A+ NBA World-Class Player C- NBA Dynasty Wrecker Kobe could of had a lot more championship rings if he didn't fight Shaq, likely forced Phil Jackson into retirement and sniping with current/former teammates.
As a dad of a 13 year old who is playing year round basketball now, I found his comments recently in an SI article regarding AAU basketball interesting. He said he felt fortunate that he grew up in Europe where they focused on skills and fundamentals instead of growing up in the AAU "showcase" stuff.
LMFAO he is the anti-euro player though... and in HS in Philadelphia he was even worse, the guy was insanely selfish. Having said that I do believe that the AAU is too individually motivated and not team oriented. Then, all of a sudden these same kids go to the NBA and are expected to play team ball..... not an easy transition.
I'm not a fan of Kobe as a person based on his public image and attitude, but I do admire his work ethic and appreciate his game. Not every MVP candidate is spending their off season working with professional trainers like Micah Lancaster and Ganon Baker at the level Kobe does. Hopefully Harden has some of that level of dedication going forward. He is also a pretty good teacher when he wants to be: [youtube]LyR3R9nQMKI[/youtube] [youtube]3qK_uLB95LQ[/youtube]
Durant loves basketball and works very hard on his game... same with Yao, CP3, Stockton, etc.... but Kobe is different. There is something wrong with him, he takes it to another level..... he thinks about it while on the toilet, dreams about it when sleeping, thinks about it while with his wife...... there is no "break" for him..... only other player I can think of that was like that was Larry Bird. MJ was great (far greater than Kobe), and he busted his but, but his motivation was not like Kobe's, it was an inner rage.... different though... reminds me of Ty Cobb.
I wonder why this work ethic isn't helping his defense? The reason I can't stand this talk is because 1. Plenty of players work hard, very hard 2. Besides having the luck of the draw on a ton of stacked teams, all he has to show for this is a couple of scoring titles and 1 MVP which was debatable. Not saying he's not a great player because he is no doubt about that, but I just don't see anybody else every going into the media with how hard they work or how sick they are or when they plan on guarding the other teams best player as much as I see it with this guy. I promise you'd think he did more than Mother Theresa the way some people carry on.
How is he different? From everything I hear and read Yao, Jordan, Durant and others put in just as much work. Any Rocket fan should know that Yao did. Rare, sure. Different, no.
..and its so easy to get burned by the likes of Christian Eyenga and Andre Miller...before you question the Eyenga name, although yes he did blow by Kobe and dunk on Gasol, but the fact of the matter is, this has been going on for years now. That's the whole point, this kind of boasting is pointless. It's almost like knowing his career is coming to an end, alot of his fans are getting more insecure by the day.
You have to respect Kobe's work ethic in publicizing stories about his work ethic. #respect #24doinwork247 #workethicmamba.
Really? I always saw him in Jester hanging out (every single day to a point where it was an "oh, there is KD again..move along" type of thing). He did watch a lot of pickup basketball at Gregory during the day and some nights though.
He has been a regular first team all defensive player for most of his career so it looks like it helped him quite a bit. His defense has slipped at age 34, but it isn't like he is Kevin Martin out there. Other people working very hard doesn't diminish Kobe's work. There are also plenty of talented players who don't work as hard once they get paid and have "made it". Well that and 5 championships, 2 finals MVP awards, 9 first team NBA All-Defensive team spots, 15 all star appearances, 4 all star MVP's, 10 all nba first team appearances, to go along with a hand full of 2nd and 3rd all nba and all defensive team spots. Besides, Kobe being on the team was a large part of why his teams could be considered stacked. I agree that he is egotistical and self promoting and I don't like that either. At the same time there is little doubt that he does work like he is the guy who is worried about being cut from the team rather than the guy who feels he is already one of the best and can just coast now. Even if the original story in this thread turns out to be fake, there are still lots of documented stories of his work ethic from other reliable sources. So I don't think that most of the stories about his work ethic are exaggerated just to make him look good.
It was probably released by Kobe's marketing team. That guy has always been about self-promotion, whether it be making sure cameras are available to show off his kids & wife in the hallway at halftime of important games ("family man Kobe'), or to show him shooting jumpers after a game ("workaholic Kobe"), or to document ad nauseam all of the injuries he's always playing through ("warrior Kobe"). As if no other player in the NBA ever goes through this stuff. But the media knows people are mostly sheep so they'll just lap it up.
