Kobe Bryant may have become arguably the greatest Laker in history, but his career didn’t start that way. Bryant’s potential was evident for all to see from a young age, especially Jerry West, but he took some time to develop. He shot under 43% from the field in his first two seasons in the league and didn’t average over 20 points per game till his 4th season.
But the one thing he never stopped doing was trying to improve himself. Kobe Bryant had veteran teammates with the Lakers that used to make fun of his shooting as a youngster, but even they noticed the things he was doing to rectify that as it was happening. Robert Horry spoke about it with Byron Scott on Scott’s podcast, sharing the amazing story.
(start at 20:14 minutes)
“He was just driven. He was driven to be the best and you respected that. I’m a tell a little funny story… You remember the game, the string game we used to play, right? And then Kobe couldn’t shoot threes back then, so he would always get beat. And we’d get to practice, and he’d be like, ‘Yo guys, can we play?’
“And we’d be like, ‘Nah, we ain’t playing today’. And he would get mad because he wanted revenge. Then we would wait 2-3 days, then we play, then he gets beat again. Then he’d go right back in the lab, tryna get better. And like it was just one of those things. We used to mess with him so much about things he couldn’t do. And that dude would be in the gym next morning, 5 AM, 6 AM, trying to prove us wrong… And that’s what made him great, man.”
The stories about Kobe Bryant always touch on what was a key theme in his life. His desire to constantly improve and become the best version of himself. Very few people were as driven as him, and it’s what saw him become a 5-time NBA champion. These stories feel bittersweet in the light of his premature passing, but his life was an inspiration to people everywhere.
