Kobe Bryant Talks AAU, Responsibility and Relationships With Coach K

Earlier this week, Kobe Bryant went on a SiriusXM College Sports Podcast hosted by none other than Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. It will air Thursday at 3PM/PST.

After Monday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, Byron Scott cited lack of effort, rather than fatigue for the loss. He also went on to blame the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) for why players these days don’t know how to properly box out.

It’s ironic that since taking over as head coach of the Lakers, it can be argued that more of Scott’s efforts have gone into deflecting negative criticism than actual coaching, or taking responsibility for his failures. Thinking more about it, it’s tough to recall a situation where Byron Scott has taken his own advice to”man up” and said, “My bad team, that loss was on me.”

The concerning part is that Kobe Bryant is starting to mimic Scott’s sentiments.

In the interview, Kobe said practically the same thing as Scott, which shows that they are on the same page, a page that the Lakers organization does not want to stay on for long.

"AAU basketball is just killing us. There’s so many games being played without a concept of how to play them. Everything is off the ball and how to beat your man off the ball. There’s no concept of playing two-man game or three-man combinations. That concept is a lost art"

It’s ironic that were this statement to be true, the Lakers shouldn’t be as bad as they are.

The idea that focus in youth basketball is placed “off the ball and how to beat your man off the ball,” is seriously flawed, in the Lakers sense, because there is little to no off-ball movement from game to game. Sadly, this stems from the nature of having a surplus of isolation heavy scorers, with Bryant being the prime offender.

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Kobe went on to say, “Of course I would love to win another championship. But my responsibility now is to think outside of what I want. My responsibility is to these young players.”

This quote tends to send the message that Bryant agrees with the popular opinion that development of the young players should take priority over winning championships, or in this case, games.

In the game against the Detroit Pistons, Bryant finally seemed to embody these sentiments but whether or not it continues will have to be monitored on a game to game basis starting Friday against the Toronto Raptors.

The most telling quote from the interview was when Bryant finally let his guard down and let it be known that, despite popular belief, winning wasn’t the only thing that mattered to him.

"It’s the relationships that I enjoyed the most. We’ve had some ups and downs with teammates and kind of have had contentious relationships. But it was all done to try to win a championship. It’s been a great teacher of understanding how to challenge each other and hold each other accountable. But it all works itself out in the end.To be able to look back now and look at those relationships and where we are today and be able to look at each other in the eye and have been through the battles and been through the wars and come back and reminisce with all those things, to me that’s beautiful."

From this quote alone, it seems that Bryant has finally entered the final stage of his maturation: the mentor stage. Hopefully, it will translate to the rest of this season, for these rookies need all the guidance they can get.

Next: Kobe: 'Unless Something Changes, I'm Done'

Be sure to catch the rest of the podcast Thursday, November 19 at 3PM/PST for more insight on Kobe Bryant.