Clark Atlanta basketball coach indirectly helped Kobe Bryant find success with Lakers
ATLANTA - As Clark Atlanta head basketball coach George Lynch boarded the team bus for a game at Albany State University, he paused to reflect on the death of his friend, Kobe Bryant.
"It's still surreal. It's still hard to believe that it happened to Kobe and his daughter and the families that were on the helicopter," Lynch said.
Lynch was never Bryant's teammate, but he was part of a trade that created space to help the Lakers bring Shaq and Kobe together in 1996. Lynch even wore the number 24 Lakers jersey before Bryant did in Los Angeles. But the trade that sent him to Vancouver along with Anthony Peeler meant Lynch missed out on a chance to win multiple NBA Championships with Bryant in the early 2000s. Later he would play against Bryant as a member of the Grizzlies, 76ers and Hornets.
"Some guys are so competitive that you didn't enjoy the experience playing against them, but Kobe was different. He loved the game. He respected the game and he didn't take it for granted. I try to tell my guys that the type of work that you have to put in when no one is watching, you know, Kobe was that type of guy," said Lynch.
"Unfortunately, athletes of that caliber are held to hero status. You don't think that anything can happen to them. I try to tell my guys that you've got to take advantage of every day you're given on this planet and playing the game of basketball. There are a lot of people out there that wish they could be doing what we're doing."
Lynch got to know Bryant on a more personal level when he was an assistant coach at UC Irvine and Bryant was winding down his NBA career, fighting through injuries. Bryant would spend countless hours before games working out at the UC Irvine gymnasium. Those memories made Sunday's news of the deadly helicopter crash even more difficult to comprehend.
"I can just imagine those 10 to 12 seconds- what they had to be going through," Lynch told FOX 5 Sports. "As a father, I have three young kids myself and that's a tough pill to swallow. I have to give my condolences to his family, Vanessa's family, and the Bryant family."