Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant may be retired from professional basketball, but that doesn’t mean that he has completely stepped away from the game.
Bryant created a series called “Detail” for ESPN that allowed him to call upon his wealth of knowledge about the game and break it down for all to see. Bryant typically focused on one particular player and analyzed certain areas of their game, explaining where they are finding success and where they need to improve for the future.
He used game footage to show exactly what corrections can be made on the floor. Bryant recently appeared on the HoopsHype podcast with Alex Kennedy and explained his process for creating episodes:
“I generally pick a player who I believe is going to have some serious challenges in the upcoming game or that series. I didn’t want to do a show that is highlighting things that have been done well, or I don’t want to highlight games where a player goes off for 45 points and show all the good stuff that he did to score 45 points. Because that’s not how I watched film. If I had a game where I had 60 points, I’m not looking at the the things I did right. I’m trying to find every little thing that I did wrong and looking at the issues I’m going to have in dealing with the Celtics’ defense and how I can potentially solve that problem. That’s what the “Detail” series is. In terms of how it comes together, we sit and watch the game, we’ll pull the clips, and then once we pull the clips, I go into a room here in the studio and we put the clips up on the laptop. I have a microphone in front of me, I hit the play button, and then what you see on the show is me recording it in real time. There’s no thought process of what I’m going to say. What you see on the show is me watching it for the first time, right then and there. Just like I was breaking down film when I was playing back in the day. That’s the experience you’re getting.”
That Bryant focuses primarily on the mistakes that a player is making rather than celebrate the successes they are having should be no surprise to fans who followed his career. He was obsessed with becoming the best player he could be, acting as his own worst critic and constantly looking to grow as a player.
Now, through “Detail,” Bryant has given us a way to see the game of basketball the way he sees it. He may not be on the floor playing anymore, but Bryant has managed to find a way to stay connected to the game and continue to work towards creating better players around the league.
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