Los Angeles showed their dominace last night along with their improved toughness and rebounding from last year to win the championship. I found this little piece on Phil Jackson teaching a young Kobe Bryant about leadership:
The young Kobe used to seem very much alone, especially in victory. But the Kobe Bryant who rules his sport today finds himself encircled by respect and gratitude. As the last seconds of the long seven years ticked away, he was embraced by teammates and coaches who appreciated all that he had done for them.
"There was a point when we sat together and watched tape,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson recalled of a film session they shared eight or nine years ago, after the young Kobe had been drawn into a needless one-on-one scoring duel against Vince Carter in Toronto.
"So I talked to him about leadership and his ability to be a leader, and he said, 'I'm ready to be a captain right now.' And I said, 'But no one is ready to follow you.' He was 22 at the time. He was a young guy.
"In those years that have ensued, he's learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him. And I think that's really important for him to have learned that, because he knew that he had to give to get back in return. He's become a giver rather than just a guy that's a demanding leader, and that's been great for him and great to watch.''
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Kobe's leadership and determination might have been best seen when failure came to him. During Game 3 Bryant missed 5 free throws in their 108-104 loss. Many people would feel sorry for themselves and do nothing about it. Kobe on the other hand, goes out 2 1/2 hours before Game 4 to shoot free throws and visualize the success that he was going to have. The result was a 16 for 16 performance from the line in Games 4 & 5
