The Mamba Mentality: How I Play

The Mamba Mentality is a personal manifesto by basketball legend Kobe Bryant, accompanied by and formatted alongside a collection of photographs of the athlete taken by the Los Angeles Lakers official photographer Andrew D. Bernstein, and featuring a foreword by fellow Laker Pau Gasol and an introduction by Lakers coach Phil Jackson. It was published in 2016 by MCD Books, a division of Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. This guide follows the first printing hardcover edition of this book, printed in dimensions of 9” x 11” with full color glossy photographs.

Written after his retirement from professional basketball, The Mamba Mentality shares Bryant’s approach to basketball from a mental and physical approach. The author is considered one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the NBA, not just because of the remarkable statistical achievements that he accrued on the court, but because of the way that he influenced the sport of basketball and encouraged his peers and future generations of players to appreciate the sport and play the game.

Summary

The Mamba Mentality is so titled as it is an exploration of the philosophy behind the way Bryant approached the game of basketball. Inspired by a fierce and deadly fictional assassin from the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill, Bryant adopted the nickname “The Black Mamba,” and later inaugurated the hashtag #MambaMentality in reference to his mindset with respect to the game of basketball. A few years later, after the hashtag gained a following on Twitter, he conceived this book as an opportunity to convey and expand upon the wisdom and insights he had accrued over the course of his career. The Mamba Mentality is divided into two sections. In the first, called “Process,” Bryant explains how he prepared himself physically, emotionally, intellectually, and mentally for his role as an integral member of the Lakers’ roster, and includes his insights into how the people around him helped him become a better athlete and person. In the second section, “Craft,” Bryant delves deeper into how he planned and executed his actions on the court, focusing on his success through the study and analysis of his opponents. He includes an extensive section through which he examines specific interactions with individual opponents and how he managed to attack each scenario. Despite his approach, Bryant demonstrates tremendous respect for his fellow teammates and the members of opposing teams alike. Much of The Mamba Mentality is highly specific to basketball, but the reader is given the opportunity to interpret those techniques and skills in other realms, while other aspects have a more general cast that speaks to Bryant’s philosophy toward hard work, goal setting, and ambition, regardless of one’s chosen profession or passion. The Mamba Mentality has a generally positive, uplifting, and inspiring tone, and the reflections of the other contributors cement the content provided by its main author.