The Work Ethic of Kobe Bryant

Index

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2

The Story Of Kobe Bryant .................................................................................... 2

The NBA Dream begins… .................................................................................... 3

The amazing work ethic you wouldn’t believe ..................................................... 4

Kobe in Lower Merion High School ................................................................. 5

Kobe in Team USA:........................................................................................... 6

Kobe in the Lakers ............................................................................................. 7

His Routine ............................................................................................................ 8

Bibliography .................................................................................................... 11
Introduction
Kobe Bryant is very famous. Very famous. Then, I don´t probably need to tell you that he is
an NBA basketball player. And this is his last year in the league. He has been one of the
greatest players in the NBA history. There is not doubt about it. And one of the main reasons
is his work ethic. And that´s the story I am going to tell you.

The Story Of Kobe Bryant

Kobe was born in Philadelphia, in August 23, 1978. His father was an NBA, and when Kobe
was six, his father, Joe, left the NBA. He decided to move the family to Rieti (city of Lazio,
central Italy) to play for the club of the city and later for others. In Italy, Kobe learned Italian
and Spanish, and he played soccer. Then, the family moved back to USA, where he changed
soccer for basketball. He played and studied in Lower Merion High School. His career in this
high school made him a brilliant player, and he decided to be Drafted, and not to go into
university and the NCAA. He took some risks, but it went well…
The NBA Dream begins…
Kobe was drafted 13th position in the 1996 NBA Draft. He was drafted by the Charlotte
Hornets, but he will never play with this team. Fifteen days later he went to Los Angeles
Lakers, whose manager, Jerry West, was truly interested in this young man. Vlade Divac was
traded by Kobe. In his first year he played the Rookie Game in the All Star Weekend (San
Antonio, Texas, 1996) and he also won the Dunk Contest being a rookie. In his second year
he went to the All Star Game. In the 1998-99 season, he exploded for an average of 19’9
points in the season. Then, he faced Michael Jordan in the All Star Game. That would be a
turning point for Bryant.

In 2000, Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal came to the Lakers; the next years would be win
after win for them: Lakers won the NBA title in three consecutive seasons (2000-2002). Then,
in 2004, Lakers lost the Finals vs the Pistons and the media started to talk about some
problems between Kobe and Shaq, and Shaq was traded to Miami Heat. Phil Jackson, Karl
Malone and Gary Payton left the team, too. The media said (and it was a bit true1) that there
were some problems between them and Kobe.

Then, in the next season (2005-06) big things would happen…

Phil Jackson returned to LA. Kobe scored 81 points vs. the Raptors2, and he made peace with
Shaq. In 2007-08 he made a fantastic season, and he was awarded with the MVP, breaking
some records; but Boston Celtics beated the Lakers in the Finals. Then, a year later we would
win the NBA vs Orlando Magic. In 2009-10 he made six game winners, and they defeated the
Celtics in the finals. Kobe got his revenge.

That´s the end of the NBA rings for Bryant, but the following seasons, he continued his
career, but with worse teams and injuries. He continued breaking records, as an example, he
went from 12th to 6th in the All Time Scoring List. In just one season.

In 2011-12 the Lakers get Mike Brown as coach. Those were bad years for Kobe and the
Lakers.

But his work ethic has always been the same…

The amazing work ethic you wouldn’t believe
Kobe has always been very competitive. He spent his childhood in Italy, but when he returned
to USA, at 11, he started to play basketball in Lower Merion High School. The first year the
team lost 20 matches and won in just 4 occasions. But the work ethic of Bryant would change
it…

A journalist asked him how he would like to be remembered, and the answer was just ‘pure
Kobe’:

“Hopefully, they perceive me as person who did whatever he had to do to win above
all else. Above anything. Above stats. … If they say that about me I’ll be happy.”3

Also, some of the greatest players have been impressed by Kobe. As Jerry West said:

“What’s most impressive about this young man are his desire, his work ethic, his
competitive nature. [Bryant] comes to the arena at 4:30, before anybody is here, and
works on his game alone. He has incredible skills and the desire to be a great player”.

Sometimes people think that this is just a legend about Kobe, that he has never worked so
hard. Then, now I going to describe some of the stories that prove that Kobe is just an
workaholic.
Kobe in Lower Merion High School

He used to get up at 5 am already in High School. Before class he trained 5 to 7, every day.

And at every practice, he played 1vs1 with his teammates … to 100 points. Nobody could
score on him more than 12 points (100-12).

