Kobe's Work Ethic

[Sofa King]

I was invited to Las Vegas this past Summer to help Team USA with their conditioning before they head off to London, and as we know they would eventually bring home the Gold (USA). I’ve had the opportunity to work with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in the past but this would be my first interaction with Kobe.

We first met three days before the first scrimmage, on the day of the first practice, early July. It was a brief conversation where we talked about conditioning, where he would like to be by the end of the Summer, and we talked a little bit about the hustle of the Select Team. Then he got my number and I let him know that if he ever wanted some extra training he could hit me up any time.

The night before the first scrimmage I remember I was just watched “Casablanca” for the first time and it was about 3:30 AM. I lay in bed, slowly fading away when I hear my cell ring. It was Kobe. I nervously picked up.

“Hey, uhh Rob, I hope I’m not disturbing anything right?”

“Uhh no, what’s up Kob?”

“Just wondering if you could just help me out with some conditioning work, that’s all.”

I checked my clock. 4:15 AM.

“Yeah sure, I’ll see you in the facility in a bit.”

It took me about twenty minutes to get my gear and out of the hotel. When I arrived and opened the room to the main practice floor I saw Kobe. Alone. He was drenched in sweat as if he had just taken a swim. It wasn’t even 5AM.

We did some conditioning work for the next hour and fifteen minutes. Then we entered the weight room, where he would do a multitude of strength training exercises for the next 45 minutes. After that we parted ways and he went back to the practice floor to shoot. I went back to the hotel and crashed. Wow.

I was expected to be at the floor again at about 11 AM. 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, “Good work this morning.”

“Huh?”

“Like, the conditioning. Good work.”

“Oh. Yeah, thanks Rob. I really appreciate it.”

“So when did you finish?”

“Finish what?”

“Getting your shots up. What time did you leave the facility?”

“Oh just now. I wanted 800 makes so yeah, just now.”

My jaw dropped. Mother of holy God. It was then that I realized that there’s no surprise to why he’s been as effective as he was last season. Every story about his dedication, every quote that he’s said about hard work all came together and hit me like a train. It’s no surprise to me now that he’s dunking on players ten years younger than him and it wasn’t a surprise to me earlier this year when he led the league in scoring.

Thanks for reading and allowing me to share you my Kobe Bryant story. If anyone has any questions I can clarify. Sorry if the story was at all hard to follow as this is my first time on reddit.

Rob.

Source: http://ballislife.com/storytime-team-usa-trainer-kobe/

[EArl]

I feel like this thread has been made multiple times, but its still pretty impressive.

[Beethoven]

Like a predictable but well told sports movie or love story.. the beauty of it still wells up tears into my eyes.. when I see something of true passion and hard work.

[gotokyo]

Hopefully Kobe's mentorship can influence our draft pick this year to share the same work ethic and passion to be the best that he's always had. I think that in itself would validate Kobe's extension.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Dr Aki]

ive read this somewhere years ago

[ROballer]

Hopefully Kobe's mentorship can influence our draft pick this year to share the same work ethic and passion to be the best that he's always had. I think that in itself would validate Kobe's extension.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RealGM Forums mobile app

I seriously get a boner just thinking about Kobe and Wiggins being locked up in a gym for the summer

[aaron_gray]

Hopefully Kobe's mentorship can influence our draft pick this year to share the same work ethic and passion to be the best that he's always had. I think that in itself would validate Kobe's extension.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RealGM Forums mobile app

I seriously get a boner just thinking about two men being locked up in a gym for the summer

Whatever floats your boat man.

[ROballer]

Deal with it...it gets easier

[dockingsched]

even though its old, that story is still a great read

[leeprettyp]

Hopefully Kobe's mentorship can influence our draft pick this year to share the same work ethic and passion to be the best that he's always had. I think that in itself would validate Kobe's extension.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RealGM Forums mobile app

I seriously get a boner just thinking about Kobe and Wiggins being locked up in a gym for the summer

I think we messed up our chances at Wiggins bro... Out of all these guys he's the guy I want.. At worst to me he could be a Scottie Pippen type of guy. At worst a #2 on a title contending team. And if we put him in a gym with Kobe to help push that kid and the talent that he has it could be another level there. But its only a dream smh!!!

[ROballer]

Hopefully Kobe's mentorship can influence our draft pick this year to share the same work ethic and passion to be the best that he's always had. I think that in itself would validate Kobe's extension.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RealGM Forums mobile app

I seriously get a boner just thinking about Kobe and Wiggins being locked up in a gym for the summer

I think we messed up our chances at Wiggins bro... Out of all these guys he's the guy I want.. At worst to me he could be a Scottie Pippen type of guy. At worst a #2 on a title contending team. And if we put him in a gym with Kobe to help push that kid and the talent that he has it could be another level there. But its only a dream smh!!!

Have a little faith bro...I agree,Wiggins won't fall out of the top 2 and we won't be that bad outright but there's
still the lottery to be played out and teams advanced with lower odds than we'll have(Chi,Cle-Rose/Irving)
3/4 worst record advancing to 1/2 is not out of the realm of possibility
And even if we don't ,Kobe/Exum doesn't sound that bad either

[Tiesto_Lakers]

Players I want are in this order: 1) Wiggins 2) Exum 3) Embiid 4) Parker 5) Randle

Seeing footage of Exum and seeing his athleticism is appealing. Dude is quick as lightning and can also be a playmaker. He's the next Penny Hardaway.

[Sedale Threatt]

Have never fully appreciated Kobe's playing style or mentality. But his work ethic? Second to none. And that's after he's already made hundreds of millions and won everything there is to win in the NBA. There are always going to be freaks like Shaq or Randy Moss who can get by with less than stellar work ethics. But more often than not, it's the guys with talent AND work their ass off who rise to the top.