What Kobe Bryant Knew About Winning, in Basketball and Life
Lessons from the Lakers legend
“There’s nothing really special about Kobe,” longtime Lakers head trainer Gary Vitti once said on the Legends of Sports podcast.
He was talking about the fact that Kobe Bryant was big, but not that big. He was quick, but not that quick. And he was powerful, but not the most powerful player that coaches had ever seen.
“I mean, there were other players that had more talent than he did, so what was there about him that more talented players had zero rings and he ended up with five?” Vitti asked.
That answer becomes clear in the flood of stories now being shared about the NBA legend, an 18-time NBA All-Star with five NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals. Strategically and often obsessively, Bryant figured out how to win. Here are five lessons we can learn from how he approached the game.
Success is a long game
Growing up in Italy, Bryant spent a lot of time alone, and when he moved back to the U.S., he wasn’t the most athletic kid. “I was really scrawny and had major knee issues because I was growing,” he said last year on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty. Because he couldn’t compete with the bigger kids — some of whom were, as he described…
