We knew that Kobe Bryant’s work ethic is among the best basketball has ever seen before Phil Jackson said it “went beyond” Michael Jordan’s. The Zen Master’s assessment, though, lent even more credence to Bryant’s hallowed, unrelenting drive than we ever thought possible. That of the Mamba’s former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Tony Gaffney won’t do the same, but will still prove a useful anecdote as we immortalize Bryant for decades to come.
In an interview with Basketball Insiders’ David Pick, Gaffney – who was a Laker during the 2009 preseason and currently plays for Hapoel Jerusalem – tells a story of Bryant forcing him to play 1-on-1 hours before each Lakers training camp practice. But Gaffney is Gaffney and Kobe is Kobe; regular basketball rules wouldn’t suffice, so Bryant made up his own to challenge himself.
Roughly one week into training camp Bryant called Gaffney down to the Lakers’ training facilities in El Segundo.
“We’re gonna start playing one-on-one,” Bryant told Gaffney, according to the forward. “I heard you’re a defensive lockdown player. So, lock me down.”
“Obviously easier said than done,” Gaffney said with a laugh. “But for about three weeks in a row, I was forced to show up hours before practice to play one-on-one against Kobe.”
Bryant would invent various sets of rules where he could only dribble and score with his weak hand; some days he could only score inside the paint, others only from outside.
“Oh, and I never got to play offense,” Gaffney said.
We’re actually not surprised by Gaffney’s tale. Of course Bryant pushed himself by playing one-on-one hours before camp sessions against a supposed defensive stopper. Extra effort like that is what has pushed Kobe to the game’s very peak.
The more revelatory factoid of Gaffney’s interview is that Bryant embraced him in friendship before the 2010 Finals when he was a member of the Boston Celtics. A notoriously gruff teammate, Kobe apparently exercised a different type of leadership with Gaffney – not unlike the one he’s utilizing this season, actually.
Rest assured, we’ll tell as many Kobe stories as we can throughout the 2014-2015 season. We’re running out of time to do so.
What do you think?
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