While many would like to wax poetic about the 1980s, we are now in the golden age of the NBA.

Even if we briefly ignore the recent influx of new stars (e.g Anthony Davis) there is an unprecedented number of superstars in their prime (e.g. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony) and a large number nearing the end (e.g. Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan).

Many of those stars looked quite different in their younger days, with some nearly unrecognizable.

On the next few pages we'll take a look at how much the NBA's biggest stars have changed since their careers first started.

Chris Bosh in 2003 (19 years old)

Chris Bosh now

Dwight Howard (18 years old) and Joakim Noah (18) in 2004

Kobe Bryant has positioned himself as something of guru on success in recent years.

He speaks in the sort of platitudes and truisms you typically find in TED talks. He cold calls CEOs to get their advice. He references everyone from Giorgio Armani to Jony Ive to Mozart to describe what makes him a great player.

In an interview with GQ's Chuck Klosterman, Kobe talked about the cost of being so enamored with success. He says it's impossible for him to be a "great friend" because he's so single-minded in his focus on work and has no free time.

He says he has friends ("like minds," as he calls them), but not the type of friends where you remember their birthdays or talk to them daily.

From GQ:

GQ: So how much are you willing to give up? Have you given up the possibility of having friends? Do you have any friends?

KOBE: I have "like minds." You know, I've been fortunate to play in Los Angeles, where there are a lot of people like me. Actors. Musicians. Businessmen. Obsessives. People who feel like God put them on earth to do whatever it is that they do. Now, do we have time to build great relationships? Do we have time to build great friendships? No. Do we have time to socialize and to hangout aimlessly? No. Do we want to do that? No. We want to work. I enjoy working.

He later clarified: "I have friends. But being a 'great friend' is something I will never be. I can be a good friend. But not a  great friend. A great friend will call you every day and remember your birthday. I'll get so wrapped up in my s***, I'll never remember that stuff."

Kobe's competitiveness is one of the key elements of his persona. When you think of Kobe, you think of work, and that's how he wants it to be.

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In late 2012 Nike launched an advertising campaign for Kevin Durant called, "KD Is Not Nice."

The conceit of the campaign was simple: Durant, the 24-year-old leader of the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder, is not the baby-faced young player he appears to be. He's a killer.

Two years later, it's almost as if Durant internalized that branding, because he has been maddest guy in the NBA this season.

In an interview with GQ's Zach Baron, Durant said he hates everyone he plays against when he gets on the court.

"I'm a total a******. I'm a d***," he said. "I don't talk to the other team. If I fall on somebody, I throw them to the ground, I'm not helping them up."

He says he can't stomach watching other NBA games on his own time because he wants everyone on the court to fail (via GQ):

"I just don't like other teams or other players. I can't sit there. I feel like I'm supporting them by watching it. I hope you have a bad game. Because I'm such a hater! I thought it was a bad trait I had. I was like, Man, am I jealous? Why do I hate this guy? But I hope both of the teams lose! That's how I feel."

In an age of congeniality between the NBA's top players, with LeBron James as the most notable example, this is a page straight out of Kobe Bryant's book.

Kobe has also gleefully called himself an "a******" in interviews, and lamented the younger generation's aversion to trash talk.

While Durant isn't exactly Kobe 2.0, he has been pretty angry recently.

He got into it with Chris Paul during a recent Thunder-Clippers game. Paul tried to stare him down, and Durant was seen yelling back at him, "You're down 20 now, homie."

Earlier in the season he reportedly called Dwight Howard a "p****" during a game.

In a game against the Nuggets he threw Kenneth Faried to the ground and then hurled a ball at him, drawing a technical:

Before All-Star Weekend, Durant had some choice words for any NBA player who thought they deserved his All-Star spot. Durant made the team despite missing more than half of OKC's games due to injury. A lot of people criticized the decision, but KD responded by saying, "Whoever want my spot can play me one-on-one for it."

At All-Star weekend Durant set his sights on the media.

"You guys really don't know s***," he told the Oklahoman. "To be honest, man, I'm only here talking to y'all because I have to. So I really don't care. Y'all not my friends. You're going to write what you want to write. You're going to love us one day and hate us the next. That's a part of it. So I just learn how to deal with y'all."

When an former ESPN writer tweeted something disparaging about Durant's teammate Nick Collison, Durant taunted him for getting fired:

The context here is key. The Thunder and Durant are having a tumultuous season. He's been hurt. The roster is unsettled. Every day brings him closer to his free agency in 2016, when the entire Washington, D.C. metro area will clamor for him to pull a LeBron and sign with his hometown Wizards.

Maybe he's just venting. Maybe, like Kobe, he pines for the good old days when NBA players all hated each other. Either way, this is a far cry from where KD was in 2012.

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Kobe Bryant was recently a guest on Bill Simmons' "Grantland Basketball Hour" on ESPN to promote the upcoming release of his documentary, "Muse."

During the episode, Bryant spent a lot of time discussing his philosophies on basketball and life and how he came to be such a fierce competitor.

One of the more fascinating moments came when co-host Jalen Rose asked Bryant when he first realized that nobody would out-work him.

It's often easy to dismiss greatness as being based on talent alone. But Kobe highlights a recurring theme among all-time great players that is often overlooked, an obsession for their sport that is unmatched with Bryant referring to basketball as "the only thing."

Bryant only started six games and averaged only 15.5 minutes per game as an 18-year-old rookie who had only been living in the United States for five years. But his obsessiveness for the game eventually paid off and now he is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game.

