Biographer Roland Lazenby Talks Kobe Bryant In Exclusive LSL Interview

The specter of MJ loomed over Kobe for his entire career. You quote Chip Schaefer (former Bulls and Lakers trainer, who is now back in Chicago) in the book, and he talked about how Kobe had a better work ethic than MJ. Are there any other comparisons where you think Kobe comes out on top compared to Jordan?

Well, MJ himself has admitted Kobe had a much better work ethic. And people that worked with him, Chip Schaefer, who worked with both, said that when MJ needed to, he would come in and do the extra work. But with Kobe Bryant, it was every day.

Tex Winter, the great coach of both the Bulls and the Lakers, who coached Michael Jordan longer than anyone and was Kobe Bryant’s self-described mentor, spent a lot of time trying to imagine what if Michael Jordan had had to play with Shaquille O’Neal as a young player. A guard posting up alongside O’Neal — you actually couldn’t do that. So much of Michael’s game was his ability as a post weapon.

Of course for Kobe Bryant, one of the things that struck me about him as a young player was he had these post skills. And yet, every player has his own context. Michael Jordan had to deal with his, and Kobe Bryant had to deal with the context he played in. But certainly it was a tremendous gift to play alongside Shaquille O’Neal, but it also brought with it tremendous limitations, and that was just the reality of the circumstances.

Can you outline for everyone what could possibly draw Kobe and Tex Winter — someone more than 50 years older than him — so close together. What was the connection? Because they really seemed to bond, and I didn’t expect them to be that fond of each other when I was reading the book, but Tex seemed to care a lot about Kobe.

It’s funny, I was rebounding free throws for Kobe in The Forum in 1999, and he was very miserable.

The Lakers were moving along in a season where they’d end up getting swept by the San Antonio Spurs. It was a tough season, and as I was rebounding he told me he’d always dreamed he’d be coached by Tex Winter, and I was stunned by that!

I didn’t even realize Kobe knew who Tex was, because Tex was an assistant with the Bulls at the time. And I told Kobe I’d get Tex to call him, and he did, and they began conversations about Kobe’s plight. He was very frustrated with the Lakers and their lack of structure in the offense, and [Bulls general manager] Jerry Krause and other people would wonder what Tex, an assistant coach for the Bulls, was doing talking to this young Lakers guard.

But Tex saw in Kobe what he saw in Michael — this brilliant offensive talent, just unbelievable talent. And he obviously was a guy that wanted to learn the triangle offense.

As for Michael, Tex and Michael had come into some conflict during their years because Michael had an appreciation for the triangle, but it was far from perfect. On the other hand, Tex had the chance to work with this brilliant young guard, and his motivation was it made his life relevant, his life’s work relevant. He had the chance to pass along his knowledge to one of the great young players coming along in the game, and not only that, but a player who professed to be in love with the Triangle offense, Tex’s system.

So Tex was pretty wild about that, and of course as it turned out, Tex ended up coming with Phil Jackson to the Lakers that next season, and he and Kobe were very close, almost from the start. And it set up a dynamic, where on the Lakers, Phil Jackson chose to be close to Shaquille O’Neal, and his longtime assistant, Tex, took up Kobe’s part. So there was some opportunity for some conflict on the Lakers’ staff. And in fact, Kobe and Shaq had their conflict, and Phil took Shaq’s part and Tex took Kobe’s part.