What We Learned From Kobe Bryant's Genius Talk

Black Mamba drops gems at the BET Experience.

Black Mamba Drops Gems - Kobe Bryant has lived a few basketball lives. The five-time NBA champion is entering his 20th (and possibly last) year in the league. Through his hall of fame career, Bryant has learned a lot about basketball and just life, period. During his Genius Talks sitdown with ESPN's Jemele Hill, as part of the BET Experience 2015, Bryant dropped plenty words of wisdom about hoops, family and seemingly everything in between. Before you see The Best of Genius Talks, airing on BET Friday, July 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET, here are some of the standout quotables from the Black Mamba.(Photo: Jason Kempin/BET/Getty Images for BET)
His Bond With Former Teammates - "Teammates I've had in the past...Lamar [Odom], who I still stay in contact with...D. Fish, Ronny Turiaf, Shannon Brown...all our guys. We still talk to this day. To them, if you ask them, they'll say, 'No, he's not an a**hole.'"(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Kobe on Who His Daughters Take After - "Natalia takes after Vanessa. Gianna takes more after me; a lot of energy. They're both extremely competitive. They're very smart, they read a lot, they study a lot. They're great kids. The younger one is more like me; the older one is more like V."(Photo: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)What He Learned From Shaquille O'Neal - "Don't be an a**hole. I've never been the most patient person in the world and one of my pet peeves is laziness or people who make excuses. I can't stand that. In working with Shaq, the guy is a freak of nature and he's mean when he plays, which I relate to. But there's other parts that I didn't relate to. There's certain things that are strengths of his. I was able to look in the mirror and say, 'OK, maybe you are being an a**hole.' You have to self-assess. Once I learned that, I think we were able to go to a higher level as a team."

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Black Mamba Drops Gems - Kobe Bryant has lived a few basketball lives. The five-time NBA champion is entering his 20th (and possibly last) year in the league. Through his hall of fame career, Bryant has learned a lot about basketball and just life, period. During his Genius Talks sitdown with ESPN's Jemele Hill, as part of the BET Experience 2015, Bryant dropped plenty words of wisdom about hoops, family and seemingly everything in between. Before you see The Best of Genius Talks, airing on BET Friday, July 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET, here are some of the standout quotables from the Black Mamba.(Photo: Jason Kempin/BET/Getty Images for BET)

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