Tex Winter wasn’t merely a sideline voice—he engineered the triangle offense that built two dynasties. The Bulls and the Lakers. Known for his strict, no-nonsense approach, Tex never played favorites—not even with legends. Former Laker Luke Walton once watched The Last Dance and couldn’t help but laugh: “I was dying laughing because Jordan during the episode at some point was talking about how Tex would always be on the bench yelling at Michael to move the ball, pass the ball.” But as Walton hinted, that was just the beginning.
Kobe Bryant endured Winter’s strict two‑count mandate just as Michael Jordan did. “It made me think when we were playing on the Lakers, Tex would do the same thing, but about Kobe,” he said. Even during Kobe’s 49‑point onslaughts, Winter furiously demanded he pass the ball. If Kobe didn’t move the ball within the sacred two-count rule—dribble, pass, or shoot—Winter was fuming behind the bench. “So to hear Jordan going through the same thing, two of the greatest players of all time, was pretty good,” Walton added. Winter’s perfectionism extended beyond the court—even title celebrations couldn’t distract him.
After the Bulls took home the 1992 NBA title over Portland, most were celebrating—except Tex. He was still hung up on Horace Grant’s mistakes. “Dad was kind of shaking his head in the hospitality room about Horace Grant making wrong decisions,” son Chris Winter shared. “And Mom told him: ‘Fred, can’t you enjoy the moment? We won!’” That’s how deep his basketball obsession ran.
But surprisingly, Kobe saw all that fire and embraced it. In fact, he credited Winter for shaping his relentless mindset. Still, that Mamba Mentality went a little too far at times. As Craig Hodges shared on All The Smoke, “When I got with the Lakers, Tex would tell me ‘Man I would have to tell Kobe to get out of my room cuz we watching film.’”
And then came the kicker. “And Kobe is like the first time he watched film with Tex, he thought he was just going to watch film with him. He’s like, ‘No man we watched the whole game jump ball all the way to the end.’” That’s vintage Tex—and pure Mamba.
Tex Winter lit the fire behind Kobe Bryant’s Mamba mentality
To be real, the Triangle offense might sound like a boring strategy lesson—but not when you realize it helped Michael Jordan win six rings and Kobe Bryant five. And behind that system wasn’t Phil Jackson alone—it was Tex Winter, the true mastermind. Tex wasn’t just on the sidelines collecting titles; he was building legacies. “The Black Mamba” admired him for a reason.
Now, flashback to 1999 when the Lakers brought Winter in to guide the young squad. At that moment, Kobe had a broken hand, stuck watching from the sidelines. But instead of zoning out, he dove in. Learning from Tex became his Jedi training. “It was like Luke Skywalker sitting next to Yoda and Yoda hitting him upside the head,” Kobe once joked. And yes, he actually enjoyed Tex going off during those intense basketball deep dives.
Winter’s “everything turns on a trifle” mantra—a nod to his belief that loose balls and hustle plays decide games—resonated deeply with Kobe, who carried that ethos into five NBA championships. Then again, Kobe wasn’t the only one who got the full Tex experience. “He was rough on everybody. That’s why I am the way I am, probably,” Bryant admitted to The New York Times.
Whether it was a star or a bench player, Tex didn’t flinch. Even Steve Kerr, back in Chicago, saw it up close: if anyone messed up the Triangle, Tex didn’t hold back.
In fact, Tex had zero hesitation, calling out MJ himself. “He stood up to anybody. He’d argue with Phil, yell at Michael,” Kerr shared. “Every once in a while… Tex would say: ‘Get Michael out of there! He’s killing us!’” And yes, that meant Kerr had to act like he didn’t hear it either.
Naturally, Kobe didn’t get a pass either. During one of their title parades, Winter grilled him over wild overhead passes. “We said: ‘Dude! Go with the flow! Enjoy the parade!’” Kobe recalled. But Tex was wired different—and in Kobe’s eyes, that’s exactly why he became who he was.
By demanding that every player—from superstars to scrubs—adhere to his “loose‑ball” philosophy, Winter instilled in Kobe a relentless competitive fire that survived the parade down Figueroa Boulevard and thrived in the clutch of NBA Finals games. Today, Kobe’s Mamba Mentality remains the gold standard for mental toughness in sports, yet its origins trace squarely to Winter’s uncompromising methods.
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