According to two separate ESPN reports (and I’m not sure you can label Bill Simmons’s musings a “report,” but I don’t know what else to call it), Kevin Garnett was one of the polarizing forces keeping the NBA players union from reaching a 50-50 agreement (or similar terms) with the owners, a deal that would have ended the NBA lockout. The second report, by Henry Abbott, also listed Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant as culprits.

We’ll start with Simmons’s account of the events, regardless of how tongue in cheek it may be:

Kevin Garnett, who inexplicably turned into Norma Rae these past few weeks and led the charge to fight the fight and stand strong … without, of course, ever mentioning that his agent was savvy enough to defer a significant amount of money from his last contract extension so that he still has fresh money coming in this season (unlike 95 percent of the players), or that a 50-game regular season would be absolutely perfect for his aching knees, or that losing two months of 2011-12 money might help him with his next contract because he won’t break down during a shortened season (increasing the odds that he’ll get one last lucrative extension next summer).

Should someone who’s earned over $300 million (including endorsements) and has deferred paychecks coming really be telling guys who have made 1/100th as much as him to fight the fightand stand strong and not care about getting paid? And what are Garnett’s credentials, exactly? During one of the single biggest meetings (last week, on Tuesday), Hunter had Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce and Garnett (combined years spent in college: three) negotiate directly with Stern in some sort of misguided “Look how resolved we are, you’re not gonna intimidate us!” ploy that backfired so badly that one of their teams’ owners was summoned into the meeting specifically to calm his player down and undo some of the damage. (I’ll let you guess the player. It’s not hard.) And this helped the situation … how? And we thought this was going to work … why?

Congratulations, players — you showed solidarity! You showed you wouldn’t back down! You made things worse, and you wasted a day, but dammit, you didn’t back down! Just make sure you tell that to every team employee who gets fired over these next few weeks, as well as to all the restaurant and bar owners near NBA arenas who are taking a massive financial hit through the holidays. I’m sure they will be proud of you.

Simmons’s “report” came out yesterday, and Abbott’s was published today. Abbott quotes Matt Bonner later in the piece, who cautions that the entire account of Abbott’s main story seems dubious. “There’s no way,” Bonner said. The players needed huge convincing just to agree to lower their share of BRI to 53%. Offering to take 50%, or agreeing to such an offer, seemed outrageous to Bonner.

“That was a huge point of contention,” he said. “Talking to all these veterans and all-stars, they were upset we went down to 53. We had to sell them on that. I’m pretty certain [union lawyer Jeffrey] Kessler didn’t have the authority to offer 50, and nobody in the room would have agreed to that.”

Still, Abbott published a report claiming that Garnett, Pierce and Bryant might have torpedoed an approaching deal and built a moat between the two sides. Pierce was wearing his packpack, which was apparently a bad sign, for reasons unstated.

As Stern has recounted a dozen times since, not long after what was supposed to have been the hallway conversation that saved the season, something odd and wholly unexpected happened. There was a knock on the door where Stern was selling his owners on the idea. The players wanted to talk.

When they convened, instead of the union’s head, Hunter, or their negotiating committee of Maurice Evans, Matt Bonner, Roger Mason, Theo Ratliff, Etan Thomas and Chris Paul, representing the players were Fisher, Kessler, and three superstars who had been to very few of the meetings at all: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.

A bad sign: Pierce was still wearing his backpack.

The players had two pieces of news that shocked the league: 50/50 was not good enough. And there was nothing further to discuss.

“We had a large group of owners,” remembers Silver, “who had flown in and were prepared to negotiate around the clock.”

More importantly, they had made an aggressively good offer, the NBA’s leaders thought, the one that might get them in trouble with their owners but surely not with the players.

And players who hadn’t even been in the talks, and who seemed not to be on the same page with the crew that had endured more than 40 meetings, had been the ones to reject the best offer the league was likely to have, and to end the best day of negotiations prematurely.

What in the hell was going on? How had they so misread the situation? And where was Billy Hunter? Who spoke for the union? Should the league have been negotiating with Kevin Garnett all along?

Later the league would suggest that the talks had fallen apart because the union happened to have some particularly strident players show up that day.

Maybe it’s as simple as that. Or maybe it’s much more complicated.

