Kobe talks recovery, Michael Jordan, Dwight Howard

Kobe sat down with Dave McMenamin and ESPN to talk about a variety of things.

First on the list was the recovery from his Achilles tear. Kobe spoke on his rehab process, saying that “his strength is coming back.” Bryant said that’s the biggest focus right now. Bryant also said the end goal right now is to be back by opening night.

“You just have to be patient until that tendon heals. When that moment comes and they say ‘OK, now go train as hard as you can and get back to where you wanna be’ that’s gonna be a good day,” Bryant said.

Bryant then talked about the Michael Jordan comparisons, saying he just wanted to come in the league and win multiple titles like Russell, Magic, and MJ. When asked if he took anyone under his wing, similar to how MJ did to him, Bryant talked about how much he likes the games of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony.

Bryant also said he would be actively recruiting Dwight Howard to stay in LA this summer. Bryant said he’d let Howard makes his rounds and hear team’s pitches before making his own.

“You want to get the last word. You want to have the final word and the closing argument,” Bryant said.

You can see the whole interview in the link above, as well as read the story by McMenamin’s story, which includes other quotes from the sit-down.