothered me when people would say, 'You only win championships because you're playing with Shaq.' It bothered me when he said it.

I don't think a coach becomes the right coach until he wins a championship.

We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren't really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water.

I don't talk trash often, but when I do, I go for the jugular.

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.