That practice made him very self-confident, in fact, one of her teammates said to the media
that Kobe one time said that “Michael Jordan can’t stop me”4:

“I’m not saying I can stop him. But he can’t stop me.”

At first, in Lower Merion, nobody would believe he’d be a superstar:

“I had no idea; as a fifteen-year old sophomore, he was just like any other kid to me” (Jeanne
Mastriano, Kobe Bryant’s 10th grade English teacher)

But, after a while, the perception started to change5:

“It was like traveling with the Beatles” (Robby Schwartz, teammate)

“My grandmother was a big Lower Merion fan. She asks me one day, “Can you get his
autograph for me? Can you just ask him?” I’m like, “This is the most embarrassing shit ever.
My own teammate?” But he signed it. He did. He was” (Robby Schwartz)

“We had cameras following us all over the place. At times it

was a distraction. But I was always impressed with how
patient Kobe was, throwing sneakers out of the bus to kids,
signing autographs until his wrists were sore” (Gregg
Downer, Head Coach)

He absolutely changed the history of Lower Merion High School.

Kobe in Team USA:

I will start with one of my favorites; the routine of Kobe during the Olympics:

Rob, an assistant trainer of Team USA, tell us the story. He explains that Kobe calls him at
3.30 am, when he was in bed. Kobe asked for his help to do some conditioning work at the
court. After that, Rob returned home. Then, some hours later, he came to the court again to
start the practice with the whole team. Then, he asked Kobe when he had finished, and the
answer makes he shocked:

“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
6 (story #1)
than him and it wasn’t a surprise to me earlier this year when he led the league in scoring. “

It´s easy to understand that a player that was drafted in the 13th pick, first round, was not
considered the most talented. But with this ethic… things change.

Kobe has been an All Star in the NBA almost every year. He just missed 4 of 22 All Star
Games: as a rookie (‘96 and ‘97), in 1999 there was no All Star Game and also when he was
injured in 2010. So, when you listen to the other All-stars, all of them show much respect to
Kobe.

As an example, Blake Griffin told to the media an incredible story when he was at the USA
Basketball Camp. He said: “I heard Kobe went on some 40-mile bike ride at night through the
desert”6 (story #2)
Kobe in the Lakers
Sometimes, people knew about the work ethic of Bryant, and some situations still impressed
them.

One of those things was the trash-talking, the critics and the competitiveness with his own
teammates. He will be remembered as one of the hardest teammates in the NBA. A lot of
players had problems with that, but others loved it.

Kobe Bryant was practicing Sunday for the first time in almost two weeks, and he came back
having to listen to some teammates talk trash.

"He was shooting in peoples' faces, they'd foul him for an 'and-one' … turnaround right,
turnaround left, talking trash," Metta World Peace said, laughing: "Somebody decided to talk
to Kobe. That was the wrong thing to do."7

Then, the media discovered that the player was Nick Young. He said that nobody in the world could
guard him, Kobe´s response was:

“Thank God I'm not from this world”8

Kobe took practice as a championship game. He practiced like nobody does. At the same practice that
Nick Young trash talked Kobe, Bryant became furious with Jeremy Lin cause he didn´t work hard.
Kobe literally said Lin was “soft as Charmin” (a toilet paper brand) 9
His Routine
His sleeping methods are well known in the NBA. He practices a polyphasic sleep. That
consists of sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period, usually more than two. An example of
that was when Phil Jackson caught him snapping at 8.30 am in a car, before practice10. The
reason was that Kobe had been practicing by himself at 6.30 am before the practice with the
team.

His sleeping pattern in the off-season usually consists of getting up 4.30 am, sleeping more or
less 4 hours, and then, during the day, after the practice, and family-time, he finds the hours to
sleep more. So he sleeps as a normal person, maybe less, but he sleeps at different times of
the day.11
He is also very strict with his diet. As some members of the coaching staff said, Kobe is
human, that means he likes unhealthy food as the rest, but when you know that food can help
a lot… He decided to become a robot with nutrition.

As Gary Vitti said, in Lakers were trying to improve players’ diet. They cut sugar because
two reasons: “One, because it’s very inflammatory. Two, it increases energy very fast, so
when you eat sugar, it gives you energy but then insulin arrives and you fall down. That
makes you need more sugar”12

Kobe and Gary Vitti taking dinner in Detroit

One of the meals of the Lakers diet program that became more viral was the chicken bones’
soup. They realized those bones had things that the players’ bones need.

"It definitely contributes. I think it's a balance of a lot of things, but I think doing the small
things all together, it makes a big difference.”13

All this small things, as Kobe said, made him the way he is. They made him one of the best
players that ever lived, one of the best competitors in sports history, and of course, a player
who is going to be remembered for a long, long, time.

