The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

The next section, “Craft,” jumps directly into game analysis. Bryant examines his own techniques and evolution as a player through game photos of pivotal moments in his career. He first begins with the centering of his body when playing defense, showing how his off-balance posture created a weaker defense. Bryant also examines particular shots and how they functioned in his game—a dunk that was used to send a message to the opposing team, or a difficult clutch shot and his mental process in hitting it at the end of the game. In “Footwork is about efficiency,” Bryant discusses the importance of footwork, and how the European approaches allowed him to refine his pivoting before he learned any dribbling tricks. He considers his own willingness to work on any imbalance in his body—such as developing greater abilities in his left hand—and to make physical contact with other players during the game.

Bryant also examines his love for the game, and how that passion and fun drove him to be a better player among the greats. Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan appear as masters of the craft, and Bryant describes the way they might get an illegal hold on him in a way that was invisible to the cameras.