The BEST stories about Kobe Bryant's WORK ETHIC

here like no one has a mind they care to train like that that's scary and that's what he's practicing before catching me two hours before the game he's playing us and he's here talking about raja bale he won't play it like that it's not that good he me play dirty he's going to throw me here and then now he's playing he's showing he's showing him how they do it like he does he's going to go here he's going to swipe like this so come on and you just watch it in real time so now it's ok i need to figure out how to imitate real game situations during my spare time and this is how i used to approach it so this was um his rookie year huh he wasn't getting much game time so you know shooting is a Anytime you're reviewing other guys' plays, you're supposed to be focused. so kenny will you be dale harris and just go to the place ok obviously look this way no man jus I don't know just stay there it's a good place so it's ok guys here it is in a double on the pick and roll and every pick and roll, what we're going to do is double the pick and roll and then once. he rolls to the basket i want you to double over the top we're going to double over the top on the other thing and we're going to act so that's what dell harris was doing we were saying like you, while this was going on we all looked like what is this kid doing, like sweating it out at full speed, just pumping and moving without a ball. yo fisher fox we all look up and this is your rookie yeah he's my rookie so we just know we left him alone did you say something to me?

I didn't say anything man I think the cold was b. shaw had told me that i called b shaw when i took the job shut up b shots listen man b it was crucial said phil i'm going to tell you so don't let him fuck you no matter what don't let him fuck you you stand up for yourself he's going to test you and i didn't really was cool cool i really don't know what that looks like but i got the job and there were a couple of days where cole would go out, he'd come out of the training room, he'd sit in the chair and watch, watch me and he would come back into the room and nothing was said about it and he really didn't.

I didn't really develop a relationship with him until a couple of weeks later, you know, when he finally hit me up one day over text, it was like you ran into me at the gym, you know, I told him this story a few times, but you know he was satisfied me at the gym and i said ok bell let's go so you know i showed up at the gym that night and he told me we'd meet at the gym at 5:45 and you know what that means i showed up that night thinking I was going to

work

waiting for this guy 5 45 in the morning.

I'm not there so I said okay this is what we got. I said nothing. I went to practice the next morning. You know you showed up early at 7:30. You practiced at 10. Man, that guy came out and gave me hell. as a man i was here no he was not a man not 4 45 y p.m. i meant this morning and for me hey bro he came he ruined me because he was like damn fine and after that you know the relationship started and you know the first question i asked him was man how can i help? What can I help you with?

You know I'm looking at this guy like he's here to learn from you. man I want to get better with my ball handling I didn't even get better with my ball handling I sprinkled some stuff on my foot

work

and that's how it started man that was the ultimate challenge for me and being able to build. a relationship with him you know it's matt it was just breaking down that wall it's not easy right away media p put me in

kobe

against each other absolutely it was about shaq's sidekick right who will be the shaq's

best

sidekick so let's go back my favorite players were michael jordan

kobe

bryant

and no iris right?

So I got into the nba and I liked everyone. i'm like i'm playing against my friend like me and my brother has been loving kobe for so long and then sophomore year now me and kobe like to do this now i got shot so now we're not talking to each other nothing like i want to greet them or i want to tell them you are my favorite player or something but i get a chance to and immediately we started fighting each other and me and i just remember like when i first played against kobe because when i first came in i never went a shooter when i first told you that you treated me like guys treat ben simmers right now like i was so far below screen i earned his respect hitting shots down right so i remember we played um in christmas my second d when shaq came my sophomore year and kobe going so far on the screen and i kept going like pow pow pow and kobe came up to me at some point in the game he said oh you been working I'm walking or you've been working on your game it's right for you to know me I don't have many words for them I just took my head like you better respect me write and I remember at some point in the game I grabbed the ball and Kobe as soon How do I catch the ball? 94 feet and at that point I thought I got it, yeah this is someone who was going under five screens to let me film and he wasn't doing that with everyone, he wasn't doing that with everyone and as you know when Kobe went up to 94 feet, great defender but that was respect and from then on dog we kept having battles until we all got an olympics in o8 and we all got a chance to really get a chance to see each other work and really get to know each other outside of the basketball and I think for all of us when we get to the Olympics like he's that dude who we'd like to hear