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Kobe Bryant's auto-documentary, "Muse," made it's debut on Showtime on Saturday.

The film take a look at many of the challenges Kobe has faced in his career, from moving back to the United States as a teenager and barely being able to write English, to skipping college, to troubles with his marriage and the struggle to prove he could succeed without Shaquille O'Neal as a teammate.

The constant struggles provided Bryant with numerous moments of inspiration for himself that could also be used by others.

Here are the best quotes and moments from "Muse."

On success.

On constantly moving around as a child as his dad played professional basketball in Europe.

On playing with rage.

Kobe Bryant's nickname is "The Black Mamba," a name he gave himself. But for Bryant, the moniker is more than a nickname. It is an alter-ego he created to get through the darkest part of his life.

In his auto-documentary "Muse," Bryant reveals that he created The Black Mamba as a way to deal with the struggles he was going through off the court in 2003 and 2004.

"I went from a person who was at the top of his game, had everything coming, to a year later, having absolutely no idea where life is going or if you are even going to be a part of life as we all know it," Bryant said in the documentary.

In 2003, Bryant was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman in Colorado. While Bryant does not mention the case directly, he does spend a good deal of time in the documentary talking about how close his family came to breaking up.

"I hear everything the crowd is saying. I hear it." Bryant says following a clip during which Boston Celtics fans can be heard chanting "Kobe sucks!""So, it's like this place where it was my refuge is now being bombarded with all kinds of things they would say."

"I had to separate myself," Kobe explains. "It felt like there were so many things coming at once. It was just becoming very, very confusing. I had to organize things. So I created The Black Mamba."

Bryant went on to explain that "Kobe" was tasked with dealing with all his "personal challenges" and "The Black Mamba" handled business on the court.

Bryant went on to explain that the ferocity had nothing to do with his opponents and was more about the "battle that was going on within [himself]" and that the opponents were just in the way "and may get demolished in the process."

In 2011, Bryant and Nike created an extended commercial in which he discusses creating an action movie with director Robert Rodriguez based on the character The Black Mamba. Here is that video.

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Kobe Bryant's auto-documentary "Muse" debuted this week and it is unlike traditional documentaries as the entire film is just monologues from Kobe himself and does not include interviews with other people.

However, it wasn't originally that way. In fact, "Muse" was filmed with many interviews of other people talking about Bryant. However, after it was finished, Kobe completely scrapped it and started over.

On "The Grantland Basketball House," Bryant told Bill Simmons and Jalen Rose that Phil Jackson was not in the documentary because he ditched all the interviews and started from scratch.

"One thing I noticed about the [documentary] and I gotta bring it up," said Simmons. "Because it is told from your point of view, and you had actually said that you had done it the traditional way with a bunch of different interviews and you decided 'you know what, I'm doing it my way,' which is actually kinda funny because it is a little like the way you played, 'I'm taking over.'"

Kobe simply laughed in agreement and responded "control what you can control" before moving on to explain that Jackson does have a big presence in the documentary since many of Kobe's philosophies come from Jackson.

Later, during his podcast, "The B.S. Report," Simmons went into more detail about the original "Muse" which never saw the light of day.

"The director, Gotham [Chopra], had been working on a pretty traditional documentary about Kobe for 7, 8, 9 months," Simmons said. "They interviewed like 40 different people. They had like a 3-hour Phil Jackson interview, etc., etc., etc.. Kobe sees the documentary is like, 'nah, I'm not feeling it.' Ends up, they go back in, film a whole bunch of new interviews with Kobe, because the director is like, 'well, if you are not feeling it, you gotta give me more in your interviews ... so they have these 40 interviews that nobody is ever going to see."

Kobe did hint during the appearance on "The Grantland Basketball Hour" that he may address his relationships with people in his life, like Jackson, at a time in the future and maybe these interviews will be included then.

But like anything in Kobe's world, that will only happen if he wants it to happen and you can be sure that he will be in control.

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Over the years, Kobe Bryant has openly admitted that he's patterned his entire game after Michael Jordan. He's stolen a lot of MJ's best moves (see here, here, and here). He's pushed his teammates, including fellow superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard, every bit as hard as MJ used to. And he's talked trash. A ton of trash.

Much like MJ, Kobe takes pride in the fact that he's one of the best trash talkers to ever set foot on a basketball court. And while he's not quite as good at it as MJ was — MJ's trash-talking stories have turned into NBA legends at this point — Kobe has more than held his own in the trash-talking department. He's silenced fans, ethered his own teammates, and yes, even gone toe-to-toe with MJ himself. Here are Kobe Bryant's 15 Most Epic Trash-Talking Moments.

15. All Bark, No Bite

Victim: Bow Wow

Bow Wow may have starred in "Like Mike" back in 2002. And he may have dominated the court in his music video for the song, "Basketball." But when the Cash Money rapper challenged Kobe to a game of 1-on-1 back in 2011, he stood absolutely no chance. He couldn't score on Kobe or keep up with his trash talking.

"I'm gonna call [Lil] Wayne!" Kobe yelled as he scored point after point after point. "I'm gonna tell Wayne!"

Source

14. Two Old Dogs

Victim: Tim Duncan

The idea of Kobe and Duncan talking trash sounds like it'd be laughable. Surely, Tim Duncan doesn't talk trash, right? But according to Kobe, he does — and he more than holds his own. Kobe got the best of him during a Lakers/Spurs game back in 2013, though, after Duncan called him out for taking too many shots during a game.

