Draymond Green On Kobe Bryant: "I don't want to talk to nobody about Kobe; I'd rather talk to Kobe"

After a light practice in Philadelphia on Monday, Draymond Green opened up about how hard Kobe Bryant's death has been on him

Warriors' forward Draymond Green spoke about Kobe Bryant on Monday in Philadelphia, telling reporters that he's crushed by his death. 

"Even if you didn't know Kobe, you're grieving," Green said. "If you thought you knew Kobe, you're grieving. If you just watched Kobe and you're a fan, you're grieving. If you're just a fan of basketball, you're grieving. And if you knew him, you're crushed."

Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning in Calabasas along with seven other people. Green said he always looked up to Bryant, adding that the former Lakers' superstar personally helped him through a really tough moment in his life. 

After Green was suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals for swinging at LeBron James' groin area in Game 4, Bryant called Green. 

"2016 was probably the lowest point in my NBA career, where a chain of events just kind of almost took me down, too," Green said. "Kobe reached out to me...It's almost like crying to your older brother. Kob', I don't know what to do, these people trying to take me out, police trying to take me out, the media trying to take me out. Like everybody's trying to take me out and I don't know what to do. It just felt like my career was caving in on me. 

"To get that call -- he told me, he said, 'Draymond, 99 percent of the world is okay with mediocrity, or worse. But, at best, mediocrity. You're chasing something so much bigger that, how do you ever expect anyone to understand?' For me, that was all I needed to hear. Especially coming from a guy that I loved since I was a kid, that I have the utmost respect for, that I ended up building a relationship with. That meant the world to me. Kobe said f*** everybody, just f*** everybody. I was able to hold onto that and rally and just keep going."

Green said that Bryant was a kindhearted person who truly wanted to help people. He pointed to the fact that Bryant immediately rushed over to help drivers in the pouring rain after witnessing a car crash in Newport Beach in December. He also pointed to the fact that nearly everyone he follows on social media had a photo of themselves alongside Bryant.

"It's like, when did you even take all of these pictures?" Green said. Everybody know the Black Mamba, this assassin that doesn't even look anyone's way. Yet everyone has a picture with him. If you really knew him, you know what kind of person he was, how kindhearted he was."

Bryant also embraced the role of being the jaw-clenched, complicated, controversial villain, something that Green deeply admired. 

"I think one of the things that made him even more special to me was that he was actually able to embody that role -- I'm a villain, I'm the Black Mamba," Green said. "He embodied that and he's one of the nicest people ever...To conquer a villain role is to make everyone love you. He did that. That takes a very special person."

Bryant was a five-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP and one-time league MVP in 2008, who spent each of his 20 seasons in the NBA with the Lakers. He retired in 2016. 

Green said Bryant was both an idol and a mentor to so many guys around the league. 

"He loved the game of basketball, so anything he could give to the game, whether it was him himself as far as competing, or pouring into other young guys, he was doing that," Green said. "He wanted to give this game everything he possibly could, which is why when he walked away, he was done. The only thing that brought him back to basketball was Gigi. He was done. He had given this game everything he could possibly give it."

Green said Bryant had a unique sense of closure around the game that most people lack. 

"That's what stands out to me most," Green said. "So many people struggle to leave this game that we play. But you ask yourself the question, do those people struggle because [they] didn't give it everything they had to give? That's one person that did. And he walked away from it and didn't want anything to do with it. But he had given everything he could give, from a competitive standpoint, from a teaching standpoint. I'm not sure there's many people that's given the game of basketball more than what Kobe did."

After his retirement, Bryant became a storyteller, writing screenplays, poems, short stories and books. He won an Oscar in 2018 for 'Dear Basketball,' a short film based on a poem he wrote. He founded Granity Studios. He created The Wizenard series. 

"I think he was probably going to be better in his next chapter than he was in basketball," Green said.  "That's just the type of pride he had. And obviously you didn't see him anywhere without Gigi. And if it wasn't just Gigi, it was his entire family. He was creating a great chapter. And it's unfortunate to not be able to see him complete that chapter because if there's anybody who is going to complete what they started, it's Kobe."

In the last two days, Green said he catches himself in moments of quiet having to remind himself that Bryant's death is real. 

"I don't really want to talk about it," Green said. "I'm trying to escape it. I'm not a mental health expert, so I don't know if that's the right thing to do. But that's how I feel....I don't want to talk to nobody about Kobe. I'd rather talk to Kobe."