After the Lakers beat the Miami Heat 102-100 last night, Kobe sat down for a sprawling press conference that touched on everything from Lamar Odom, who was in attendance, to a brief interruption from Dwyane Wade. He also addressed Yung Zapruder himself, D'Angelo Russell.Kobe on giving D'Angelo "Yoda" advice pic.twitter.com/DaWUDaSnab
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 31, 2016
Dwyane Wade decided to interrupt Kobe Bryant's presser following tonights game. #GoLakershttps://t.co/xQcGh5Djre
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 31, 2016
This is a fair assessment, and Kobe knows it's fair because as many have mentioned, he was in a similar situation after he was facing rape charges in Colorado. While he denied that the encounter was nonconsensual, he did admit to cheating and then snitched on teammate Shaquille O'Neal for cheating too, causing a lot of friction around the team.Kobe is crazy, but he's not stupid. So he's not going to kill Russell for a mistake. Instead he's going to assume the role of Wizened Elder and give some words of wisdom in mangled syntax.You talk to the guys tonight, and I think the guys are understanding. I think we're all human beings. I don't think anybody can really hold anybody to strict judgment, because everybody makes mistakes. And I think if we're being honest with ourselves and we're sincerely self-assessing, I think we'll realize that we've all made mistakes and we've all made massive ones at times. I think the important thing is to show compassion, empathy and help him grow—help us grow as a team and as a unit.
Really wish he said it in Yoda's voice, though.I had a chance to talk to him earlier today. All I can do is just do myself Yoda impersonations and give him that kind of sage advice, I guess. "One day, pass this shall," or something like that.