"I said, 'You know what? I remember beating you guys a few times in the playoffs,'" Kobe revealed later. "He said, 'Well, yeah, you got us a couple times.' I said, 'You know what? I think my ring count is a little higher than yours.' It was like two old dogs just barking back and forth at each other."

Duncan has since won his fifth ring and pulled even with Kobe. But back when this happened, Kobe knew exactly what to say to shut him up.

Source

13. Kobe Vs. A.I.

Victim: Allen Iverson

Can you imagine what would happen if two guys talked trash like this today during an NBA Finals game? Kobe would receive a technical foul. A.I. would receive a technical foul. Hell, Derek Fisher was actually trying to separate the two and keep the peace and even he would probably receive a technical foul. You can't really do this during an NBA game anymore. But this illustrates just how intense those 2001 NBA Finals were — and proves that Kobe has never backed down from anyone on the court.

Source

12. Can You Count?

Victim: A Mavericks heckler

"HEY, KOBE, YOU S***!" [Kobe turns around, counts his rings, and then goes back to thinking about how many times he's torched the Mavericks over the years]

Source

11. Acting Funny

Victim: Ron Artest

First of all, this is classic Ron Artest. There's only 28 seconds left in the game and the Lakers are up six and Artest is yelling, "You're not ready for me," at Kobe. Ready for what exactly, Ron? Kobe hit him back with a fitting response: "You're a stand-up comedian now?" Oh, and for good measure, he also finished the game with 37 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Turns out, he was more than ready for Artest.

Source

10. "One Day, You'll Choke on My Fifth Ring"

Victim: Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx is a Mavericks fan. So the first time he met Kobe backstage at one of his shows, Kobe gave him a lot of grief for riding for Dallas. And a short time after leaving the show, he also sent Foxx a text to inform him that he was going to do everything in his power to prevent the Mavericks from winning a title.

"One day," he wrote, "you'll choke on my fifth ring."

He backed up his tough talk, too, by winning his fifth ring the following year.

Source

9. Friendly Fire

Victims: Jodie Meeks, Smush Parker, Chris Mihm, and Kwame Brown

Kobe has always been hard on his teammates. He feels like it's his job to push them and force them to be as good as they can be. But following a practice in October 2012, he went extra hard on a few of his current and former teammates.

"Smush Parker was the worst," he said when he was asked about his former running mate. "He shouldn't have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard."

"I was shooting 45 times a game," he said when he was asked about the 2011-12 season. "What was I supposed to do? Pass it into Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown?"

"I've been murdering that dude," he said when he was asked about Jodie Meeks. "I've been kicking his a**. I've been torching that m***********."

Geez, Kobe. Why don't you tell everyone how you really feel?

Source

8. Have a Seat

Victim: Kevin Durant and James Harden

During the 2011-12 season, the Thunder were really feeling themselves. They were making their way towards the 2012 NBA Finals, and Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden were all playing at a very high level. So during a February 2012 game against the Lakers, which they won, KD and Harden got into it with Kobe. And Kobe was quick to put them both in their place.

"Maybe one day they'll be able to sit at my lunch table," he said later.

Source

7. Kobe vs. LeBron

Victim: LeBron James

After the Lakers won the 2010 NBA Finals, Kobe wasn't happy that LeBron was stealing the spotlight with his impending free agency. So just prior to "The Decision," Kobe sent LeBron a text that went a little something like this: "Go ahead and get another MVP, if you want. And find the city you want to live in. But we're going to win the championship. Don't worry about it."

Unfortunately, neither of them won the title the next year — Jamie Foxx and the Mavericks got their revenge on Kobe! — but this added an interesting wrinkle to the ongoing Kobe vs. LeBron saga.

Source

6. "You Really Think You Can Beat Me 1-on-1?"

Victim: Kyrie Irving

At the time that this video was shot, Irving only had one year of NBA experience under his belt. But it didn't stop him from telling Kobe that he wanted to play him 1-on-1…for $50,000. Kobe was incredulous when he heard what Irving had in mind and seemed stunned at how bold he was.

"You really think you can beat me 1-on-1?" he asked. "Are you crazy?"

"You're not going to lock me down!" Irving replied.

"Easy money!" Kobe said later, before telling Irving that he was "about the same size" as Bow Wow. "Easy money! Easy money! Easy money!"

Easy, Kobe.

Source

5. Five Rings

Victim: President Obama

If you're going to be one of the best trash talkers of all time, you have to be willing and able to talk trash to anyone, including presidents. MJ proved this when he talked trash to Bill Clinton during a game of golf. And Kobe did, too, during a trip to the White House in 2010 after the Lakers won their second consecutive NBA title. President Obama threw a jab at Kobe, joking that Bulls point guard Derrick Rose "may have your number." Kobe responded with a jab of his own.

"If he calls that number," he said, "I'll be sure to pick up after the fifth ring."

The president must have kicked himself later for not going with an easier MJ/six rings joke instead.

Source

4. Gold Medal Performance

Victim: Ricky Rubio

Most of the trash-talking that Kobe directs at other NBA players takes place on the court. But after a Lakers/Timberwolves game in January 2012, Kobe got into it with Rubio — a member of the Spanish national team — when he spotted him talking with his teammate Pau Gasol about the 2012 Summer Olympics.

"You know you're getting the silver medal," Rubio told Kobe. "You know that."

"S***!" Kobe responded. "I'm taking bets. If I win, I get the keys to Barcelona."

We all know who won that bet.

