Kobe Bryant is considered a legend of the NBA for a plethora of reasons. The Mamba had achieved everything a player can imagine of doing in the league. He won both individual and team accolades throughout his amazing career in the NBA.
Apart from that, when you look at Kobe’s skill set, he had some pretty killer moves in his arsenal. He dominated opposing teams with his fabulous offensive prowess. While Kobe was a beast offensively, he was never a liability on the defensive end of the court as well.
Kobe was considered one of the best defenders at his position, and he proved it by having several All-NBA defensive team selections in his career.
However, Kobe wasn’t always great at defending. He slowly improved at his craft and perfected it. Any guesses from whom he learned to defend well? It’s none other than NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Kobe Bryant Studied Michael Jordan’s Defense With A Photo
It’s a well-known fact that Bryant was a student of the game. He had the fire in him to always improve and ultimately be better than his competitors and even teammates. During the start of his career, he realized he could improve his defensive abilities.
Like always, Kobe found a unique way to improve his defense. He used a 1998 photograph of MJ to make changes to his posture and balance. Kobe mentioned this in his book ‘Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality.’
Via EssentiallySports:
“Michael is standing straight from the waist up. He’s not leaning in either direction and because of that he is balanced and centered. Thankfully, I actually saw this photo back in 1998. After studying it, I corrected my posture and balance. After that, it was a lot harder to operate against me in the post.”
Improving his defensive posture and balance from studying a photograph is truly a great achievement, and it’s something that only Kobe can pull off.
Even apart from that, Kobe broke Mike’s game to its bare essentials and even explained it pretty well in a video. With each passing day, it becomes clearer that we will never see a player like Kobe play in the NBA for a long time.