Abbott then went on to wonder whether players were inspired by Lebron James’s decision and now believe themselves capable of acting “fully empowered.” As if Michael Jordan — No. 1 in your hearts, Roster 99 in your video games — was not fully empowered.

“It’s a business revolution with young black men, basketball players, in the corner offices. A new way of doing things, long overdue, and happening now,” wrote Abbott.

“And maybe that’s what Stern encountered in that hotel room in New York: A new generation of fully empowered players who no longer believe they have to conform to much of anything.”

Maybe. Or maybe Stern just encountered a trio of stars looking out for future generations, who didn’t want to sign off on a bum deal.

There are more than a million reasons for the NBA lockout to end, not least of which is the following question: do you really want the NBA D-League to be the most competitive basketball in America?

But the 1,287,493rd reason to end the lockout came yesterday within a Chris Sheridan column.

Sheridan discussed who might play for the United States during the 2012 London Olympics. After reading the first ten players who Sheridan considers mortal locks to make the roster, I suddenly realized, “Holy box of crackerjacks. Sheridan hasn’t included Derrick Rose, the defending NBA MVP.” Then I looked at the ten locks (Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony), thought about the situation rationally, realized that Bosh and Griffin were around for size, and thought, “Jumping bag of Kit-Kats, maybe Rose doesn’t deserve to be a mortal lock.”

In the remainder of the column Sheridan advised that after his ten mortal locks, the USA should select at least one center to keep pace with Spain, which added Serge Ibaka to an already potent frontcourt. That would leave Rose to compete for the 12th roster spot, about which Sheridan writes, “If you want a third point guard, 2010 Team USA members Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are your guys (in fact, it’ll be interesting to see whether either of them can beat out Paul and/or Williams at training camp next summer in Las Vegas).”

I’m not here to call Sheridan correct in his belief that Rose should be firmly on the roster bubble, nor to confirm his suspicion that Rose is a candidate for third point guard. I’m not here to call Sheridan wrong, either. All I’m saying is that if you can have a legitimate conversation about the United States Olympic roster and advocate leaving the defending NBA MVP off the roster entirely, NBA talent is off the charts.

End the lockout. Sooner rather than later.

Please.

When the Goodman League competes against the Indy Pro-Am on Sept. 24,  Celtics draft pick JaJuan Johnson will reportedly suit up for the Indy Pro-Am squad. He will compete against Jeff Green, who could potentially be Johnson’s teammate whenever the NBA returns.

John Wall, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and DeMarcus Cousins have all committed to join Green in representation of the Goodman League, according to separate reports by Mike Wells and Michael Lee. Johnson’s Indy Pro-Am team will reportedly also include Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Eric Gordon, George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Gordon Hayward.

Note: I am about to ramble about Gordon Hayward for a short period of time, just because his name triggered some great NBA League Pass memories. Bear with me.

On April 5, 2011, Hayward put on one of last season’s least-expected shows, metaphorically staring Kobe Bryant straight in the eyes until Kobe blinked.

Two nights before, Hayward had established a career high of 19 points against the Sacramento Kings, but nothing about his bland rookie season signaled that Hayward was ready to build on the career night, especially not against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Jazz had played the Lakers earlier in the week and Hayward was both inefficient and  unproductive. He finished the game with 7 points on 3-9 shooting, playing 29 minutes and barely putting his fingerprints on the game. The Jazz lost after leading by 17 points and Hayward scored only two points in the second half, an alley-oop from Earl Watson after the game was already out of reach.

The Lakers were on a typical tear, winning 17 of their past 19 games, and the Jazz were somewhere between listless and helpless, losers of eight straight, a franchise in shambles after Jerry Sloan’s retirement and Deron Williams’s trade, a franchise watching idly as the memories of two great decades burned slowly to the ground. Al Jefferson was acquired in the offseason, but he and Paul Millsap did not mesh in the front-court. Derrick Favors came to Utah as part of the Williams trade, and he could provide occasional entertainment with a fierce dunk or a high-flying block, but his prime was years away at best. Tyrone Corbin tried to fill Sloan’s enormous shoes, but Utah’s talent was lower than it had been in years and Corbin, well, Corbin was not Sloan. Meanwhile, the Jazz’s lottery draft choice, the league’s next white hope, Gordon Hayward blended into the background, struggling to deal with the strength and quickness of his NBA opponents.