Source

3. Where's the Love?

Victim: Dwight Howard

It's not exactly a secret that Kobe and Howard didn't get along during their brief stint together back in 2012 and 2013. Even though they tried to downplay it, there was noticeable tension between the two. And once they parted ways after just one season, Kobe didn't even try to hide his disdain for Howard anymore. Just check out the video above, which features Kobe calling Howard "soft as a m***********" during a game earlier this season. It's pretty obvious why they couldn't coexist as teammates, huh?

Source

2. Soft Like Charmin

Victims: Nick Young and his Lakers teammates

Dwight Howard isn't the only player that Kobe labeled as "soft" this season. During a Lakers practice back in December, Kobe also called his current teammates "soft like Charmin" during an epic s***-talking session that started after Nick Young tried to talk trash to Kobe.

"Now I see why we've lost so many games!" Kobe yelled. "We're soft like Charmin!"

"These m************ aren't doing s*** for me," he yelled at Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak later, before explaining himself to reporters. "I think Nick probably regrets getting me started in practice and saying something."

Um, ya think?

Source

1. Like Mike?

Victim: Michael Jordan

Kobe has never eclipsed MJ when it's come to trash talking, but he's also never backed down from the challenge. During the 2003 NBA All-Star Game, Kobe and MJ went at it. And back in July 2012, after MJ said he "laughed" when he heard Kobe say that he thought the 2012 U.S. men's basketball team could beat the 1992 Dream Team, Kobe wasn't afraid to mix it up with the G.O.A.T.

"So what?" he told reporters when they told him what MJ said. "He knows I'm a bad m***********. I'm not really tripping."

Yes, you are, Kobe. One of the baddest ever.

Source

More from Complex:

• 35 Things You Didn't Know About Kobe Bryant
• Here's Further Proof That Michael Jordan Was the King of Trash Talking
• Michael Jordan's 15 Most Epic Trash-Talking Moments
• Kobe Bryant Versus Chris Childs: A Frame-By-Frame Breakdown 15 Years Later

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ATLANTA (AP) — LeBron James scored 30 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took total command of the Eastern Conference final even without injured star Kyrie Irving, routing the Atlanta Hawks 94-82 on Friday night for a 2-0 lead with the series heading to Ohio.

The Cavaliers made it a blowout with a dominating third quarter. James scored 11 points, the Hawks shot just 32 percent (7 of 22), and Cleveland led by as many as 20 before settling for an 84-66 lead heading to the final period.

Irving was scratched before the game because of an ailing left knee. He wasn't missed a bit.

James assumed many of the ball-handling duties, taking advantage of DeMarre Carroll clearly not being at 100 percent after he went down with a knee injury late in Game 1. Carroll started after being carried off the court just two nights earlier but hardly looked like the "Junkyard Dog."

He wasn't the only one struggling. The Hawks looked totally outclassed for one of the few times all season.

The Cavaliers can wrap up the best-of-seven series simply by winning at home. The next two are in Cleveland, beginning with Game 3 on Sunday night.

Tristan Thompson led another dominating performance for the Cavaliers on the boards. He had 16 rebounds and Cleveland finished with a 47-39 advantage.

When Thompson dunked off a pass from James with just under 5 minutes remaining, the Cavaliers had a 93-74 lead and many Atlanta fans began heading for the exits, perhaps knowing they had seen their team for the last time in this most unexpected season. Atlanta won a franchise-record 60 games to claim the top seed in the East, but the Hawks were picked apart by the best player in the world. 

Forget the Big Three

The Big One was plenty of the Cavaliers, who are two wins away from returning the NBA Finals and taking another crack at their first championship.

This is why James returned to his de facto hometown after spending four years in Miami, leading the Heat to a pair of titles. The Cavaliers assembled a Miami-like trio with James, Irving and Kevin Love, but the King is doing just fine on his own with Irving hobbled and Love out with a season-ending injury.

The Hawks had hoped that Carroll's appearance would provide an emotional boost. An injury that looked much more serious when he helped off the court in Game 1 turned out to be only a sprain, and he drew a big cheer from the crowd when he did his customary sprint across the court during the opening introductions.

But at less than full speed, Carroll had no chance trying to guard James, who made 10 of 22 shots including a pair of 3-pointers. When the Hawks began collapsing toward the lane, trying to give Carroll help, James always seemed to fine the open man — often lurking behind the 3-point arc.

James had 11 assists, and the Cavaliers finished 12 of 30 beyond the arc. The King just missed a triple-double, grabbing nine rebounds.

Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with just 13 points. Carroll managed only six points in just under 34 minutes.

Carroll wasn't the only one hurting. Kyle Korver got his right ankle rolled going for a loose ball late in the third quarter and didn't return. Al Horford banged his knee early in the fourth and hobbled to the bench, though he was able to finish out the game.

It didn't really matter.

By the end, the Hawks had cleared their bench. 

Tip ins

Cavaliers: Cleveland has outrebounded the Hawks 96-76 over the first two games. ... Iman Shumpert hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points. ... Matthew Dellavedova started at point guard in place of Irving and had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Hawks: Made only 42 percent from the field, including 6 of 26 from 3-point range. ... The starters combined for just 46 points, led by Horford, Korver and Jeff Teague with 12 apiece. ... Paul Millsap managed only four points on 2-of-8 shooting.

The king's milestones

James had the 74th 30-point game in the playoffs, tying him with Jerry West for fourth on the career list.

The only players with more are Michael Jordan (109), Kobe Bryant (88) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (75).

