Lou Williams Shares Kobe Story That Perfectly Captures the Mamba Mentality

We are approaching the 48-hour mark since Kobe Bryant's tragic passing, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other passengers in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles. The world is still in a state of shock, with hearts heavy and minds uneasy.

There's no telling when the grief will subside, but the recollections of Bryant from NBA players both past and present, as well as pundits and fans, have begun to play an important role helping us all to cope.

Enter Lou Williams, a former Lakers teammate of Bryant's, who took to Twitter to share a memoir in a reply post to Nick Young -- also a former Kobe sidekick in LA -- on Monday night. LouWill's tale thoroughly encapsulates Kobe's exalted Mamba Mentality.

Only Kobe would confiscate his teammates shoes because they were lacking moxie on the hardwood! The fact that so many of Williams' teammates were wearing Bryant's signature shoe is the capper here.

Because these stories are helping millions grapple with the traumatizing events that have recently unfolded, here's another from Williams about the time Bryant scared the living daylights out of his Laker teammates in the locker room.

Kobe's tenacity and fortitude were second to none, and we can only hope that today's players do right in his honor by upping their own intensity from here on out.

We know that Lou will.