Kobe Bryant is not normally the right prescription for a rookie struggling to find his NBA calling. But the second time Hayward played Kobe that week, he transformed into something different, something better, the player Utah hoped he would be, a player his parents and friends could be proud of, a player who dueled against Kobe Bryant and scored 22 points, including 10 in the final quarter, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists, drilled the game-winning free throw, forced Bryant into a turnover on the game’s final possession, and walked off the court with at least one new fan.

“I’m very, very fond of him. He’s a very-skilled, all-around player,” said Kobe Bryant. “I think he’s going to have a very bright future in this league. He reminds me of a more talented Jeff Hornacek. Jeff couldn’t put the ball on the floor as well as (Hayward) can.”

Less than two weeks later, the Jazz ended their season by beating the Denver Nuggers. Hayward pumped in 34 points.

Kevin Garnett was married in 2004, but I know nothing else about his relationship. You won’t see him pretending to be a statue in Boston anytime soon and he likewise would never conduct the Boston Pops or sing at the bar Cheers. You see, Garnett is an intensely private individual. But when he gives interviews, we are sometimes allowed to peer through brief windows into his character.

Garnett appeared on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. While he didn’t quite bear his soul like the time he cried in front of John Thompson, Garnett nonetheless revealed himself, this time more subtly. Maybe I’m being overly psychoanalytic. It probably wouldn’t be the first time, nor would it be the last. But Garnett’s interview seemed telling (read the transcript on Green Street).

At one point, Patrick poked fun of Brian Scalabrine.

“You got room for me on a one-year deal on the bench?” Patrick asked. “I could be sort of a Scalabrine type.”

But Garnett is fiercely loyal to those who deserve it.

“You willing to give up that body of yours, man?” KG said. “Scal gave up a lot. He was big for us. I know people like to crack little jokes about Scal. Scal’s in the league for a reason.”

Garnett went on to discuss a host of different topics. He does not trust the owners in the labor battle because they are the opponent and he does not know their entire agenda. He loved playing with Shaq and called this season “probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time in the NBA.” He believes the lockout will not continue throughout the entire season — “this game is too beautiful,” he explained, “with everything that’s going on and all the story lines that surround our game, I can’t see just blowing away the season.” He still wishes he left Minnesota earlier because management did not share his vision for the future, which presumably featured winning rather than rebuilding. And he has not yet discussed a contract extension with the Celtics (his contract ends after the 2011-’12 season), nor does he know how long he wants to continue playing.

The conversation turned to the Lakers’ suiting of Garnett when he was available on the trade market. As Zach Lowe recalls, the Lakers reportedly offered Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum for Garnett. And the deal was close. If Garnett had said yes, he would have been a Laker.

“What’s disturbing about the whole Lakers situation was just Kobe [Bryant] and Phil [Jackson] at the time,” said Garnett. “They were at each other pretty bad, and a new situation full of uncertainty wasn’t something that I wanted to get into.”

Garnett loves to win. Hell, he once famously broke down in tears because his Minnesota Timberwolves were mired in struggles. But he could have played alongside Kobe Bryant, then the game’s best player, and played for Phil Jackson, the game’s most accomplished coach, yet Garnett said no.

Maybe he feared that the duo’s squabbles would keep the team from winning. Or maybe there are some things more important than winning, even to Kevin Garnett, who might run his grandmother over with a tractor if it meant he could win an NBA championship. Garnett paired with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Doc Rivers instead, two stars and one then-unheralded coach. They had not won any championships alone or together, but hey, they weren’t mired in a public argument either. They were in the right stages of their career to embrace Garnett and everything he stands for.

I have to admit, I’m fascinated by Kevin Garnett. The way he plays with a volcano of emotions. The way he walks into Boston’s locker room before a game and does not say a single word. The way he altogether stops talking to young teammates who won’t listen to his advice. The way he looks down most of the time he talks, but when he looks up it’s as if his eyes could stare a hole into your soul.

Garnett almost always shields his private life from the media. He’s a complex individual, one of the most unique characters in the NBA, and I would never claim to understand everything he is. But sometimes he opens his mouth and a few telling words come out, and I feel just a little bit closer.

The Morning Walkthrough is a set of links to Boston Celtics articles throughout the internet, designed to get your day started the right way.