James also had his 53rd playoff game with at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists, extending his record for most in NBA history. He broke a tie with Jordan in that category in Game 1.

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Kobe Bryant has indicated that next year will be his last with the Los Angeles Lakers, GM Mitch Kupchak said on Friday.

It's not a surprise. Kobe's contract is up after the 2015-16 season, and Kupchak has been saying for months that he expects him to retire.

While these last few years haven't been the best of Kobe's legendary career with the team, the Lakers should be in good shape to rebuild from scratch when he leaves. They'll have some young pieces in Julius Randle and whoever they get with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 Draft (likely Karl-Anthony Towns of Jahlil Okafor).

Most importantly, Kobe's $25 million/year contract comes off the books in the summer of 2016; the Lakers will have an incredible amount of financial flexibility as a result. 

The cap is expected to explode from $67 million to $89 million in 2016-17 when the league's new TV contract kicks in. That's going to gift everyone cap space, but few teams will have more money to work with than the Lakers.

Right now the Lakers only have $8.5 million on the books for 2016-17. When you factor in the ~$4.5 million the team's 2015 first-round pick will make, you're still only at $13 million. As it stands, the Lakers could have has much as $76 million in cap space next summer. Only the Portland Trail Blazers have so little committed in 2016-17 salary. (And that should change this summer if they re-sign LaMarcus Aldridge and extend Damian Lillard.)

Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Mike Conley are all scheduled to hit the market in 2016. While the NBA's free agency rules and the fact everyone will have some cap space will make it tougher for LA to sign a big name, the Lakers have always had a knack for landing the league's biggest stars. Whether it's Shaq or Pau Gasol or Dwight Howard or Steve Nash or even Chris Paul (before David Stern vetoed it), history tells us NBA players will find a way to get to LA if they have the cap room.

And even if they strike out on those top-line names, they'll have the flexibility to bring in a collection of solid players to put around Randle and Towns/Okafor.

All of this could go down in flames if the Lakers overspend on free agents this year. But even if they bring in a max player this summer, the combination of Kobe's contract coming off the books and the cap going through the roof means they'll still have a ton of cap space in 2016.

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Seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry published an article in the Player's Tribune Friday, sharing some thoughts on his time in the NBA.  

Among his comments, he called Kobe Bryant the "hardest working player I ever played with."

One anecdote perfectly sums it up:

"When I got traded to the Lakers in ’97, Kobe Bryant was just a rookie. The dude couldn’t shoot threes. We would play this shooting game every day after practice. It was me, Kobe, Brian Shaw, Mitch Richmond and Kurt Rambis. Kobe would lose every time. We would get to practice the next day and sure enough, Kobe would already be there shooting nothing but threes. Like clockwork, at the end of practice he’d say, “Let’s play the game! I’m ready for you.” And we would beat his ass again.

He would never stop. It was incredible. He practiced until one day, a couple months later, he finally won. If you literally said, “Kobe, I bet you can’t make five in a row by dropping the ball and kicking it in from half court,” that motherfucker would go out there and practice it until he could do it. And that’s what people don’t understand when they talk about champions — when they talk about a winner’s mentality. Kobe’s dedication to the game is unreal. And I mean that in the truest sense … it was literally unbelievable."

Stories about Kobe Bryant's work ethic and competitiveness are not unheard of, but to hear those words come from a seven-time NBA champion who has played with some of the greatest athletes in NBA history, it's no small thing. 

SEE ALSO: The Warriors made 2 basic changes, and it turned around the NBA Finals

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Working as an intern at a large tech company in Silicon Valley is an eye-opening experience.

Working as an intern at one of the most successful tech companies in the world in China is beyond eye-opening. It's a similar world filled with investors and flush with cash, yet at the same time staggeringly and wholly different.

For one such summer intern  — "being a part of the company was a surreal experience."

Departing from the city of Berkeley, California, he journeyed halfway across the world to Hangzhou, China, a couple summers ago to intern at Alibaba headquarters. He worked at Alibaba as a Global Business Operations Intern, taking part in various projects within different business units of the company, from Taobao to the Microfinancial Service Group. 

When Alibaba went public in September 2014, it ranked as the biggest IPO in history after additional shares were sold. For all intents and purposes, they were the most sought after company in the world. Naturally, Alibaba's hiring process was competitive and unique. When we asked our intern about the hiring process, he replied:

"After a family member forwarded me the opportunity from Alibaba's Weibo page, I applied through their online portal. The application required three written essays and a resume submission. Then, the selected applicants were given phone interviews."

He told us Alibaba was looking to hire a broad and diverse set of people across a wide range of interests and talents, without much regard to GPA or extracurriculars:

The program itself was started by Jack Ma a few years ago as an effort to bring people from around the world into Alibaba — not as a path to a future job at the company, but as a way to learn about and experience the company culture firsthand and take those ideas and observations back as inspiration and tools for their own success.

Our team of interns consisted of students, teachers, chemists, engineers, entrepreneurs and more, with ages ranging from 18 to 31 years old. Each had something unique about them, whether a dream they were in pursuit of or a success story they were continuing. I think the diversity of the interns really spoke to how the application essays were structured; the questions were broad, such as 'Who are you?' and 'What expectations do you have for the world in the next decade?'. There was no formula of GPA, extracurriculars, and skills to distinguish what an 'ideal' candidate would be.

Working at Alibaba wasn't a sinecure by any means. Our intern tells us that he and his fellow interns "performed a variety of tasks, from market analysis, financial analysis, strategizing marketing plans, and increasing customer satisfaction." Beyond that, interns were encouraged to make the most of their experience and be sponges to the world around them.

