Joel Embiid says Kobe Bryant inspired his journey to the NBA
Wednesday 29 January 2020 10:54, UK
Joel Embiid says watching Kobe Bryant in the 2010 NBA Finals inspired him to start his own basketball journey and described the death of the Lakers' legend as "truly heartbreaking".
In Philadelphia, Embiid paid tribute to Bryant by wearing one of his jersey numbers.
Around the league, Brooklyn's Spencer Dinwiddie and Orlando's Terrence Ross are showing their respect by no longer doing so. Boston's Kemba Walker is considering such a change.
And coaches left their snazzy leather shoes in the office on Tuesday night, wearing Bryant's signature sneakers instead.
Embiid, returning from a nine-game injury absence, scored 24 points to lead the 76ers to victory against the Golden State Warriors.
After the game, Embiid was to describe his emotions after playing in the first game staged in Philadelphia, the city where Bryant grew up, since the NBA icon was killed, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Southern California on Sunday.
"It was tough," Embiid said. "When I think about where I came from, how I started playing the game, I go back to the first time I really watched basketball in 2010, that Finals, [the Lakers] against Boston. That is how I became a Kobe fan. I wanted to be like Kobe and I wanted to play basketball. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that moment. If it wasn't for Kobe, I would probably have been playing volleyball somewhere or be a doctor.
"I got to know him a little, too. [What happened on Sunday was] truly heartbreaking. It sucks.
"I am here because of him. I felt like it was really important for me to come out and just honour [him by] playing the game. I'm thankful to the great Bobby Jones for allowing to wear his number (the 76ers retired Jones' No 24) tonight. I am extremely grateful."
The games go on - except in Los Angeles, for a couple more days anyway. So, too, is the grief. And the tributes are continuing as well, such as the separate decisions by Dinwiddie and Ross to no longer wear the No 8 that Bryant donned at the start of his NBA career.
"We often search for meaning in numbers," Dinwiddie tweeted.
Dinwiddie will now wear No 26. Ross is going back to No 31. The moves, evidently, are simply their way of saying Bryant's numbers - he wore No 8 and No 24 for the Los Angeles Lakers - should be retired.
Walker said part of the reason why he isn't sure if he will give up the No 8 is that the Celtics have a large amount of already-retired numbers and that would limit his options.
Many coaches, including Miami's Erik Spoelstra and Boston's Brad Stevens and their staffs for the Heat-Celtics game in Miami, wore Bryant's sneakers.
Spoelstra, a father of two young sons, said he plans on buying the Kobe sneakers for them to wear in a few years.
"I am going to tell them the story of Kobe Bryant when they are old enough to understand," Spoelstra said. "Those shoes will be a symbol of excellence, work ethic, commitment and class."
Jayson Tatum saw all those qualities in Bryant. He considered him a friend, mentor, idol, hero.
"Everybody knows how much he meant to me," Tatum said, his voice barely rising above a whisper, his eyes looking down nearly the whole time. "From somebody I really looked up to, and really was like my hero - the reason I started playing basketball. To becoming a friend and a mentor, somebody that I could talk to and help me out with a bunch of things on and off the court. It has been a tough couple of days."
They will stay that way for a lot of days.
The new normal - an NBA world where Bryant will never be physically present again - will continue the opening rounds of its evolution on Wednesday, when the Lakers are scheduled to practice and then speak with reporters for the first time since the tragedy.
Basketball returns to Los Angeles on Thursday when the Clippers play host to Sacramento. The Lakers play at Staples Center on Friday night against Portland, in what will undoubtedly be a gut-wrenching night of emotions.
Tears will be shed that night, just as they were on Tuesday night when Turner Sports analysts and former NBA players Shaquille O'Neal - who won three titles with the Lakers alongside Bryant in a superstar pairing - and Dwyane Wade seated at midcourt to share their memories and their anguish.
The Clippers and Lakers were supposed to play there on Tuesday. The NBA postponed that match-up. The Lakers just weren't ready to resume playing yet.
Tatum is one of the players in the league who got to work out up close with Bryant. He had plenty of reasons for why he idolised him so much.
"His drive, his work ethic to be the best, he just made me fall in love with him and the game," Tatum said. "I loved everything about him and the way he carries himself. He was special."
But Brooklyn's Kevin Durant pointed out that no matter how many players change their jersey numbers in Bryant's memory, no matter how many coaches wear his sneakers, no matter how many Bryant chants echo through arenas over the coming days and weeks, the gestures will likely fall short of capturing what the five-time NBA champion truly meant to the game, its players and its fans.
"Nothing," Durant said, "will ever be big enough to truly honour Kobe Bryant."
