Jose Alvarado & Josh Pastner Share Their Thoughts On Kobe Bryant

The NBA Legend and soon-to-be Hall of Famer was tragically killed in a helicopter accident yesterday morning outside of Los Angeles. He was 41.

Harrison Hill-USA TODAY

Ahead of tomorrow's matchup with Morehouse College, Georgia Tech men's basketball point guard Jose Alvarado & head coach Josh Pastner spoke with the media and shared their thoughts on the passing of Kobe Bryant. He was tragically killed in a helicopter accident yesterday morning outside of Los Angeles, along with 8 other people including his daughter Gianna.

Junior Point Guard Jose Alvarado

"It was pretty sad. I've never met him as a person obviously, but I knew him as a basketball player and saw him as I'm growing up. The mindset he had for the game, and the heart that he gave on the court, I feel like I got some of that from him. But he was just a different level. I just feel bad for this family, and prayers put to his family. It's just a sad, sad day for them. I was just so disappointed from the news. 

Head Coach Josh Pastner

"I’m on a text chain with all of my guys, players and staff and support staff. And I alerted them because I saw the report about Kobe Bryant had passed away in a helicopter crash. That was on social media and somebody texted me that. So I turn on the TV and couldn’t find it. You never know if it's true or not, because usually with something like that, it’s going to be on television. I couldn't find it, but then I saw a news station had reported it. And then the text I had gotten, I forwarded that to the group chat.

Man by man on there, they were in shock. A lot of these guys grew up watching Kobe, and the impact he made to guys on our team who had never met him, and to fans all over the world who never met him, it transcends basketball. It's just an awful, awful, tragic event. Not just for Kobe, but you’ve got eight other people that passed away. Three people from what I understand that are young age, his daughter, it’s just awful. It's awful. The guys were shaken by the news. I hated to have to break it to them. At the time, you didn't know what was real until the television started reporting it.

When we were in Hawaii at the Diamond Head Classic, just as we were leaving on the day we left, there was a crash of the helicopter. And it had nine people, sightseeing there in Hawaii. You just never know with those type of things. Actually I was looking online last night and there’s unfortunately been a lot of accidents with helicopters throughout the years. It's just totally tragic. It was it was awful day for everybody. Just once again,a reminder of just how precious time is. I say “EPIP” for “every possession is precious”, it's really “ESIP” for “every second is precious” really when you look at it.

I coached Luke Walton when I was at the University of Arizona, and he was my assistant for me at Memphis for a short period of time. Luke Walton would tell me stories about Kobe that was just all what you had ever heard about him. I’m in a group chat with a bunch of Arizona guys that I coached, and when this happened we all asked: “Have you heard anything? Is this true?” He was saying that he thinks ist’ true and he's just so sick to his stomach. He used to tell me the stories about Kobe, about what you hear about his work ethic. It was surreal. He said the guy was just incredible. His fierce competitiveness, his drive for excellence. It was insane what he did on his work ethic. That was a firsthand account from somebody that was with him. And Luke loved him. Luke Walton loved Kobe Bryant. And I could tell on the text chain that he was just devastated. That was one of his guys. It was just an awful day yesterday to hear that." 

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