Though he wasn't able to meet the big man on campus — CEO and founder Jack Ma — he did have the chance to meet Ma's successor, Jonathan Lu.

He says, "We got to hear about his own path through Alibaba and what driving forces helped him succeed throughout his journey. He also gave us a variety of life advice, from how to pursue our dreams to dealing with obstacles. I even got to take a selfie with him!"

A typical work day for a Business Operations intern consists of:

1. Waking up at 7 AM

2. Taking an hour-long shuttle to Alibaba headquarters

3. Sitting through a team meeting at 9 AM

4. Breaking up into project groups and working on daily project

5. Lunch break

6. Regrouping into teams for more work

7. Dinner break

8. Finishing up work until the last shuttle leaves at 8 PM

For our intern, the environment was fast-paced, with employees "constantly on call or working on projects. Yet, the overall atmosphere was one of fun, excitement, and happiness." 

In addition to learning about Alibaba's business operations and business units, he also strengthened his Mandarin skills as a byproduct of speaking mainly Mandarin for the duration of the summer.

It wasn't all work, though. If you work at a large company, you typically get to enjoy the many perks that come with it. As the largest company in China, some perks are larger than life:

One of my fondest memories at Alibaba was the day when suddenly everyone's phones were lighting up from notifications that Kobe Bryant had been spotted on campus. I, along with many other employees, ran out of the building frantically asking where he had been seen last. Soon, we were all congregated below Jack Ma's office. After waiting for half an hour, we got to see Kobe come out, embrace Jack Ma, wave to the crowd, and leave in a heavily guarded van. I never would have thought to be able to be 20 feet away from both Kobe Bryant and Jack Ma in China!

And what about the campus itself?

Each building on the campus has recreation activities open all the time, such as ping pong, foosball, and billiards. There's a gym on campus with weights, machines, and an indoor basketball court. The campus also comes with places for free massages and yoga classes.

In addition, you can find in many of the buildings fresh fruit marts, flower shops, Starbucks, and cafeterias. The food itself was "inexpensive and good, with a variety of Chinese and Western foods."

Of course, his summer internship at Alibaba provided him with the opportunity to visit Shanghai and other tourist locations on the weekends with the other interns. He sums it up succinctly: "Most importantly, I learned the life stories of other interns and their goals and passions, which gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation."

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The Los Angeles Lakers picked Wyoming's Larry Nance Jr. with the 27th pick in the draft on Thursday night. Shortly after he was selected, a 2012 tweet in which he referenced Kobe Bryant's 2003 sexual assault case and called him a "rapist" started getting passed around on Twitter.

Nance immediately deleted it once he got drafted, but not before it became well publicized:

In 2003 Bryant was charged with sexual assault in Eagle, Colorado. Bryant denied any wrongdoing, and repeatedly said the encounter was consensual. A judge later dismissed the case, and Bryant reached a settlement with the accuser in a civil lawsuit.

At a post-Draft press conference Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak addressed the issue with ESPN's Baxter Holmes:

"I've spoken to Larry Nance Jr. with John Black, our public relations director. Really, I'm not in a position to really share information. But it is something that [Nance and Bryant] will have to discuss amongst the two of them. My understanding is that it's something that happened years ago, and in today's world, things don't go away, which really doesn't make it any less offensive because it was said three, four years ago."

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne called the situation "a problem" and compared it to Bryant's infamous rocky relationship with former Laker Smush Parker on SportsCenter.

"This has echoes of Smush Parker saying bad things about Kobe Bryant," Shelburne said. "He's obviously going to be sensitive about the situation. I don't think he's going to take this very well even if you say it was two or three years ago and even if you say, 'I'm a different person now and I was a stupid stupid kid back then and I shouldn't have said it.'"

"I think this is going to be a problem even if they talk it out. It's going to be hard to get off on the right foot, or any foot at all," Shelburne said.

Bryant has yet to publicly address the situation.

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After a three-year-old tweet in which Los Angeles Lakers 27th-overall pick Larry Nance Jr. called Kobe Bryant a "rapist" went viral on draft night, Nance says he'll now refer to Kobe as "Mr. Bryant."

"Until he says, 'I'm Kobe to you,' he's going to be 'Mr. Bryant' and 'sir,'" Nance told ESPN's Baxter Holmes.

Nance said he deleted the tweet, which he posted in 2012, minutes after he was drafted by the Lakers, but not before it became well publicized:

Nance said he wrote Kobe a long text message apologizing shortly after the tweet went viral. During an interview with ESPN's Jemele Hill, Kobe said the entire situation was "water under the bridge," although he was taken back by Nance starting his message with, "Hi Mr. Bryant."

"The kid figured it out himself," Bryant said. "He's a kid, man. He actually sent me a great message [Friday], which is really funny. I looked at it [the message], and it was like, 'This is when you know it's about time to hang these things up, when your teammate writes you, Hi, Mr. Bryant.'"

"I was like, 'What the f***?' But it was really nice and apologetic about what had happened. I said, 'Dude, listen. We've all said things and done things that we regret and wish we could take back. It's water under the bridge, man. Welcome to the team.' He writes back, 'Thank you, sir.'"

