- Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest to have ever stepped foot on an NBA court
- Bryant was known to have a ridiculous work ethic which helped him achieve tremendous success in the league
- Bryant once revealed the players whose work ethic he was impressed by
It was clear when Kobe Bryant was in high school that he had a lot of talent, but what separated him from the pack was his ridiculous work ethic. Bryant worked harder than anyone else, and it helped him become the player that we knew him to be.
Bryant did not have a lot of respect for those who didn’t work as hard as him and is said to have once pointed to it being the reason why he didn’t pass the ball to his teammates. There were some opponents, though, who did manage to impress him with their work ethic.
“I think you see a lot of players that are playing today have that work ethic,” Bryant said. “Kyrie (Irving), James (Harden), Russell (Westbrook), these guys really get in the gym and spend a lot of time in there. KD (Kevin Durant), LeBron (James), obviously.
“They do over a period of time,” Bryant continued. “For young players out there, for example, it’s not good enough to go out there and work really, really hard for like two months, like really really hard. It’s more important to work really hard over the course of 10 years and be consistent about that, and you have players that are out there today that have certainly done that.”
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As Kobe said, the key is to work really hard for a very long period of time, and the players he mentioned there have certainly done that. The likes of Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James have been so great for so long because they have put in the hard yards.
Bryon Scott And Jerry West Hailed Kobe Bryant’s Work Ethic
Kobe was drafted with the 13th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets and was then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Immediately upon his arrival, Bryon Scott could see the teenager was going to be special, as his work ethic was on a whole other level than anything he had seen.
Jerry West was the man who had taken the big gamble of bringing Kobe to the Lakers, but even he was left stunned by the youngster. West stated that Bryant’s work ethic was second to none, and that’s from a man who has been a part of the league in one way or the other since the 1960s.
Combine the talent and work ethic, and you get an incredible career that saw Kobe average 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game over 20 seasons. He also won five championships, two Finals MVPs, and an MVP to firmly establish himself as one of the all-time greats.
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