Kobe Bryant embraces role as mentor; holds basketball camp in Manila

It has been two months since Kobe Bryant retired from professional basketball, closing the final chapter to a glorious 20-year career decorated with five NBA championships.

Suffering three season-ending injuries in the last four years brought the end sooner rather than later for the 37-year-old shooting guard, who penned an emotional poem in November to announce his decision.

Bryant left it all on the floor in his farewell game in Los Angeles in a 60-point performance, the perfect swan song before finally moving on for good.

"The game has always been a vehicle through which I express myself and find out more about myself going through various challenges and obstacles," he said. "And so I'm very comfortable with letting the game go and continuing to grow through other things."

The "Black Mamba" has been busy since his retirement last April, establishing his own company and venturing into story-telling business aside from coming up with new color ways for his signature kicks.

But he has never truly walked away from basketball — his playing days may be over, but he has since embraced a mentorship role to young players and seemed to be taking great pleasure in preaching his game philosophy and work ethic.

"It's emotionally different. I think there's so much more value in teaching because there's so much enjoyment that come from watching a player kinda have life, go off," Bryant said in the Mamba Mentality Tour press conference on Saturday at the Shangri-La Hotel at The Fort.

"They're doing something like they don't feel they can kinda push through. Then they push through it and they realize they could do it. There's a certain magic that comes from seeing that growth," he added.

Bryant will be holding a Kobe Academy training camp for selected players on Sunday, hoping to influence the youth to learn the value of hard work and relentlessness.

The Laker legend also sees a bright future for the NBA even without him, placing his trust in the younger superstars of the league to continue where he left off.

"I think it's our responsibility to continue to teach the next generation so that the game is better when you leave than it was when you arrived," he said.

Bryant took note of how Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving mentioned the Mamba Mentality in the NBA Finals, glad that he can already see someone following the footprints he left behind.

"It means everything I've done throughout my career, it doesn't just stay in the history books, doesn't just sit on a mantle in the form of trophies and gold medals," said the former Most Valuable Player.

"The fact that he was thinking about that in Game Seven means that I've done something more than simply win," he said.

"It means that that legacy has been passed on to the next generation. And hopefully they can do the same." —ALG, GMA News