Kobe Bryant was an inspiration to countless people in the basketball community, including Warriors star Draymond Green.
In a chat with the media on Tuesday, the Warriors defensive star spoke a bit about the Mamba, and how watching his pre-game ritual helped inspire his own work ethic as a youngster in the league…
“When I came into the NBA, I was star struck by two guys and one was Kobe and the other one was Grant Hill. The thing that stood out most to me about playing Kobe the first time was his pregame warm-up,” Green revealed.
I finished my pregame warm-up early and you know as a rookie you get there like 3:30, 3:45 for a 7:30 game. As soon as I finished my warm-up he was coming on the floor, which kind of threw me off like, ‘Why is he working out at four o’clock when it’s a 7:30 game?’”
“I sat there, and I watched his entire work and I ended up realizing why he worked out so long. He worked out for like 40 minutes and I sat there and watched the entire workout, and by the time I finished watching his workout, I had like missed my lift and my treatment time,” said Green.
“I had missed everything and I think for me personally that was just a moment like in my life where I was like ‘Yo like I’m sitting here watching Kobe,’ nothing else really mattered to me at that point.”
These types of stories are similar for many throughout the basketball community. Kobe was a guy who always brought out the best on those who had the eyes to look, and it appears Draymond was one of them.
It was Kobe’s insane work ethic that played into why his career was so successful, and why the careers of many who idolized him have resulted in a similar fate.
For Green, it has brought three titles and a reputation as one of the best defenders of the modern NBA…
