- Kobe Bryant highlighted Michael Jordan’s strong basics that shaped his success
- Michael Jordan spoke of what he was doing at 12
- Kobe Bryant shed light on the importance of planning for the future
Kobe Bryant was vocal about learning from Michael Jordan — on and off the court, and in one of his earlier interviews, used the Chicago Bulls legend as a prime example to show how kids make mistakes in their promising basketball development.
Bryant stressed the need for basics — something that Jordan preached as well and stuck to over the course of his decorated career.
“As a young guy coming up, the thing that I marveled at wasn’t the fact that he was getting to the rim and doing these fancy stuff. It was like, how is he learning to do that? You look at the footwork, you look at the fundamentals. You look at the spacing, the pacing right? the angles and all those little things.”
He further added:
“And that’s what becomes fascinating. So I start studying all those basics. And then when I came into the league, the first time I played against him, I won his respect because it was like this kid is not scared of me at all.”
“We’re just speaking the other day in fact, about how the kids were doing. He knows my middle child started playing basketball, so he’s asking about how she’s doing. So I said she’s good and you know, at 12, I have a hard time remembering how I was doing in basketball.”
“Kids nowadays try to do too much. You know, from the skill standpoint. They try to do all this fancy stuff instead of the basic stuff. So I teach my kids the most basic stuff and we just do it again and again. But I ask Mike, ‘What were you doing at 12? and he goes, ‘Dude, I was playing baseball.’ Let that sink in for a second. For people out there who are overtraining their kids, and doing all that fancy stuff, let that sink in.”
Bryant couldn’t have been more right. Jordan was one of those players who made high-intensity basketball look easy, and it was because he stuck to the basics. The emphasis was on moves that would shape a player’s foundation and enable them to build on it.
In an era where three-point shooting has been looked at as the future of basketball, it’s unfortunate that the younger generation lacks focus on footwork or posting up. Smart game awareness and off-ball movement have taken a backseat.
Let’s not forget that Jordan and Bryant’s accomplishments had much to do with how they drilled basics into their system and put that to good use, resulting in six championships for Jordan and five for Bryant.
Perhaps, the new generation could do well to learn the fundamentals of the game. It will surely hold them in good stead as they look to carve a future in the sport.
Kobe Bryant’s Powerful Advice To The Next Generation Of Young Basketball Players
Kobe Bryant was regarded as the ultimate motivator. His quotes have been doing the rounds as motivation staples across social media, and in one of his previous interviews, he spoke about the need to be passionate, while also understanding the long-term future in mind( (via Basketball Network).
“Balancing the craft, the game of basketball, which is the most important thing to you right now and your family. Also keeping an eye on what you want to do when you retire because it’s hard if you retire, and then you decide you want to do that. That time is behind the eight ball a bit, and you will have one or two years of drifting in post-retirement, which is not healthy. I encourage them to focus and try to find different things while they’re playing and see what they gravitate to the most and find the thing you love to do as much as you love playing basketball, and then you’re set.”
This is brilliant advice from the Black Mamba. With more and more players putting in the work without thinking about the future, the cases of stress and pressure pulling them down have seen a rapid rise.
With no timeline on how long a player’s career goes, it’s important to keep one eye on the future. And Bryant just simplified the advice for the players out there.
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