Paul Flannery, WEEI – “To watch the Celtics play at their best is to wonder how they ever lose. How can a team with this many weapons, that is this unselfish, that plays this kind of defense ever come up short? The obvious reasons include health, focus and the unrelenting NBA schedule. Put the Celtics in a game they really care about, with all their players available and a day off in-between, and it’s almost impossible to pick against them. So far this season they have defeated the Heat (twice), Bulls, Magic, Spurs and now the Lakers, who they beat 109-96 Sunday. They are now 17-5 against teams with winning records. The Magic, Heat and Lakers all have losing records against .500 teams, while the Bulls are a respectable 10-9. Only the Spurs at 18-6 have a comparable mark, but only the Celtics have recorded wins against the other five. The Celtics didn’t just beat the Lakers, they beat them in every phase of the game.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “‘It’s another game, but it’s definitely an emotional game, especially since losing Game 7 here,’ admitted Celtics captain Paul Pierce, the offensive catalyst, who scored 14 of his team-high 32 points in a third quarter that helped Boston create its initial separation. ‘The thing is, when you win a game here now, it’s not for the championship. It’s a regular-season game. When we play against the Lakers, it really gets our juices going, because they are our rivals. It’s a big game just knowing that we can come into this building and get a win.’ … The Celtics wanted it more. They needed it more. They fully expect to see the Lakers again down the road and they needed to start the process of asserting that there won’t be a repeat of last year.”

Ramona Shelburne, ESPN – “Afterward, the Lakers found ways of coping with the loss. They spoke of getting back to work, of the need for patience and perseverance during a long season. They reminded themselves that the playoffs are still three months away, that there’s still time to get this right. ‘It’s not the playoffs yet, is it?’ Jackson asked with a hint of defiance. ‘We’re still playing regular-season games, right? We’ll get there in time.’ But beneath those proclamations of confidence, bubbles of urgency began to rise. ‘It’s definitely a work in progress,’ Walton said. ‘But it’s getting later and later in the season. At some point the work in progress has to become an identity, has to become to where other teams come in and they’re afraid to play us, where they’re not looking forward to it. Right now that’s not happening. We’re losing at home, we’re losing to all the other elite teams in the league and that’s not like us.’”

J.A. Adande, ESPN – “In the 2008 NBA Finals the Celtics showed the Lakers that the tougher team wins championships. The Lakers learned their lesson and were able to stand up to the Celtics in last year’s Finals. And it wasn’t as if the Celtics smacked the Lakers around Sunday. (In fact it was Kevin Garnett who shed the most blood and needed multiple stitches after catching a Pau Gasol elbow to the head.) The new standard the Celtics have established that the Lakers haven’t reached is in the decidedly less physical but more aesthetically pleasing category of teamwork. ‘When we play together as a team,’ said Paul Pierce, who led the Celtics with 32 points, ‘we’re tough to beat.’ There was none of that from the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant taking as many shots as the Lakers’ entire starting frontcourt. Even though Bryant was more efficient than usual — he made 11 of his first 18 shots and 16 of 29 on his way to 41 points — the Lakers still couldn’t hang with Boston. Bryant’s offensive outburst caused his teammates to check out and stop participating in their sets.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “Bryant was piecing together his latest scoring binge, shot by difficult shot, dueling — in his mind, at least — with Paul Pierce, who was working on one of his own. Midway through the fourth quarter, Bryant drove into Pierce, stopping to release a floater that made it 89-82 Celtics, as Pierce tumbled backward to the Staples Center floor. Bryant shot a quick stare as Pierce picked himself up. It was almost a challenge to go one-on-one. But Pierce had long withdrawn from the individual battle. Ray Allen became Pierce’s reinforcement on defense, doing his best to blanket Bryant down the stretch. Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo played a two-man game, and no matter how many times Bryant shot the ball, he found himself trying to beat the best team in the Eastern Conference as an army of one.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “‘I think everybody knew it was going to be a physical game,’ Garnett said. ‘It’s always interesting when you play Kobe and the Lakers, so that was no surprise, how tough it is to play in the Staples Center. We knew that. When you look at the wins, whoever’s won out of this series, it’s been the one that’s controlled the boards,’ Garnett added. ‘Doc , for about two days now, has been talking about rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. Having Shaq [O’Neal] back helps, having Perk back helps, having Paul and Ray in there on the boards helping the bigs out helps a lot.’”

