Perhaps no player in the NBA was as dedicated to improving their craft as Kobe Bryant. Kobe played in the NBA for 20 years, and one of the big reasons he found so much success was because he was always willing to learn and improve his game in order to win.
While Bryant was in the NBA, he witnessed firsthand the transition from the more physical days of the 80s and the 90s to a more offensive-oriented style of play, that allowed explosive players to get exactly what they wanted to against opposing defenses.
But while Kobe kept adapting to the future, he wouldn’t ignore the past. If anything, he took great inspiration from players like Michael Jordan. In fact, many have said that Kobe Bryant is the closest thing to Michael Jordan in terms of style of play and mentality.
And it wasn’t just Michael that Kobe would study. In a recent interview, Kanye West spoke about the time he went to work out with Kobe Bryant (15:26 mark). The two had been friends in the past, with West even paying tribute to Kobe on his latest album ‘Donda’.
‘Ye’ revealed that they were going to the gym to supposedly play some pick-up basketball. But ‘Ye revealed that they didn’t end up playing basketball. Kobe was showing Kanye videos of Scottie Pippen, specifically his footwork. Bryant thought that the way Scottie was moving his feet was ‘inhuman’.
“I went to the gym with Kobe,” West noted. “And we didn’t even really get to play ball. All he did was show me videos of Scottie Pippen. And you know Scottie Pippen has got a wide wingspan. But he didn’t talk about that, he talked about how fast he was moving his feet. And he was like ‘yo, this is inhuman. This is inhumane. And he was studying that, he wanted to learn how fast he moved his feet.”
The fact that Kobe was watching footage of Scottie Pippen to emulate his footwork just goes to show how great Kobe thought Pip was. Many feel that Pippen doesn’t get his credit, with Jalen Rose even calling Pippen the most disrespected all-time great player.
Bryant was a student of the game. Despite becoming a professional in the NBA and a superstar in the league, he always knew that he had to watch and learn in order to add another dynamic to his game. And throughout his legendary career, he did just that.
