At about four o'clock in the afternoon, I was about to leave for the airport to meet the team, and just as I was about to leave the house, the landline phone in the living room rang.

"Hello, it's Kobe. Bryant? ”

"Hello, I'm Kobe Bryant. Bryant, do you have anything to do with me? ”

On the other end of the line came the voice of a rather magnetic middle-aged man, a voice I seemed to have heard somewhere, but it was difficult to remember for a moment.

"It's okay, I'm Jerry, the general manager of the Lakers. West, I just want to talk to you casually, you don't have to be too nervous, everyone has been watching your performance lately, and I'm quite happy about that. ”

I just remembered that Kobe Bryant was able to come to the Lakers completely because of Jerry. West single-handedly planned, he should have been the person who valued Kobe's potential the most in the NBA at that time, of course, Kobe's performance did not disappoint him at all, and of course I will never let him down.

"Well, I'm just training hard and trying to do what I'm supposed to do, you know the feel and the form of things that are not always in my control, but I promise to do my best to train and compete."

"I completely believe you at this point, and I've heard about your 100-pitch heads-up with Scott, and what was on your mind when you were down 20-50? Why didn't you give up and surrender early? ”

"Because once I make up my mind to complete something, then I won't give up easily until the last minute, although my state at the beginning was quite bad, but as long as the game is not over then I will not give up hope and hard work, in my opinion, basketball games are hopeful to be reversed until the last minute, just like the last game we played against the Timberwolves, I and Shaq were in such good shape, they didn't give up trying, it turned out that although they didn't complete the comeback in the end, But their efforts are enough to earn them our respect. ”

"Haha, your thoughts coincide with mine, which makes me feel a little back to when I was still playing, you know I have entered so many finals in my life, but most of the time it is a season that ends as a loser, this once made me quite distressed, in a sense, the runner-up in competitive sports is the biggest loser, but I didn't give up because of failure again and again, and in the end I still won the championship trophy that should belong to me."

"Yes, maybe the runner-up is the biggest loser, but it's still much better than those who give up their efforts because of a little difficulty, maybe there can only be one championship, but the spirit of never giving up in the basketball game can be shared, whether it is a winner or a loser in the end, as long as you do your best to fight hard, you are worthy of respect."

"It seems that I really didn't see the wrong person, I didn't expect you to be able to understand these truths at a young age, many people are difficult to share the same truth in their lives, and they have to be embarrassed. I hope you can continue the current upward momentum, because I see in you a shadow of a man who will take over the future of the League when he is old. ”

Of course, I understood that the man he was referring to was Michael, the god of basketball. Jordan, but I also clearly understand that even if Kobe Bryant worked so hard, he couldn't catch up with and surpass Jordan after all, he is indeed the real god of basketball, and it is also the goal I vowed to challenge and catch up, whether I can do it in the end or not, what Kobe Bryant in my world failed to complete, now I will definitely complete it for him.

"I'm not qualified to make this kind of comparison, and I don't want too many off-court factors to interfere with my play, basketball is only the most beautiful when it is in its purest, when it is set up with too many comparisons, too many interest entanglements, too many personal positions, it will appear dirty, and the purpose of my play is to enjoy the purest happiness brought by basketball itself, enjoy victory and defeat, and enjoy the feeling that can make me fully engaged and fully focused."

"Well, what you said makes a lot of sense, even though this is the NBA, it's a business league, but only a fighter with the purest heart can have a chance to be the one who stands at the top, and I believe you have that potential. There's one other thing I'd like to talk to you about today, and I hope you'll be able to open up to me as you just did. ”

"If you say hello, I will answer truthfully."

"The relationship between you and Shaq is actually quite worrying to me, but I am not so worried, anyway, I am a little worried that your relationship will not be so harmonious, in fact I can also see that he has a very different personality from yours, I just want to hear what you think about this, although I hope you can get along, but if there is really some kind of conflict between you, tell me, I will try to reconcile."

"It's really not that serious, at least for now, I think I'm convinced by Shaq's dominance in the game, I'm just a little bit unaccustomed to his overly lively and expressive look, I feel like he's not focused enough on the game, and he always brings a lot of off-court factors into the basketball court, which makes me a little uncomfortable."

"Well, I'm glad you can truthfully say what is in your heart, of course, I don't really have much to say about this, whether you can handle the relationship between you may be a matter that will affect the fate of the entire Lakers team in the future, you know that although you can only be a bench player now, but at your current rate of progress, I believe that soon I can hand over a part of the responsibility of leading the team to you."

"I don't know if I'm ready, but I'm going to work harder and be more focused, and I'm willing to take on bigger challenges."

"Haha, if you're able to show enough to impress me before the All-Star break, then I'll take Eddie before that. Jones traded you out and made you the team's starter, it's a secret between us, okay, don't go around and say, I'll always watch your performance, I hope you don't disappoint me. ”

Hearing this, I couldn't help but stir waves in my heart. West actually said to me so bluntly today that he could trade Eddie. Jones's thing, you know, this is actually a big taboo, it may be that he said that he leaked his mouth, of course, I also understand that this is both a pressure and a motivation for me, and his trust can naturally add more motivation to me.

Half an hour later, I arrived at LAX, and when I saw Shaq's funny face again, I remembered Jerry Jerry. West, it seems like it's a lot of important things to learn how to make peace with Shaq, but now I'm not going to think too much about it, and now that all I have in mind is basketball and winning, I think we've got a chance to do something big this season.