Kobe tells of trash-talking Gasol

Whether you have loved, hated or were generally indifferent to Kobe Bryant over the past 20 years, NBA fans should at least appreciate how much he cares about his legacy.

Bryant has dealt with plenty of controversy during his career and wasn't always a lovable superstar. During his farewell tour, he has tried to scatter fond memories across NBA arenas. He sat through two long, crowded interview sessions Sunday at the United Center.

Even a year ago, when he was out with an injury, Bryant held a long, friendly chat with a crowd of reporters when the Los Angeles Lakers played in Chicago.

During his postgame talk Sunday, Bryant recalled a story featuring Bulls center Pau Gasol, which happened when Bryant was more ruthless.

“Back in the day, when I wasn't such a nice guy,” Bryant said with a laugh. “(The Lakers) just lost to the Celtics (in the 2008 Finals). So we go into the Olympics, we beat Spain in the final, and the first day of training camp he shows up to media day and I had my gold medal hanging in his locker, just rubbing it in.

“I said, 'Dude, you finished second in the Finals. You finished second in the Summer Olympics. You can't finish second in June this year, so you better get your (stuff) together.' So that was the message.”

It worked. Gasol and Bryant teamed up to lead the Lakers to the NBA title in both 2009 and 2010. Here are more stories from Bryant's final night at the United Center.

No Shaq second-thoughts: Bryant was asked if looking back, he should have done more to save the famously fractured relationship between he and former Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal, which ended in 2004 when Shaq was traded to Miami.

The answer was no.

“Yeah, but … there was always the challenge of 'Kobe can't win without Shaq,' ” he said. “If I had gone my whole career, we had won championships, you guys would have said, 'but he won with Shaq.' I don't want to hear that.

“I don't want to hear it, because I knew I had the determination to do it and was either going to sink or swim (on his own). At some point, I was going to have to take that challenge. It was either going to be you guys were right or I was right, but I had to take that challenge.”

Gasol a great friend: In contrast to O'Neal, Bryant still has a great relationship with Gasol, Olympic needling aside. Gasol introduced Bryant for the final time at the UC from the videoboard Sunday.

“It was great. Pau, we're like brothers, man,” Bryant said. “It's so strange. We always thought we'd be retiring on the same team. We'd kind of be going out together. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, but to have him do that at the beginning of the game, that means so much to me.

“This is the last time I'm going to be facing him. That's weird. Unless we play pickup ball in Barcelona.”

Passing the torch: A picture making the rounds on social media Sunday was Bryant bumping fists with P.J. Rose during early warmups on the court. Derrick Rose, the proud father, gushed about the encounter after the game.

“Surreal. Like, come on now, for a little kid, 3, being able to meet Kobe?” Rose said. “Of course he don't know how big the moment is. But for him to have that in the archives is pretty cool. That's something that we're going to probably to blow up, have it painted or blow the picture up and have it in his room.

“We've got to make the most of that. That's Kobe, it's his last game (in Chicago). So it's pretty cool he called on (P.J.) right as he was coming out.”

Ready to move on: Bryant also said the next chapter in his life will be filmmaking. He will miss game preparation more than anything and doesn't plan to take any nights off if he can help it during the rest of his final season. The Lakers played the second leg of a back-to-back Monday in Milwaukee.

“If I can walk, I'll play,” Bryant said. “It's crazy. It's tough. It's really tough. Some nights I show up and my legs aren't there.

“A fan sitting courtside said, 'Hey, give me one dunk.' Dude, if I could, I would. I'm not saying no. I physically can't. My legs aren't there to be able to get up and dunk tonight. It's a lot of work.

“I'm really, really at peace with this. I'm ready to move on.”

• Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter by following @McGrawDHBulls.