Kobe Bryant Wants to Teach Dwight Howard How to Win Titles

Unlike the Los Angeles Lakers’ front-office, which went out of its way to beg Dwight Howard to return, Kobe Bryant took a typically hard-line approach with the free agent superstar center. Bryant reportedly told Howard that he can teach him how to reach the promised land, but that he won’t let up on him. Per NBA.com and Yahoo! Sports: “Bryant, according to a source, pointed out that while the Rockets brought Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon with them to their meeting with Howard Sunday night, and that Yao Ming made a pitch on Houston’s behalf via Skype, ‘there wasn’t a room big enough’ to hold all of the great players who had worn the Lakers’ uniform. […] ‘You need to learn how it’s done first, and I can teach you here,’ Bryant told Howard during the Lakers’ presentation, witnesses in the room said. Bryant didn’t come to Howard’s recruitment meeting in Beverly Hills to appease him, but to challenge Howard to stay and embrace the burden of the franchise’s culture and embrace Bryant’s demanding disposition. Bryant invoked Michael Jordan’s hard-driving ways as his blueprint, and how it pushed the Chicago Bulls to six titles. Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, insisted he wouldn’t retreat in pushing Howard every day, that as much as the Lakers needed Howard, Howard needed Bryant and the Lakers, too. ‘You have to learn how it’s done,’ Bryant told Howard, witnesses described. ‘I know how to do it and I’ve learned from the best – players who have won multiple times over and over. Instead of trying to do things your way, just listen and learn and tweak it, so it fits you,’ Bryant told him. Howard has retreated to Colorado for a few days, surrounded by representatives, to make a decision on his future. The Lakers are fighting frontrunner Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Golden State to sign him.”