Sadly, Kobe Bean Bryant is no longer alive to share his infinite wisdom with us. But even now, fans and colleagues recall the lessons they learned from Bryant, lessons about life, family, and basketball.
For Heat star Dwyane Wade, he recently shared something he picked up from Kobe on the court — which undoubtedly helped elevate his career.
In a recent chat with Roby Kalland of Uproxx, he went into the details, describing the way he learned to pick his spots on the court.
“That’s crazy because like on the basketball court, I learned this from Kobe. Kobe played spots. So he would know, OK, like the elbow.
You need to get there, right? He knew if I get to that spot right there that’s a money spot for me. So I need to get there. And he wasn’ looking at the rim. He was looking at the spot. He just gets to the spot. And he knew if he gets to the spot, that it was cash. It’s crazy. So I learned that from him. I was like, OK, so he played angles, he played spots. Now I started playing angles and spots.”
Anybody who’s played basketball will understand what Wade is talking about here.
Kobe used to play based around his “spots,” which are basically points on the court that he has mastered the ability to hit shots from. When reaching these points, Bryant would just let muscle memory take over and nail an easy jumper.
Of course, Kobe was also an expert at moving on the court, so it was rather easy for him to get to his spot.
And while Bryant might be the best example to showcase this specific strategy of basketball, Michael Jordan and others before him had a very similar approach.
Today, D-Wade is considered one of the best shooting guards in basketball history. No doubt, it’s his own hard work and talent that is to blame for that, but Kobe definitely helped make things easier for Wade as his career was still unfolding.
Indeed, it seems that Bryant touched a lot of people, whether on the court or off.