stories

about code we hear he got up and worked out at two in the morning or you know he did this and believe it he's too big and I started to watch this guy work and I'm like I feel like at the time he was just he was just a different man I don't think that mentality was was was was totally different as if his mentality Quality was different he didn't pick on a lot of people like he didn't rock with a lot of people which was his nature it was all a competition and it wasn't disrespect ok sometimes it wasn't competition it was just he had set goals in mind and he didn't there was nothing and no one to get in the way of that. of him reaching that goal that's how I look at it uh look at it he was unmatched unmatched how wild he was as a competitor and was willing to do anything and put in whatever amount of time it takes that's a story y'all i have heard that we have a lot more of those in our stay practice gyms and take another ride home as a team would leave that was common the

stories

were legendary i still remember the first time i met him as an assistant coach and one of my responsibilities was with the young players and rasul butler and I went out and we had early practice so we thought we got here, you know, four and a half hours early, yeah someone else would be on the court.

Kobe was already on the court and he was the minute detail and the focus he was putting into that workout it was remarkable me and rasool ended up watching for about 15-20 minutes then we went back to work and when kobe finished his workout he came down and sat down and it was a surreal moment as a young assistant coach i was like wow zero and look at this workout alright rasool is obviously from philly so they knew each other uh and rachel ended up introducing me to everyone and what i found so amazing about that moment the reason why I bring it up because there was no one that was going to be fiercer or wilder as a competitor and yet the next two minutes of what Kobe was doing to encourage a young player was just amazing and that was early mentoring when he was still he was a young player in this league, but Rasul wasn't playing at the time and kobe could separate two things and offer a lot of encouragement, basically tell them: hey, if you keep up with this, that kind of exercise you will earn your place in this league, it's just a matter of time and then get out. in that game and just trying to destroy everyone it was paradoxical almost those two types of personalities but we all saw them later in his career where he was a great mentor but as one of the fiercest competitors you could find and there was something in our games with it, it just felt electric and when dwayne obviously joined our franchise it just kind of went into a different stratosphere but that electricity came from kobe and his competitiveness and what he would do to raise everyone's level of play since my season as a rookie when i was a bench player you know i always heard you know kobe is in the gym three you know 3 p.m. play lakers i come to the gym i catch a cab come to the gym i'm about 2 30 the right lights are on no pm people pm okay you know it says game day so we play at seven yeah ya You know so our bus is at 5:30 so I'm just there the lights go off and then come on and then you hear two people talking it's Kobe and the coach. to oak they come to oakland the same i'm there early see them year two three so i usually let him work out and then i leave so what he did decided to do is go in 3 30 3 30 push the three in five so he delayed the time so he's just working out and I'm sitting like working out and then the bus comes now all the players with me so the players from my team come and he gets off now I don't have I can't get into the rhythm at which i'm used to it during the summer i show up at camp kobe

bryant

he's at camp kobe bryant at the time he's the number one basketball player in the nation this is huge i'm in the same basketball camp as the number one basketball player in the nation nation that means i gotta be number two i gotta be number two why else i'd be here it's my time to shine and be recognized nba here i come day one day two you can play in the games you're keeping records everyone keeps track of what's going on at camp day three speedy morris himself the head coach of the south The basketball team at that time headed to camp.

I'm seeing all of you show up every morning and I must say I'm not impressed. I don't feel like you campers are working hard enough. i need to show up here and i want to be better look at kobe bryant he shows up here every day and he works kobe bryant hasn't put the basketball in his right hand since he's been in camp he's here to work only on his left hand what you say about coverage brain only works on his left hand kobe bryant came to camp to work only on his left hand never shot the ball with his right hand never dribbled the ball with his right hand kobe bryant played us left-handed the opportunity that i thought it was going to be the greatest one of my life it turned out to be a fucking practice book for kobe bryant, we didn't even know he was practicing on us until the head coach made us all feel stupid for not working as hard as he did.