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For Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Kobe's retirement is personal

Consider it a quest ... a rising star wants to meet his boyhood idol, a player who he's long modeled his game after.

"I was trying to meet him since like, sophomore year," Hollis-Jefferson told Mike Mazzeo and Devin Kharpertian Sunday night, talking about Kobe Bryant. "I was telling my AAU coach, I was telling my college coach, they were talking about it, he’d heard of my name, he knew who I was, but it never happened. So (before Nets-Lakers) I was like, ‘all right listen, man. I’m in the NBA. You’ve got to make it happen.