Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players ever, played his last game April 13th. His last game was quite “Kobe.” He took too many shots, but he made a lot of them. 60 points on 50 shots, one of the most absurd games by a single player in history.

Despite a significant decline in talent this year, Kobe took all the shots. Many media critics were upset by this. They argued that he should spend his last days teaching the young players. He should go out looking like a “team player.” They said he was being selfish. They said that he was hurting his legacy.

Above all, this is why I will miss Kobe. Because he did care about himself more than his team. That is not to say he didn’t win a lot, he won five championships, but he did so with Kobe at the front and center. And why shouldn’t he?

I have more trouble understanding this season’s face of the NBA, Stephen Curry. He is the best player in the world, but he passes all the time. He is the best player in the world, but he always talks to the media. He is the best player in the world, and he is always smiling. I may be the only one who doesn’t like this guy.

I have never understood why we even have interviews of players. There is a script that athletes are supposed to follow. They say they couldn’t have done it without their team. They say they are so blessed to be in this situation.

They thank the fans and the coaches and the owners. Curry has a pattern of bringing his daughter to this staged event. Everybody loves this gesture: a great dad and a great basketball player. What an upstanding citizen! Meanwhile, the rest of us have to sit at home thinking about how crappy our life is in comparison.

Kevin Durant recently won the MVP award. Durant said during his press conference that his Mom was the “real MVP.” Thanks Kevin. Normally when I see someone else winning an award, I feel like a loser. But in one corny line, he made sure I felt like an jerk too.

Yet whenever somebody expresses a sincere emotion at a press conference, there is an uproar. Cam Newton walked out of his press conference after losing in the Super Bowl. Everybody hated that.

Haters said that he was a sore loser. He was immature. He would never win a Super Bowl until he grew up. I am not sure why we bother to have the press conferences if we are only open to what we want to hear. This is why we need Kobe.

Kobe to me is more of a role model than the current straight-laced players of the NBA. Kobe presents himself authentically, Curry and Durant are opportunists. Kobe does what he wants, the others do what they are told. Kobe cares about himself, the others care about their image. Kobe is flawed, the rest are vanilla.

Kobe strikes me as a character from a novel, Curry and Durant are from a sports movie. Kobe is a real person. He cares about himself, yet no one is harder on him than himself. He does not care about his image, but he cares about being great.

He is not a nice teammate, but he will make sure you get a championship ring too. He doesn’t sweet talk his fans, but he works his tail off to make sure they saw a good show.

There are no complexities to the public image of the other stars. They are your ideal: nice guy, likes everybody, loves their family, and is great at basketball.

This is pretty hard for a kid to live up to. I can identify with Kobe and the flaws that he is not afraid to show us. It’s much harder to identify with the removed identities of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.

Kobe cared about basketball. He couldn’t care less if someone who didn’t know him liked him. He never cared what anybody thought about him.

He put on a corny face this last season but throughout his career he was stone cold. He didn’t care about the media, he didn’t care about the ideals of sports fans.

He cared about his art, his craft. He loved basketball, so he played it as hard as he could. No one was harmed by him being a ball hog or turning down interviews.

I don’t care if a basketball player cares about his billionaire owner, I don’t care if he cares about the media, I don’t even care if he cares about me. He was in love with basketball and I am happy for him.