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Reading: Byron Scott Says He Knew Kobe Bryant Was Going To Be Special After Watching His Work Ethic As A Rookie
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Home > NBA News & Analysis > Byron Scott Says He Knew Kobe Bryant Was Going To Be Special After Watching His Work Ethic As A Rookie

Byron Scott Says He Knew Kobe Bryant Was Going To Be Special After Watching His Work Ethic As A Rookie

Gautam Varier
Aug 21, 2022
3 Min Read
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When Jerry West made the decision to trade starting center Vlade Divac for a 17-year-old Kobe Bryant after the 1996 NBA Draft, few could have predicted what was to come next. Bryant wasn’t a very highly thought of prospect, and he was coming into the NBA straight out of high school, which wasn’t something very common back in the day.

He had a slow start to his career, as you would expect of someone so young, but Kobe soon started to show just why West had made the decision to trade for him. Byron Scott, who was a veteran on the team during Kobe’s rookie year, also realized that Bryant was going to be something special when he saw his work ethic. He recounted his early impressions of a young Kobe during an episode of his “Off the Dribble” podcast.

(starts at 1:26 mark):

Like you, I have played with a bunch of great players, Hall of Famers, top 75 you know all that and not to say that they didn’t work hard. I know Hakeem (Olajuwon) worked hard, Magic (Johnson) worked his ass off, James (Worthy) worked his ass off, cap (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) worked it, but this dude, he took it to a whole different level. I was blessed to see that in my last year with the Lakers and you know, I’m sitting there watching this kid and I’m going ‘man, this dude, this thing’s going to be unbelievable.'”

Bryant’s excellent work ethic right from the get-go was one of the biggest reasons why he became such a great player. Shaquille O’Neal also once showed how Kobe used to shadow practice without the ball as a rookie, which was very unusual. They used to find that to be hilarious, but that was just Kobe working on the fundamentals, and it definitely paid off for him in the years to come.

It was that burning desire to improve his game, no matter what anyone else thought about it, that led Kobe down the path of becoming one of the all-time greats in the history of the NBA.

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ByGautam Varier
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Gautam Varier is a staff writer and columnist for Fadeaway World from Mumbai, India. He graduated from Symbiosis International University with a Master of Business specializing in Sports Management in 2020. This educational achievement enables Gautam to apply sophisticated analytical techniques to his incisive coverage of basketball, blending business acumen with sports knowledge.Before joining Fadeaway World in 2022, Gautam honed his journalistic skills at Sportskeeda and SportsKPI, where he covered a range of sports topics with an emphasis on basketball. His passion for the sport was ignited after witnessing the high-octane offense of the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns. Among the Suns, Shawn Marion stood out to Gautam as an all-time underrated NBA player. Marion’s versatility as a defender and his rebounding prowess, despite being just 6’7”, impressed Gautam immensely. He admired Marion’s finishing ability at the rim and his shooting, despite an unconventional jump shot, believing that Marion’s skill set would have been even more appreciated in today’s NBA.This transformative experience not only deepened his love for basketball but also shaped his approach to sports writing, enabling him to connect with readers through vivid storytelling and insightful analysis.
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