Byron Scott opened the memory box in his podcast “Byron Scott’s Fast Break” on his relationship with Kobe BryantThe former member of the ShowTime Lakers was there for the beginning and end of Kobe Bryant's career with the Lakers, first as a player in 1996/97, then from 2014 to 2016 as a coach, to accompany the legend in his last two years.
Byron Scott thus had the privilege of being the mentor of the one who was already presented as a future phenomenon of the league, and who quickly convinced the locker room with his talent and his determination to become one of the greatest. The “Black Mamba” thus impressed his elder with his passion for training and the discipline he devoted to it in order to progress.
“There are three people in my life that I looked up to for how hard they trained: Jerry Rice, Walter Payton and Kobe Bryant. His work ethic was legendary. Kobe never trained once a day. He would get up at 4:00 a.m., or he would meet me at the gym at 4:00 a.m., and he would train for two or three hours because he knew he had to get bigger. Then he would go eat breakfast. He would come back and shoot 500 shots, so he would be there for another two hours. Then he would get ready for practice! He would do another two or three hours of practice like nothing happened. Then he would go to lunch, rest for an hour and a half… And he would come back in the evening and train again.”
A training “scientist”
A work ethic that helped make Kobe Bryant the Lakers legend he later became. For Byron Scott, the Lakers guard had the recipe for staying in the NBA figured out.
“It was crazy to me because he had his method, it was scientific. He said to me, ‘If I practice three times a day, and all these other guys who are supposedly great players only practice once a day, over a period of five years, they’re not going to be able to compete. I’ve practiced so much, my body, my footwork, my shot. So over a period of five to 10 years, they can’t beat me. They’re going to be way behind.’ You know, Kobe was extremely smart. He figured scientifically, if he stuck to that, we’re not going to catch him. And he was right, and it worked.”
His thirst for victory has indeed taken him to the top, thanks (in part) to this “scientific” side of basketball.
“I tell people this all the time, too: Kobe Bryant wasn’t the most talented player I’ve ever seen on the basketball court. Tracy McGrady was more talented. Vince Carter was more talented, too. And that’s no disrespect to them because I love both of those guys. They’re both incredible players, both Hall of Famers, there’s no doubt about that. But they didn’t have that little something extra that Kobe had. And that’s also why, when he went up against those guys, he shined. And he waited to play them. That was his motivation. He wanted to play against the best. You don’t see superstars today saying, ‘The best player on the other team, I want to guard him.’”
Tendon, shoulder, knees, everything was there
This “Mamba Mentality” taken to the extreme also played tricks on him, since his body sometimes gave up on him in the face of the amount of work that was imposed on him. For Byron Scott, it is also this relentlessness that caused some pretty serious injuries throughout his career.
“When you train as hard as he did, I think the human body can only handle so much. The Achilles tendon, the knees, the shoulder, all those things are kind of a result of the extreme work ethic that he had. But the thing about Kobe is he didn’t care. He also understood that being a basketball player is a short period of time. It’s not 40 years. ‘I can play this game for 15-20 years and give it my all. Are injuries going to shorten my career? Yeah, probably, but I’ll deal with that later.’ That was his mentality.”he continued. “To this day, I haven’t seen anyone else tear their Achilles tendon and not come off the court. I’ve seen plenty of people go off the court and get carted off the court and never come back. I’ve seen him tear it, go to the bench, come back on the court, make his two free throws, and then walk to the locker room.
Byron Scott has a multitude of anecdotes to illustrate Kobe Bryant's determination. In the same vein as his ruptured Achilles tendon, he recalled that evening in January 2015, when he seriously injured his shoulder. Another crazy story that serves as a reminder of the type of competitor he was.
“There’s another crazy story. We’re in New Orleans. Kobe takes a shot, something happens, and he comes back on defense holding his shoulder. Gary Vitti tells me to take him out, so I take a timeout and ask him if he’s OK. ‘I felt something pop in my shoulder.’ I tell him I have to take him out of the game. And he says, ‘No, I’m OK, I got another one.’ He goes back out and he starts to post up Quincy Pondexter. He turns around, and he shoots with his left hand, and he makes it. But he was still holding his shoulder. So I took him out afterward. After the game, the medical staff comes out and says, ‘He’s got a torn shoulder, he needs surgery. His season’s over.’ He played five more minutes until I said stop. That’s the mental toughness of Kobe Bean Bryant.”
