Coach Huber | April 30, 2016
Like many, I watched in amazement as Kobe Bryant ended his career with a 60 point performance. A great end to an incredible career. For most of his career, I respected Kobe but did not consider myself a Kobe fan. I thought his selfishness had led to the breakup of the Lakers dynasty of 2000-2002 and that he was not an especially good teammate. While there may have been some truth to that, I now consider myself a Kobe fan and am thankful for the opportunity to have watched him play. My appreciation goes far beyond the amazing plays he made but more so to the way he approached the game.
Kobe’s work ethic is unmatched (see this article for one example – http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/3/6/4071142/kobe-bryant-las-vegas-workout-reddit). His summer routine included 4:30-6:00 AM conditioning, 6-7 weight training, making 800 shots from 7-11, then playing in the afternoon. It’s no coincidence he is one of the greatest players in NBA history. It’s so easy to assume that Kobe was just born talented and that he didn’t have to work to achieve what he has. That is clearly false.
It’s not just the quantity of work that Kobe put in that set him apart. It is also his attention to detail. I was listening to an NBA trainer talk about how he sent a rookie to go workout with Kobe last summer. The rookie came in excited to learn numerous tricks of the trade. When they got there, Kobe told him that they were going to spend their entire 90 minute session working on a turnaround jump shot from the elbow. For 90 minutes they did not move off of that spot. To some, this would seem boring. Not to Kobe. He wanted to master every detail of his game. It was fitting that the advice he gave to this rookie was to get great at one thing before trying to add anything else to his game.
The third thing I’ve grown to admire about Kobe is his confidence. He was quoted as saying “I’ll go 0-30 before I’ll go 0-9”. Most players, even at the NBA level, would see their confidence dip if they started off 0-9 and might quit shooting. Kobe has such confidence in himself (because of the work he’s put in), that he always believes the next shot is going in regardless of what’s happened to that point.
So as Kobe rides off into retirement, I would tell him (not that he would need to hear it), ‘Keep shooting, Kobe. You’ve EARNED it.’