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe – “[Rajon Rondo] looked that way at times yesterday, making silly mistakes, taking some inexplicably poor shots, and refusing to attempt layups. In other stretches, he ran the offense with daring and not precision, taking far too many chances and wasting scoring opportunities against a team that possesses the most explosive scorer of this generation. The Rondo who orchestrated a masterful second half and enabled the Celtics to pull away in the fourth quarter is the one Rivers adores and trusts. The Rondo who recorded 11 assists and 13 turnovers in his previous two games is the Rondo Rivers has to closely watch. The one who appears to play mind games with himself, sometimes creating on-court quandaries; making the spectacular play and not the simple one, like a shortstop with too much trust in his cannon arm. Rondo has too much trust in his instincts and ability to thread passes into minuscule creases. Rondo is the NBA’s best at making the pinpoint pass at the precise moment, but he relies too much on that skill. In the second half yesterday, Rondo made matters simpler for himself and his teammates. Very rarely does Rondo play an entire half, but yesterday he played all 24 minutes and the Celtics shot a mind-boggling 69.4 percent from the floor.”

Julian Benbow, Boston Globe – “After the game, Celtics coach Doc Rivers made it a point to tell the team that it was one of Rondo’s best games of the year. ‘I thought he called an absolutely perfect game,’ Rivers said. ‘He’s our pitcher. I thought he called a sensational game. Coming out of timeouts, he made sure guys were in their spots … I thought Rondo tonight played with a great speed. When he plays with speed, he has power and I thought he did that tonight.’”

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald – “‘I don’t want to get into a gunfight with Kobe,’ said sheriff Doc Rivers after the 109-96 victory over the Lakers. ‘I don’t care who it is. I just would prefer not to. But at that point we needed Paul, and we told the guys that. It wasn’t because Kobe had it going; we just needed Paul in that stretch.’ Pierce had 16 points in the first half to keep the sinking Celts afloat and 14 in the third quarter when they were making their move. Each possession seemed almost a one-act play. Pierce would slink around a pick and squeeze in a shot. Kobe would hit a floater in the lane and pointedly look down at Pierce, who had fallen. ‘It was like being a little kid at the playground watching a great one-on-one game,’ said Nate Robinson. ‘Both guys got it going. Paul’s one of the best players in the league, and Kobe, as well. Just watching two greats go at it like that, it’s clash of the titans. But today we had more firepower to help out with our team. We had a complete team, and it just looked real good out there.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “‘When he was going on his run, he was going both ways into the paint,’ said Allen. ‘When you look at the dynamics of their team, he was taking tough shots and making tough shots, but we were keeping everyone else out of the game. When we made him miss, we were able to run.’ But don’t call him a Kobe stopper. There probably isn’t a player in the league who carries those credentials. ‘No. The same thing that makes you laugh makes you cry,” said Allen. “It’s always more than a one-man effort. In this league you’re definitely not guarded by one-on-one. I got in foul trouble early, and then they had to put Paul on him with a bigger body. Make him shoot over the top. Paul and I play defense differently, so make him try to guess.’”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “Robinson said he was unaware of any sort of short leash Rivers had with him, but responded by scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting with a trio of trifectas over 13:47. Over his previous eight games, Robinson had connected on a mere 16-of-54 shots (29.6 percent) and the start of Boston’s four-game road trip hadn’t been very friendly to him. Robinson was a combined 2-of-11 shooting, including 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. ‘Honestly, I was going back and forth on whether to play [Robinson] at all,’ said Rivers. ‘But he was huge for us.’”

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald – “Two days after that ugly loss in Phoenix, the C’s returned to the efficiency that’s made them the best-shooting team in the league. They’re the only squad in the NBA shooting over 50 percent (50.1). ‘That’s phenomenal,’ coach Doc Rivers said. ‘We lead the league in field goal percentage, and we didn’t act like that in the last two games. Tonight, our execution was great coming out of timeouts. We had a focus tonight, and it’s amazing that we played with that. We don’t do that every night, unfortunately. As a coach I would like that.’”

Mark Heisler, LA Times – “Whether it’s good news or not in Lakerdom, this was a special effort by your team. Of course, if the Lakers played this hard all the time, they would be two or three games behind San Antonio instead of 7½ and Sunday would have felt more like a loss in January than the latest sign the end is near. Before Sunday’s game, the question was whether the Lakers could play at the Celtics’ level. I guess they settled that.”

