Accepting the MVP posted by Jordan Ikeda
Got a chance to attend the Most Valuable Player trophy presentation of a one Mr. Kobe Bryant yesterday. A whole host of media were there and after Stu Lanz introduced everyone, Phil spoke, followed by Alex Fedorak the KIA Motors public relations director (who presented the trophy to Kobe) and then Mr. Bryant himself. After Kobe said his piece, the media was allowed to ask some questions. The most refreshing part about the whole thing was how much he gushed over the camaraderie he shares with his teammates. Some of the highlights of the question and answer included a question by yours truly as well as one by Luke Walton, Kobe busting out a little Spanish, and his mention of Shaq and Mitch Kupchak.
On a quick side note, during the beginning of the press conference, Phil Jackson had this to say about his star guard: “Let me tell you that I don’t know anyone who deserves it more, who’s ever deserved this trophy more, anybody who has ever worked this hard to accomplish what he’s accomplished in this game as Kobe has.”
W-w-whaa? Didn’t he coach Michael Jordan…A Phil motivation ploy or his honest-to-god opinion? Only the Zenmeister knows.
Okay, let’s start with Kobe’s mini acceptance speech.
Kobe: I don’t know what to say to be honest with you. I think that this is such a blessing and such an honor to be here, and to receive this award. I can go through a list of thank yous starting with my family. They have enabled me to be the best that I can be by training everyday, they give up so much, sacrifice so much for me to be able to train and focus on games. I’m just very honored and blessed for them to be there, see my kids sitting in the front row, my agent Rob Pelinka and my friends and my teammates, the man who brought me here Jerry West. I mean, this is a beautiful day. A very special day for me. And I’m just deeply honored to be here. I couldn’t have won this award without the play of my teammates. This is a team award, this is a team award. This isn’t an award that I could have won alone. If that was the case, I would have won it when I was averaging 40 (laughs). This gets done because we all do it as a unit. So I can’t thank these guys enough. These are my guys, these are my brothers and we have one MVP. I want to thank everybody for coming out and let’s get ready for tomorrow.
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