Many people believed the tweet would cause a rift between the Lakers first round selection and their star player. ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne assumed it would be extremely difficult for the two "to get off on the right foot, or any foot at all":

"I don't think he's going to take this very well even if you say it was two or three years ago and even if you say, 'I'm a different person now and I was a stupid stupid kid back then and I shouldn't have said it.' I think this is going to be a problem even if they talk it out. It's going to be hard to get off on the right foot, or any foot at all."

Nance, who said his "stomach was in a knot" and he felt as though he was going to throw up, told Holmes Kobe's response was exactly what he needed and he couldn't be more grateful.

The 22-year-old power forward also released a statement on Twitter addressing Lakers fans in an attempt to earn their respect and forgiveness:

"Laker fans.. I know I left a terrible first impression, and I apologize for the entire incident. But I plan to earn your respect by wearing the purple and gold honorably and giving you all I have on and off of the court. Hopefully these next couple of days, weeks, months, I can make you all look past this time and instead look forward to our upcoming season! I’m just ecstatic to be in LA and to play my role in restoring the Lakers to their dominance behind the guidance of my new coaches and teammates!

#GoLakers"

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The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly out of the running for free agent big man LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Lakers had a meeting with Aldridge early in the NBA's free agency period, and though initial reports said it went "really well," information about the meeting that leaked out Wednesday afternoon makes it sound like a disaster.

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that the Lakers initially had a 50-50 shot at Aldridge, but their pitch ultimately fell flat because Aldridge wasn't sold on how the team would get back into championship contention:

Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the same thing:

The Lakers, who tend to be averse to advanced analytics, apparently didn't wow Aldridge:

Worsening the matter, Kobe Bryant, who has a reputation for dissuading free agents from joining the Lakers, apparently didn't help sell Aldridge on the team:

This is basically 36-year-old Bryant, coming off a knee injury, torn Achilles, and shoulder surgery in the last three years, telling one of the best scoring big men in the NBA that he can operate in limited space and play second-fiddle to Bryant. The Lakers don't win their most recent two titles without Gasol, but at the time, Bryant was still a dominant player and could justify slotting Gasol behind him. Six years later, Bryant can no longer make that claim, and him shoehorning Aldridge into a second-hand role probably wasn't appealing to Aldridge.

The Lakers had built positive momentum going into free agency, considered potential landing spots for Aldridge and Jimmy Butler. Aldridge has now moved on and Butler re-signed in Chicago.

That the Lakers' appeal off the court — Los Angeles can offer good weather, celebrities, and marketing opportunities — was a bigger selling point than what they can offer on the court is a bad sign for the Lakers. With several of the NBA's biggest free agents already signed on day one of free agency, it seems the Lakers will have to begin settling for some of the lesser names on the market.

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Kobe Bryant recently sat down with Jemele Hill of ESPN for BET's "Genius Talks" series. 

The two discussed a number of topics covering his personal life and career, including his views on failure ("It doesn't exist. It's a figment of your imagination"), friends ("Friends come and go. Banners hang forever"), on realizing he was being an "a******" ("Once I learned that, I think we were able to go to a higher level as a team"), and social media ("When people view it as a branding mechanism then I think it becomes a problem").

There was one story in particular that illustrated just how hard he can be on his teammates. Kobe was asked what is the worst thing he ever said to a teammate. After hesitating, an audience member asked if he had ever made a teammate cry.

Kobe quickly acknowledged that he had, and then told a story about a young European player he once made cry:

"I have, I have made somebody cry before. There are certain players I have made cry ... there's one teammate that was just so bad. He was so bad. It wasn't Kwame [Brown]. Kwame actually wasn't that bad. I tease Kwame a lot. It wasn't Smush [Parker]. It was a player you guys won't even remember if I said what his name was. I can't even pronounce his name. It was like some European kid. I don't know. But he was really, really bad. I said, 'You know, dude, you might want to reconsider what your life purpose is. Maybe it's not this.' I was like twenty-something. I don't know. I was really young."

If you want to play amateur detective, there were only two players who played on the Lakers when Kobe was in his teens or 20s who were European, did not have success with the team, and had names some might consider hard to pronounce. One was Sasha Vujacic. He was with the Lakers until 2011 and in the NBA as recently as 2014, so it seems unrealistic that Kobe would struggle with his name. The other is Stanislav Medvedenko, who joined the Lakers as a 21-year-old in 2000 when Kobe was 22 and played in just seven games his rookie year and only started more than ten games in a season once in his seven-year career.

Bryant did acknowledge in the interview that he quickly realized that his comment sounded much worse out loud than he was expecting, saying, "That is not how I envisioned that coming out."

You can see the entire interview here. The comments on making a teammate cry can be heard at the 20:25 mark. 

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The Los Angeles Lakers post-free-agency press conference produced a hilarious moment when the team's newly signed players were asked if they had heard from Kobe Bryant yet.

Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass, sitting at the table, all silently looked around at one another, waiting for someone to speak.

Apparently nobody has heard from Kobe. The moment was caught by ESPN's Dave McMenamin:

Can't make this stuff up. Perhaps this was a planned reaction from all three, but the fact that they never broke their silence or admitted they had heard from Kobe makes it seem as though they're being serious in their silence.

A look at the reactions ...

Roy Hibbert is unfazed:

Lou Williams wants the next question:

Brandon Bass gets it!

Kobe Bryant has come under fire for being a poor free-agent recruiter because of his unwillingness to relinquish a role as top dog. He reportedly didn't win over LaMarcus Aldridge earlier this summer.

Perhaps Kobe decided to sit this session out and the let the Lakers handle it.

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As the Los Angeles Lakers get ready for the NBA regular season, there's already speculation about what Kobe Bryant will do at the end of the season.

