 you know, it's sad that But he was being a father and I start thinking about what he's done after basketball and what what a great role model and message to all these young kids because You know me being a college coach and an NBA coach Kids would always ask me about certain players and you know, I grew up watching Oscar and Bill Russell and will and Jerry West and I know the effect those guys had on my life and then I remember young players admiring doc and Larry and magic and Then it became Michael and then Alan, but now all these young players now it's Kobe You know Kobe's the nearest thing to Michael. I know LeBron special and I'm proud of what he's done but You know think about all these young kids that think that once they're all gonna play in the NBA or play in the NFL And then they don't even think about life after basketball and here's such an unbelievable role model It blew me away and then Mark Turgeon who played in coach with me This their team just beat Indiana on the road in the last second And he calls me and tells me that they're not even thinking about beating Indiana. They're crushed about Kobe And I just can't imagine You know how it's Continue to grow like that Beyond belief what what kind of relationship did you have with him coach? Well, one I should have drafted them I was in Indiana. We had the 10th pick and Our scout loved him Courtney Whitty and then one other person wasn't sold on him And you know, but I had I had followed him I had a lot of people talk to me about him Um, especially Tony to Leo's and Philly, but I remember John Calterri was with the Nests They had the 8th pick and John called me about him said he wanted to draft them. What are you what are you thinking? I told him I thought it was great And John told me that they wouldn't let him draft them and then he finally got him To agree that he could draft them provided Kerry kiddles wasn't there So Kiddles was there. They took him at eight John would probably still be the Nets with the Nets if they had drafted him and I If I'd addressed them at Indiana, we I'd probably still be in Indiana people won't believe me, but that's probably true but he I've known him, you know, he's supposed to play in the 2004 Olympic team and unfortunately Some things happen, you know, calm along lost his mom. He couldn't play 9 11 happened The whole team didn't come and Um, we played against each other all the time. He used to come to me and tell me that Eric snow Aaron McKee You know guarded him better than anybody uh But he was just a group Unbelievable talent and then the greatest thing about him, you know, coach Nets used to always say Um talent is a gift from god characters of choice um Toby had unbelievable talent, but he might have been the hardest worker ever And kids don't understand that um You know you You can really be good at this game, but if you want to be great at anything You got to put in the work and this guy this guy put in the work I mean, he was he was incredible about that and preparing Larry they continue to play games as scheduled yesterday. If you had to coach in one of those games, would you have been able to do it? I don't know. Um, you know, I coached against michael his last game and that was really tough But it was neat being infilly to To see how the people honored and I coached against reggie His last game in indiana that was tough. Um I was on my way to north carolina when President kennedy got shot and uh, I remembered how I drove for 11 hours and going through little towns and seeing people go to churches You know kobe dying yesterday and seeing the outpouring Of feelings for this guy It almost was like, you know when president kennedy was shot. Um, I don't know if I could have done it I saw but the one thing that I would have probably thought um, he never missed games Right, you know this thing about not playing in a game. Now he was Him and alan, you know, some of the guys that I've been around they they wouldn't dare miss a game Kobe's legendary about that You know, you mentioned alan and uh, you know, you also mentioned how hard koby worked and alan, you know was quoted You know today is saying Kobe went to the gym and I went to the club and that's the difference and I guess that would be true, right? Well You know alan prepared in training camp He came to every game and try to win every game and I You know, maybe at the time I was coaching there was some things that I wish he would have done differently, but He doesn't ever have to apologize for what he's done. But But all the players will let you know Just what koby was about I'll give you the stories When I was a college coach, they had a dc and d camp a nike camp with 100 best high school players And um a bunch of them the whole camp was offered an opportunity to watch koby work out in the summer And they said be ready at 545 and actually all the kids wanted to go But they didn't realize it was 545 in the morning And you know that was his ritual he did that the whole summer twice a day And you know when when these kids that are so gifted And you try to tell them that You know, it's not about this gift you have it's how you use it and he not only used it when he played He was using it after he's done finished playing And we need role models you guys know that And what what a role model Um, I was watching tiger woods talk about him and the and the thing that tiger said endeared him so much To him was the way koby played both sides sides of the ball for 48 minutes. You being the the basketball Um Savant that you are what what was it about his game that impressed you the most? Well, that was that's a neat thing that you said I remember jerry west and I would talk him one day and jerry was asking me who I thought was the best player and I I couldn't come up with One there was so many I admired And he said larry You know koby Is the only great one that guards the best player every single night And I started to think about that and that was that was true because you know if you're a coach You got to be careful about having your best player sometimes put himself in jeopardy where he might get in foul trouble But koby took that challenge every single night And that was like michael um You know that's what separates some of these great great ones from the very very best So how uncommon is that coach like is it really only koby and michael that come to mind that all time great scores? Who want to de-up the best offensive player every possession? Well, I don't think sometimes it's always up to the player You know a lot of times it's up to the coach and you got a especially in today's game the way they call fouls Can you imagine how many points a game michael and allen and koby would average? I mean it so you know from a coach's standpoint A lot of times you would probably be the one that would make that decision But when it came to the guts of the game, the great ones will take that challenge, you know Jerry west was as good a defender as there ever was um So I hate to pick out anybody but when I hear jerry west say that about koby and Mention it because there were a lot of great players at that time That was the first thing he said to me and unfortunately You know when we talk about superstars We very rarely ever talked about the other side of the ball And everybody was telling me I had no superstars in dallas I mean I don't know how you can say ben wiles or ashid wiles or chauncey or some of those guys weren't superstars because They did more than just score the ball um You know you look at the nicks teams with coach holstman Those guys guarded they even got pearl to guard it And you know everybody thought that wouldn't work out um But I think it's a coach's decision and unfortunately So many people that when they write about greatness and they talk about greatness they never mentioned How you make your teammates better and it's not only scoring the ball Doing all the other things that make other people better and that's what koby did Before we let you go coach. I'm just wondering