6 stories that prove there will never be another Kobe Bryant
One thing that separated Kobe Bryant from the rest of the players in the league was his insane work ethic. He had an insatiable hunger for winning championships. He worked harder than anyone in the NBA to cement his legacy as one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.
The players in and around the league, and successful people from other industries have had a lot to say about Kobe's dedication and work ethic. The Black Mamba always believed in working hard when everyone else was busy partying or resting and as Kobe himself put it, he always wanted to "squeeze every ounce of juice out of the orange."
There might have been players who were more talented and gifted than Kobe, but it is safe to say there has never been a player throughout the history of the NBA who worked as hard as Kobe did during his 20-year storied career. A lot of skilled basketball players could not enjoy the kind of success they should have because of their poor work ethic.
Through the course of this article, we look at six stories that prove that there will never be another Kobe Bryant.
#1 Team USA trainer's account of Kobe's work ethic
Kobe's workouts usually got more intense in the off-season. An anonymous Team USA trainer told this story on reddit, which talks about Kobe's commitment and how he is married to the game of basketball.
According to him, the trainer worked with Team USA in Vegas during the summer of 2012. The duo shared numbers, and he told Bryant to call him anytime if he wanted to do some conditioning work. He received a call from Kobe at 4:15 AM after a few days, asking him to come to the gym. He left his hotel room, and Kobe was already drenched in sweat, and it wasn't even 5 AM in the morning.
They worked out for 45 minutes, and then the trainer went back to his hotel room to get some sleep before he gets back to the court at 11:00 AM again in the morning, while Kobe went back to his shooting practice. He met Kobe in the morning for scrimmage.
'I woke up feeling sleepy, drowsy, and almost pretty much every side effect of sleep deprivation. Thanks, Kobe. I had a bagel and headed to the practice facility.'
'This next part I remember very vividly. All the Team USA players were there, feeling good for the first scrimmage. LeBron was talking to Carmelo if I remember correctly, and Coach Krzyzewski was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right side of the practice facility was Kobe by himself shooting jumpers. And this is how our next conversation went -- I went over to him, patted him on the back and said,
Trainer Rob : "Good work this morning."'
Kobe : "Huh?"
Rob : "Like, the conditioning. Good work."
Kobe : "Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it."
Rob : "So when did you finish?"
Kobe : "Finish what?"
Rob : "Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?"
Kobe : "Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now."
This first person account speaks volume of his dedication and how he always wanted to get better. Kobe was 34 when this happened and also, there was no way Team USA was going to lose, with all the fire-power they had.
Source : SB Nation