ANGELS – Tyronn Read I saved all the framed photos I had with him and Kobe Bryant at home and the current LA Clippers coach still can’t decorate his office with the precious moments he shared with his old friend.
Nearly a year after Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, Lue is still facing the death of his former Los Angeles Lakers teammate. Seeing Bryant’s most important moments on TV or even answering Kawhi Leonard and Paul George’s questions about how Bryant was is still painful.
Speaking to a small group of reporters on Saturday, Lue opened up about Bryant’s death and revealed that he tried to cope by blocking as much as possible. But Lue said he wants to try to get ahead by doing things like taking pictures with him and Bryant.
“I just hope I try to get over it,” Lue said. “I really can’t handle death. I always try to forget about it. It’s something that’s difficult for me, especially. [con] someone I was so close to … I took all the photos in my room, in my house, I don’t have them in my office ”.
Lue said that when he moved to the Clippers’ Playa Vista head coach’s office, his assistant and others asked him about the decor and if he wanted a photo with him and Bryant. Lue politely said no.
“I have to get over this because [es] A wonderful guy, a wonderful person, you want to be able to celebrate, “Lue said.” You want people to come to your office and say, “Oh, man, what did you do to Kobe?” You want to ask him these questions so that he can continue to live, which he will do. “
When Bryant and his daughter Gianna died last year, the Clippers were in Orlando, Florida, to play Magic. Lue, then personal assistant coach at Doc Rivers, said he woke up from routine sleep on game day to find countless missed texts and calls on his cell phone. Seven of the missed calls were from an assistant coach Sam Cassell. Lue called Cassell, who frantically asked if the news was true, that Bryant had died in an accident. Lue was shocked.
“I turned on the TV and it was on all the news stations and you just saw the fire, the smoke, it only showed images with that [accidente de helicóptero]”Lue said.” And at TMZ Sports, they talked about it and I just broke up. It was difficult to understand, hard to see. “
Rivers said that at one point during the game against Magic, he turned to look at Lue on the bench and saw his assistant “crying.”
“Even today, it’s difficult,” Lue said. “When you watch and watch videos only when they show things from old games or commercials, it’s hard for me to watch.”
Lue also said that his two stars, Leonard and George, often ask about Bryant. Leonard and George grew up in Southern California, looking up at Bryant. The two All-Stars came to know Bryant as professionals and tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible from the former Lakers.
Lue said he didn’t talk about his time with Bryant or the things he learned from the guard while he was head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But this season, Lue found herself sharing information about Bryant’s greatness with Leonard and George.
“They always want to know what Kobe was like, what he did, how he worked, how Kobe would react to this,” Lue said. “I always ask these questions all the time. They just want to know a lot about him. Sometimes it’s hard to talk about it, but it’s good for those guys to respect him and admire what Kobe did as a player, as a person and as a player. . ” entrepreneur.”
Lue spent the first three seasons of the NBA as a player from 1998 to 2001 with the Lakers alongside Bryant. After the Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in NBA Finals (2000-2001), Bryant said something that will stay with Lue for the rest of his life.
“Kobe said, ‘You know, I don’t know if we could have won that series without you,'” Lue remembered. He said: “Because I was exhausted, I had to call [Allen] Iverson, and the work you did with him really put a lot of pressure on me. So man, you meant a lot to this championship.
“It really meant a lot whether he was lying or not,” Lue said.
Lue said he would have to start being honest with himself in dealing with Bryant’s loss, rather than trying to bury him. One step forward is to put those photos back.
“I’ll try to do it,” Lue said. “He will always live through me, the NBA, a lot of people. So try to come to my office and see a picture of me and Kobe I think would be difficult.”
“But there has to be a point where he can get over it, continue to celebrate his life and what it has meant to me and so many other people.”