Does anyone actually think Kobe will willingly pass on the torch to the next generation? That’s not how he thinks, how he works. You want to be the lion in the pride, come and get it. He’s giving away nothing.
So no shock after Bryant and the Lakers beat the Bulls in Los Angeles last month, where after the game Kobe had some words for Derrick Rose, someone asked him if that was about passing the torch.
“Sure, but I ain’t passing s---.”
If Rose wants to take it away, he and the Bulls have a chance Friday night when they host the Lakers (and this game the Bulls have Boozer). Kobe went on to say good things about Rose, as reported by KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.“I just told him to stay healthy and continue the job he’s doing,” Bryant said of their November postgame talk. “I don’t think you can develop (a killer instinct). You either have it or you don’t. He’s had it since he was in high school.
“That quality separates players I think. With players of equal ability, it’s about the engine you have inside. It certainly gives him an edge…"
“I think the sky is the limit for him,” Bryant said. “You see the improvement he’s made with his jumpshot from last year to this year and how much his game has gone to another level. I think he’s realizing now what a jumper can do. Hopefully, he’ll continue to work on it and become a pure shooter.”