As we all know Kobe Bryant and his daughter and the rest of the passengers on the helicopter passed tragically in a crash on January 26th, 2020, on the way to Gianna’s basketball game. Almost everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing that day. I was helping my mom wash her car when I heard the news. But today we are here to talk about the legacy he left behind. Kobe was one of the most influential people in basketball and in general thanks to the hard work he put in from not starting or playing much his first season to being a five-time champion, two-time Finals MVP, one-time regular-season MVP, and more. Kobe was willing to learn and always wanted to, as there are plenty of stories from other players mentioning him calling them to learn about how to do anything to get better on both sides of the ball.
Kobe Bryant played through so many injuries during his career. His wife, Vanessa stated, “People don't know this, but one of the reasons my husband played through injuries and pain was because he said he remembered being a little kid, sitting in the nosebleeds with his dad to watch his favorite player [Michael Jordan] play”. There were times he played with a torn rotator cuff in his shooting shoulder and just shot with the other arm. Chris Bosh once told a story at his Naismith National Basketball Hall of Fame Speech that his goal was to be the first to breakfast during the Olympics. He set his alarm early for sunrise, made sure he was out of bed, got his gear and headed downstairs. But when he got there Kobe was already there with ice packs on his knees and drenched in sweat. He was awake before Chris Bosh and he had already worked out after being in the NBA finals just weeks before the Olympics.
Kobe’s rise to stardom wasn’t easy. He was drafted out of high school at 17 years old, initially picked by the Charlotte Hornets, who then traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a lottery pick but didn’t get much playing time in his first season. He was playing with a veteran coach that wouldn’t let just any rookie lead his team, so he had to prove himself by playing with other all-star caliber guards. It was said he got into a fight with their best player, Shaquille O’Neal. As the years went on he got more playing time. As he got more playing time the team started to win more games and make deeper playoff runs, and they noticed they had a dynamic duo of Shaq and Kobe.
He went on to win 3 straight championships as a big piece of the team from 2000 to 2002, and they lost to the Pistons in 2004. After that the Lakers realized they would have to pick between their young star, Kobe, and aging star, Shaq. They chose Kobe and went into a rebuild with the rest of the roster. The roster was bad for a few years, with Kobe carrying the team, but the Lakers got some key pieces such as Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum that helped them get back to the top. They went on to the Finals three straight years, winning two out of three. They lost in 2008 but won in 2009 and 2010.
After those title runs and Olympics a year later, he was aging and always playing through injuries. His body started to fail more and more as he got older. In 2013 he was playing for a spot in the playoffs and it was a must-win. He got hurt twice and played through it, but late during the game he went to drive and tore his Achilles tendon. After the Achilles tear, he fractured his knee and tore his rotator cuff. That limited his play in his final three seasons, when he played 107 games out of a possible 246 games.
After his career Kobe wasn’t done. He won an Espy Icon award for his short film, Dear Basketball. Kobe had more plans after retirement. He wanted to make women's basketball more popular and gain more interest. He and his daughter trained a lot and trained with other players on their way to college or WNBA, and his name brought attention to the sport and women's basketball was being talked about more. He also had plans of ending his deal with Nike and starting his own shoe brand for the players, an idea never done before.
Kobe was all about getting better his whole career, and he found ways to make sure he was above all competitors. A lesson Kobe taught the world before he left was to put the work in and you will see the results.
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