Dear Basketball, thank you...

On the night between January 25th and 26th last year, the Los Angeles Lakers played against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. It was a special match for LeBron James, he knew that that night he would finally overtake the man he had admired since he was a child. He met Kobe Bryant as a teenager at a basketball camp and then received advice that he will remember for the rest of his life.

"I was just listening. I was just trying to soak everything up I could. And I remember one thing he said, ‘If you want to be great at it, if you want to be one of the greats, you’ve got to put the work in.". Those words remained etched in the memory of one of the best basketball players of all time.

That evening in Pennsylvania became the crown of James' career so far. After his move from high school to the NBA, winning titles and finally playing in the Lakers jersey, James was in a position to come out of Bryant's shadow. After a right-hand lay-up, at seven minutes and 23 seconds until the end of the third quarter, the "King" reached the number of 33,644 points in his career and thus overcame his idol on the all-time list of the best NBA scorers.

Shortly afterward, Kobe Bryant spoke out, via tweet, in the manner of a real athlete and competitor. He congratulated James on his feat with the following words: "Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames. Much respect my brother."

The next day, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna boarded a helicopter, which was supposed to take them to her basketball game. Exactly a year ago, in a helicopter accident, a basketball icon, a genius, a tireless worker, an idol of numerous generations, but above all someone who loved the game the most, left this world. Kobe and his daughter Gianna Bryant lost their lives in the crash and left the whole world in tears.

The beautiful relationship between Kobe and basketball started in Italy, where Kobe moved in as a six-year-old with his family. The head of the house, Joe Bryant, arrived in the small town of Rieti, to continue his playing career. In a small, sleepy town with less than 40.000 inhabitants, far from Philadelphia and San Diego, where Bryant Sr played in the NBA league, love was born that is difficult to describe in words. Although Italy was primarily a country of football, Italians can brag that one of the greatest in the game of basketball ever - made his first basketball steps there.

"At the age of 6, Kobe would often jump off the balcony of his parent’s house, cross a busy road and run to a church playground where he would spend hours throwing a ball in the basket and it became crystal clear, the path he would walk in life and that he would be the best at it." wrote Italian journalist Andrea Barocci, author of the book "An Italian Named Kobe." Bryant Sr then went to Reggio Emilia, where Kobe joined the local youth team at the age of 12.

“Kobe Bryant grew up here and he was, for all of us, a ‘Reggiano (a resident of Reggio Emilia)” said the town’s mayor, Luca Vecchi.

From the start, it was clear that "Panther", as he was called in Italy because of his fast movements and speed, was different.

"When he moved to Reggio Emilia and started playing in my team, it was immediately clear he was from another planet, a cut above us all," Davide Giudici, a longtime friend and a former teammate, said. "When he often told us that one day he would become a professional NBA player, we would make fun of him," he said. "But he worked hard for it even back then. At the end of our training, the rest of us would just go watch TV or do other things. Kobe, instead, would go home and keep training with the basket his father put up for him in his garden,"

At the age of 13, he left Italy and eventually grew into one of the best basketball players of all time. He was fluent in Italian and made no secret of his "second home" in Southern Europe.

"My story began in this town." "Why am I so attached to Reggio? Because I have so many special memories," he said during a visit. "As we were getting here, I was [just saying], Would you have ever thought that one of the NBA's best players could have grown up here? There's nothing farther from Los Angeles. It means that every dream is achievable." Bryant once said, in fluent Italian.

He was also a passionate football fan, and he did not hide that he is a huge Milan fan.

"I always said that if you cut my left arm, my blood would be black and red. If you cut my right arm, my blood would be yellow and purple, the colors of Lakers." was the famous statement of the legendary Mamba.

It was not easy to adapt to the new environment, especially to such a big change. He arrived in Italy from Philadelphia, where he knew no one, did not speak the language. Everything changed when Tamika Catchings arrived in Italy - the future WNBA star, in whom Bryant found a friend. Her father Harvey, a former NBA player, also came to Italy to play in Pallacanestro - Italian basketball top league. He knew Kobe's father, so the Catchings and Bryant families often spent time together, visiting various landmarks such as the Colosseum. Kobe believed that this experience gave them a better view of the world and life.

"I'm telling you, it was something in the pasta," said Bryant. "It was something in the pasta that year." "Or the pizza," the former Indiana Fever basketball player added.