“…And we both know, no matter what I do next

I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1”

Love you always,

Kobe 14
Bibliography

1
“Kobe critical of Shaq’s Leadership” http://espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1648431

1
“Things got so bad, Shaq once wanted to ‘murder’ Kobe”
http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/shaquille-oneal-murder-kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-
feud-2003-04-gary-payton-karl-malone-052715

2
“Kobe 81 points” http://www.nba.com/news/kobe_81_index.html

3
“Kobe Bryant. Insight Into The Character Of The Hardest Working Man In Basketball”
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/495162-kobe-bryant-insight-into-the-character-of-the-
hardest-working-man-in-basketball

4
“MJ can’t stop me” http://www.slamonline.com/nba/kobe-bryant-high-school-teammate-
michael-jordan-cant-stop/#lqPMqMHxRkabt3bo.99

5
“My High School teammate, Kobe Bryant” http://mashable.com/2015/11/29/kobe-bryant-
high-school-teammates/#VIn2CemqGkqw

6
“The Definitive Collection of Motivational Kobe Bryant Work Ethic Stories”
https://gmagazine.co/2015/11/29/the-definitive-collection-of-motivational-kobe-bryant-work-
ethic-stories/

7
”Lakers Teammates Unwisely Trash Talk Kobe Bryant During Practice”
http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-teammates-unwisely-trash-talk-kobe-bryant-during-
practice/2015/10/25/

8
“Kobe Bryant "Not From This World" at Lakers Practice”
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/blogs/triple-threat/Kobe-Bryant-trash-talk-at-Lakers-Practice-
285541971.html

9
”Kobe Bryant goes off on teammates” http://espn.go.com/los-
angeles/nba/story/_/id/12016979/los-angeles-lakers-star-kobe-bryant-critical-teammates-
heated-scrimmage
10
”Phil Jackson’s proudest Kobe memory is catching Bryant snapping”
http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-phil-jackson-new-york-
knicks-proudest-memory-championships-031316

11
“Quite Frankly, Kobe Don't Sleep!!!!!” http://youtube.com/watch?v=LO9-
eETFN2s&feature=youtu.be

12
“Gary Vitti: la visión del fisioterapeuta”
http://www.nba.com/lakers/espanol/news/150804_GaryVitti

13
“Chicken soup for the aging star's soul” http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12168515/bone-
broth-soup-helping-los-angeles-lakers-kobe-bryant

“La ética de trabajo de Kobe Bryant en 16 testimonios”

http://www.blogdebasket.com/2015/04/30/etica-kobe-bryant-18-testimonios

“22 ejemplos de la increíble ética de trabajo de Kobe Bryant” http://kiaenzona.com/nba/el-

camino-a-la-gloria-22-ejemplos-de-la-increible-etica-de-trabajo-de-kobe-bryant-51670/

“18 Motivational Kobe Bryant Work Ethic Stories from Other NBA Players & Coaches”
http://www.viralhoops.com/kobe-bryant-motivational-stories/

“Top 15 Tales of Kobe Bryant’s Insane Work Ethic”

http://www.thesportster.com/basketball/top-15-tales-of-kobe-bryants-insane-work-
ethic/?view=all

“Kobe Bryant's Insane Work Ethic” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Pwwl65Abw

“Kobe Bryant's work ethic is second to none” (Good Photos)

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/photos/kobe-bryants-insane-work-ethic

“The Secret History of Kobe Bryant’s Rap Career” http://grantland.com/features/the-secret-

history-kobe-bryant-failed-attempt-rap-career/
“Kobe Doin’ Work” (Documentary by Spike Lee)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELCx7KPjyJs

“Kobe, Hill deal with being the next Michael” (Be compared to MJ…Bothers me somewhat)
http://espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1270487&type=columnist

14
“Dear Basketball” (Letter by Bryant) http://www.theplayerstribune.com/dear-basketball/

*The documents not marked have been used as help, to organize the ideas, to make more consistent the
redaction or they have just the same information as other articles that are marked.

Photos from:

“Kobe Bryant’s life in photos”

http://espn.go.com/espn/photos/gallery/_/id/9204168/image/8/kobe-bryant-kobe-bryant-life-
photos

“Two decades of Kobe” http://espn.go.com/nba/photos/gallery/_/id/14261891/image/17/kobe-

bryant-career-retrospective

“Kobe Pens Thanks to Gary Vitti” http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/160413_kbvitti