At 37 years old, Bryant is on the last year of his contract, set to earn $25 million this season.

When the season ends, he'll be a free agent, and many people have assumed he'll retire.

However, Bryant himself has never confirmed that he'll be retiring, and Knicks president and former Lakers coach Phil Jackson sparked interest when he said he doesn't think Bryant will retire at the end of the season.

Of course, much of this depends on how Bryant's season goes. Over the past three seasons, Kobe has only managed to play 119 games out of a possible 246. Between major injuries and a diminished supporting cast, Bryant's efficiency has crumbled, too, shooting just 37% from the field and 29% from 3-point range last year, while also playing lackluster defense.

Nonetheless, Bryant still views himself as a star player, which is why much of the NBA world thinks the Lakers need to move on from Bryant this coming offseason. 

In a terrific profile from ESPN's Baxter Holmes on the decision the Lakers have to make this summer with Kobe, 13 of 24 league insiders that Holmes spoke with said the Lakers need to move on from Bryant immediately in order to properly rebuild the team. They believe with his diminishing production, but large ego, he won't accept that he's no longer a premier player, particularly on a gutted, rebuilding team.

One league executive explained to Holmes how the Lakers should break up with Bryant — make him an offer he'll want to refuse:

"So let's say I walked in there as GM, and one of the first things I did was say, 'Hey, Kobe, you're not coming back.' I think that would probably play extremely poorly in the L.A. media. As a use of your political capital, that's probably not the right thing to do. It's probably better to offer him a contract at, like, say, $5 million with some strings attached — 'Hey, our expectations for you on this contract is you're going to mentor the young guys, you're going to behave in an excellent way.' ... And just basically put him in a position where he's probably going to say no to you.

"Then you can be like, 'Look, we offered him $5 million a year. This is the type of deal that Nowitzki and Duncan took. We wanted him to be part of the next wave, but we told him that he's got to be a mentor, and he probably won't be a 35-minute-a-night player, and blah, blah, blah, and he told us that doesn't appeal to him,' so at least you can say you tried."

The insinuation is that Kobe, coming off making $25 million this season, won't want to take such a steep pay cut, and he won't want to play mentor to younger players.

The same executive said his options are going to be limited for the same reason, if he even wants to join another team. He said, "I don't know of anybody who in their right mind would say getting him in their organization would be a great idea."

Unfortunately, this is where Bryant's career has fallen. While no one doubts his talent and his place among the all-time greats, he's become something of an inefficient, high-volume shooter, whose ego gets in the way of on-court strategy and team-building.

On the flip side for the Lakers, Bryant is good for business, both from a PR sense with fans and for TV ratings and ticket and merchandise sales, as Holmes notes.

If Bryant makes it through the season healthy and is looking for a new contract, there's no doubt the Lakers and other teams will be interested. But in this stage of his career, he's a tough player to build around.

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Lamar Odom remains in critical condition in the hospital after being found unconscious in a Nevada brothel Tuesday night.

Odom, a former NBA player for 14 seasons, played his best basketball with the Lakers, helping them win two championships in 2009 and 2010.

He is evidently still close with teammates from that era, as Kobe Bryant reportedly left a preseason game early to go see Odom.

In a Lakers preseason game against the Sacramento Kings being played in Las Vegas, Bryant had already left with a leg injury. When news of Odom's hospitalization broke, Bryant left the arena entirely to rush to the hospital (along with GM Mitch Kupchak).

Though Odom has had a troubling few years since leaving the Lakers, he's reportedly held in high regard by everyone who knows him:

Many former teammates have shared well wishes for him:

In a profile on Kobe Bryant last season, Bryant told Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard that he still talks to many of his former teammates, including Odom. Clearly, that bond is still tight for Bryant to leave a game early and hold up a flight so he can visit Odom.

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Despite trying to retool over the summer in hopes of being more competitive this season, the Los Angeles Lakers are apparently selling only one thing: Kobe Bryant.

With less than a week until the regular season begins, the Lakers are commemorating Bryant's 20th season by plastering him all over the cover of their media guide:

If you're one of the other 16 players currently on the roster (they have to get down to 15 before the season begins), well ... sorry!

The irony in this display of devotion to Kobe is that there's no official indication that this is Kobe's final season, which is how many, including the Lakers, have been treating it. Bryant's contract ends after this season, and while he's talked retiring, he's never officially confirmed it, and nobody else around the league seems to know his plans after this season.

Furthermore, the Lakers have been trying to build a team that is both competitive enough for Kobe, but also set up to survive his potential departure in the future. In fact, some people in the NBA world think that the Lakers would be better off without Kobe, who prevents them from entering a full rebuild mode, and who also takes up $25 million in cap space and refuses to take a lesser role.

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has publicly insisted that Bryant is on board with the Lakers plan, but he also hinted that Bryant is bound to try to take over when he thinks he can do a better job than the rest of the team (via ESPN's Baxter Holmes):

"I don't think it will be any different than it has been in years past. [Bryant will] be 100 percent on board with the game plan, and he'll be patient, as patient as he can be. But there will be a point where if things aren't going the way that he feels they should be going or the players aren't producing, his instincts will kick in, and I'm sure he'll try to do as much as possible."

So it's odd, then, that a team that has no confirmation that Kobe is retiring is already celebrating his career.

Furthermore, when Kobe's literally the only player on their media guide, it doesn't exactly help sell the Lakers' vision that they're in a phase where the team no longer revolves around him.

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