It was difficult to come to terms with Bryant's departure. We were all somehow used to him always being there. He was synonymous with basketball, as kids we tried to copy his shots that often defied physics and logic. Our grandmothers and mothers also knew about Kobe, his face was on the covers of magazines, billboards, on small and large screens, most often because of his basketball accomplishments. Was it because of 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, a new championship ring or a new award for the most useful player in the finals, was it because of 60 points scored against Utah at his farewell at 38 years of age, or because of his numerous attractive moves, but the reason was always there for Kobe to be in the center of attention. However, even after impressive 20 years playing for the Lakers in the "City of Angels", Bryant continued to be in the public spotlight.

He withdrew from basketball because his body couldn't take any more, but that didn't mean he couldn't continue to be the best. He realized that he would no longer be number one in basketball, so he decided to beat the competition in a different field - he wrote books. He was a big fan of the Harry Potter novels, and so - inspired by the works of JK Rowling, he decided to publish books in which he wanted to inspire young people through the world of magic and sports ("The Wizenard series: Season One" and "Training Camp", as well as the book entitled "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play" where he reviewed his career through photographs and short statements. His book "Geese are never swans" was published posthumously - he wrote it for three years, with the goal of helping young athletes better understand the mental challenges that await them on the road to fulfilling their dreams. Writing was not just his passion - as with the basketball, he was more than successful with a "pen in his hand" - Kobe's books were bestsellers.

He then tried his hand at film. His short animated film "Dear Basketball" was inspired by a letter he wrote to basketball at the end of his career. He also won an Oscar in 2017 and admitted that it felt better than winning an NBA title. So, he was the number one topic even after his basketball career, and his fearless mentality, military discipline and widely known work ethic are to blame. It is no secret that basketball was his obsession, he dealt with the smallest details, he slept for three to four hours a day in order to have time to complete all tasks. Stories about his work ethic are numerous and widely known, but it is worth remembering some of them.

- In high school, he had his practices from five to seven in the morning. He played 1on1 to 100 points with his school friends. In his worst game, he won 100:12.

- Former Lakers coach Byron Scott once caught him training in a hall with the lights off. Two hours before the start of team practice

- He was the first to come to training injured. Former teammate John Celestand remembers how, after Kobe's wrist injury, he believed that he would finally arrive at the morning training session before him, while Bryant lived half an hour from the venue. When he arrived, Bryant was already dripping in sweat, had a cast on his right arm, and made his shots with his left hand

- Once during the game, he injured his right shoulder, so he started shooting with his left hand and managed to hit one shot

- Shaquille O'Neill was surprised when he saw him training without the ball

"You’d walk in [the gym] and he’d be cutting and grunting and motioning like he was dribbling and shooting — except there was no ball. I thought it was weird, but I’m pretty sure it helped him"

- Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade remembered the training of the US national team before the 2008 Olympic Games.

"We're in Las Vegas and we all come down for team breakfast at the start of the whole training camp," Bosh said. "And Kobe comes in with ice on his knees and with his trainers and stuff. He's got sweat drenched through his workout gear. And I'm like, 'It's 8 o'clock in the morning, man. Where in the hell is he coming from?'"Everybody else just woke up. We're still stretching and yawning and looking at [Kobe] like, 'What the f---? he's already three hours and a full workout into his day."

- One of the coaches of the national team claims that Bryant once held a training session lasting almost seven hours. He worked in the arena from 4.15 in the morning until 11 in the morning, he refused to stop until he hit 800 shots.

- 13 years ago, an NBA scout had an ingenious observation: "Alan Iverson likes to play under the spotlights. Kobe does his thing before they light them up."

A year has passed, turbulent, difficult, almost unreal, and we still cannot accept the fact that Bryant will no longer create, that he will not delight us again. Basketball will forever remember that name, not only because of the five titles he won in the NBA and the countless records he broke, but also because of the influence that Kobe had on the whole world. Although he had his dark moments, he was often not even the best teammate, there is hardly a person who can say something negative about a true legend. He also managed to perfectly define what it means to be great, the greatest.

“I think the definition of greatness is to inspire the people next to you. I think that’s what greatness is, or should be. It’s not something that lives and dies with one person. It’s how can you inspire a person to then in turn inspire another person that then inspires another person. That’s how you create something that I think lasts forever. I think that’s our challenge as people, is to figure out how our story can impact others and motivate them in a way to create their own greatness.”

Today, at noon, the town square in Reggio Emilia will be renamed after Kobe and Gianna Bryant.

Kobe wasn't just great, he was one of the greatest. And we say "thank you" to basketball that made Kobe fall in love with in 1984. Love at first sight.

by Nikola Miloradovic