Kobe Bryant is done playing this season and is busy recovering from surgery on his rotator cuff. On the court, he is hardly missing anything, as the team is having one of the worst seasons in franchise history, and they are headed toward a high lottery pick, possibly even number one overall.
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According to GQ, Kobe recently opened up about the team, and he also spoke out about some rumors that have followed him around for much of his career.
Kobe delivered the following quips about being a difficult teammate:
"Does my nature make me less enjoyable to play with? Of course."
"Magic. Jordan. Bird. We all would have been phenomenal teammates. This organization wants players who will carry this franchise to another five or six championships. The player who does that has to be cut from the same cloth. And if they're not cut from that cloth, they don't belong here."
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And as for his ego causing some free agents to avoid L.A.?
"Of course it does. Is it possible that some top players in the league are intimidated by that? Yes. But do I want to play with those players? Does the Laker organization want those specific players? No."
And on Phil Jackson:
"He understood the dynamic he had to deal with between me and Shaq. So he would take shots at me in the press, and I understood he was doing that in order to ingratiate himself to Shaq.
"And since I knew what he was doing, I felt like that was an insult to my intelligence. I was like, 'F**k him. I'm out here busting my ass. I'm killing myself.' And it became insulting.
"Yet at the same time, it drove me at a maniacal pace. Because either consciously or unconsciously, he put a tremendous amount of pressure on me to be efficient, and to be great, and to be great now."
Kobe also spoke about whether he has any friends:
"I have "like minds." You know, I've been fortunate to play in Los Angeles, where there are a lot of people like me... Now, do we have time to build great relationships? Do we have time to build great friendships? No. Do we have time to socialize and to hangout aimlessly? No. Do we want to do that? No."
And when asked if he was choosing not to have friends:
"Well, yes and no. I have friends. But being a "great friend" is something I will never be. I can be a good friend. But not a great friend... But the kind of relationships you see in movies-that's impossible for me. I have good relationships with players around the league. LeBron and I will text every now and then. KG and I will text every now and then. But in terms of having one of those great, bonding friendships-that's something I will probably never have. And it's not some smug thing. It's a weakness. It's a weakness."
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