Kobe Bryant’s Directorial Debut ‘Guarding The Greats’ Is A Creative Lesson On Obsession

Kobe Bryant‘s borderline sociopathic tendencies have been well-documented over the years, but in a new video called “Guarding the Greats” that the future Hall of Famer apparently wrote and directed, we get an even closer look at what his approach to basketball was actually like.

But first, let’s cover some of the aesthetic qualities of the video. Kobe is a child of the ’80s like myself, so all the references to 8-bit Nintendo games, playing cards, cornball infomercials, and Looney Tunes characters are well-received. The budding auteur also provides the narration, because who else could’ve done this justice?

Kobe’s obsessive-compulsive streak is a big part of his overall mystique, but I can’t be the only person who was a little creeped out to hear that he actually recommends engaging in some pretty serious cyber-stalking in order to better psychoanalyze your opponents. It speaks volumes that it’s nearly impossible to tell whether he’s being facetious about this.

All in all, it’s an entertaining little piece of film-making that answers the question about what the Mamba’s been up to during his retirement. If he puts as much effort into developing his directorial skills as he did to becoming an all-time great basketball player, we might have the next cinematic great on our hands. He certainly lives in the right place for it.

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