A. Sherrod Blakely, CSNNE – “Bryant’s 41 points came on 16-for-29 shooting from the field. The rest of the Lakers shot a combined 20-for-52 from the floor. ‘I didn’t think anybody else wanted the ball,’ said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. ‘We did run a couple other plays to get guys into position, but I thought those times he had the best opportunities when other people were moving to the ball. But, a lot of times it didn’t look like we were running anything out there offensively.’”

Mike Bresnahan, LA Times – “Jackson chose his words carefully when asked about it, cognizant that Artest yelled at him during a practice this month because Jackson continually criticized him to reporters and in front of teammates. ‘Ron took a couple shots that I thought were, like, perhaps not in the context of what we were trying to do,’ Jackson said. ‘I thought maybe we’d go another direction.’ Artest said he was slowed after getting kneed in the right thigh on a first-quarter drive by Shaquille O’Neal. ‘I wasn’t able to continue to take [Pierce] and be aggressive,’ Artest said. Artest, however, wasn’t disappointed that Bryant gave the team an ‘F’ grade for its defense against Boston. He took the optimistic approach. ‘I got ‘F’s in elementary school,’ Artest said, ‘and I still went to college.’” Got a tip? An article you think should be included? Send an email to jayking@celticstown.com or hit me up on Twitter @CelticsTown.

Think what you want about Kobe Bryant. That he’s an adulterer; a gunner; a phony; or whatever other name you may call him. I’d agree, and, at various times throughout his career, have had the same thoughts about him.

But there’s also something else that defines Kobe, and that’s not his desire to win, win, win no matter what, but his desire to understand the process of winning — to realize why people win, rather than just attempting his damnedest to earn championships without a real clue how to achieve his goals.

Adrian Wojnarowski’s recent (and great) column, prepared after a one-on-one dinner with Kobe, shed some light onto Kobe’s continued quest to become the greatest winner he can be.

The first thing Kobe did was model his preparation after Michael Jackson. No, I didn’t mean to type “Michael Jordan.” Kobe actually looked up to the singing and dancing MJ, just like he clearly looked up to the dunking and scoring MJ.

Jackson called Kobe one time when The Black Mamba was only 18, and the two struck up a relationship. Kobe picked his brain. He wanted to know how Jackson prepared for concerts, how he prepared to make music. Before long, Kobe adopted Jackson’s mentality to use in his own craft. Why?

“Because what [Jackson] did – and how he did it – was psychotic.”

That’s why.

Another mentor of Kobe’s has been Bill Russell. Hold on, Bill Russell? Gag me with a championship ring.

“Bill is always a Celtic, but I think he’s appreciated my thirst for knowledge,” Kobe told Wojnarowski.

What types of things did Russell teach Bryant? How to be a leader. How to win. How to make others around you better. What Kobe has learned from his mentors amounts to one of the greatest lessons a team sports player could ever hope to learn.

“How to truly make players better, what that really means,” he said. “It’s not just passing to your guys and getting them shots. It’s not getting this or that many players into double figures. That’s bull[expletive]. That’s not how you win championships. You’ve got to change the culture of your team – that’s how you truly make guys better. In a way, you have to help them to get the same DNA that you have, the same focus you have, maybe even close to the same drive. That’s how you make guys better.

“I’ve never understood this stuff, where a star player sits out and a team goes into the tank. Well, they need him because he makes them better. Well, if he’s making them better, they should be able to survive without him. That’s how you lead your guys. You’ve got to be able to make guys suffice on their own, without you. If you’re there all the time and they take you away, they shouldn’t need a respirator.

“Once I understood all that, I looked at things completely different. I took my hands off. I didn’t try to control them. I let them make decisions, make their own [expletive]-ups and I was there to try and help them through it.”

Am I a fan of Kobe Bryant? Absolutely not. I despise him like the plague. I find him revolting in every sense of the word.

But goddamn do I respect him, and his unending search to evolve as a winner. Kobe will go to any length to learn how to win, and to help his teammates do the same.

I once read a quote, “It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”

Kobe wants to win just like every other player in the NBA. But unlike many, he’s willing to undergo any task to achieve that goal.

So Kobe, I admire you. Now please excuse me while I regurgitate my lunch.