“He was a supernatural,” Italian coach Ettore Messina, who worked with Bryant as an assistant for the Lakers, told the AP via text message Sunday while traveling with his current club, Olimpia Milano. “To hear him speak and joke in our language and to remember when his father played here and he was a kid drew a lot of people to the NBA,” Messina added. “He was also always very attentive to help Italian kids arriving in the NBA and to help them enter such a tough and competitive world. He also did that with me when I arrived at the Lakers and I’m still very grateful to him for that. It’s very sad that his family has been devastated like this.”