Kobe Bryant was a once-in-a-generation athlete and person. Stories about Kobe always seem improbable, given the level of determination and hard work he put into his game. Steve Stoute is an American businessman who knew Kobe from a young age and revealed an incredible story about Kobe’s wild preparation to guard Allen Iverson.
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“Kobe was going to guard Allen Iverson that year and he was very much respectful of Iverson’s speed. He wanted to get young guards from New York that could crossover, we got them and went to an indoor gym. He lined 10 of them up, they came in from the three-point line, and he stood at the foul line. They’d come in an assembly line and he would guard them, try to strip them, take them to the hole, and run back to the free throw line before the next guy came… I couldn’t believe he was doing it.”
His preparation for Iverson paid off, as the Lakers ended up beating Iverson and the 76ers 4-1 in the 2001 NBA Finals. Iverson averaged 35.6 points but that was also because of his high usage, not shooting 50% from the field in a single game. Bryant had some fantastic defensive moments on Iverson, even though AI did have his fair share of explosions.
Iverson was drafted No. 1 overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, the same draft where Kobe went at the No. 13 spot. The pair would take their competitive rivalry and form a healthy respect for each other, with Iverson also conceding that Bryant managed to outdo him over their careers.
Kobe Bryant Stood Up To A Gangster In NYC
Stoute then shared the incredible story about when he went out with Kobe to a club where some gang members had bought up the club’s supply of Cristal to make sure everybody checked in with them before ordering the drink. Stoute chose to not drink Cristal at the club, but he and Kobe had an incredible encounter in a diner later that night.
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“We go out to a diner at like 2 or 3 in the morning. The same street guy is sitting there and Kob’ is making jokes about his outfit and being a little loud… The guy sends somebody over like, ‘blah blah wanna talk to you’. I go outside, he got the gun out, and I’m like, ‘Yo, he’s a young man, I’m trying to tell him’. That guy didn’t even know who Kobe Bryant is. Kobe comes outside and sees the gun. I tell him to go back in and he’s like, ‘I’m not going nowhere’. On 23rd and 9th Avenue, he did that at 18.”
Stoute took a second before exclaiming at the amount of character Kobe showed at the age of 18.
“When he said I’m not going nowhere, I mean, what kind of person is this? I’m giving you the out. This is not your problem, I’ll deal with this problem. He don’t want that, this is our problem.”
Kobe was fearless. Even though he spent parts of his childhood outside the USA, Bryant wasn’t going to back down to a challenge even at that age. While that sort of determination could end up causing a calamity, it was another sign that Bryant was more strong-willed than most people we meet in our daily lives.
The impression Kobe left on a multi-millionaire record executive as an 18-year-old was incredibly profound. It isn’t easy to deal with such issues as effortlessly as Kobe ended up doing. He went on to become one of the greatest basketball players we have ever seen, winning five NBA Championships, two Finals MVPs, and one regular-season MVP.
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