Failure Doesn't Exist

Most basketball legends are known for what they did during the game. But Kobe Bryant is adored, in large part, because of how he practiced. Yes, his jump shot was graceful and his championships are noteworthy, but it was Kobe’s approach to the game that inspired so many people around the world. That approach was grounded in dedication, meticulous preparation, and mental resilience.

We’re talking about practice
Kobe’s obsession started at a young age. He fell in love with basketball as a toddler, and started systematically improving his game as a preteen. In a prestigious youth league in Philadelphia, an 11-year old Bryant failed to score a point all summer. “Not even a cheap layup,” as he put it. So he constructed an action plan to shore up his weaknesses: Left hand dribbling, pull-up jumpers, and even post work. Three years later he was one of the best high school players in the state.

So when Kobe air-balled four straight jumpers at the end of his first NBA playoff series, he simply went to work attacking that weakness. “I didn’t have the legs,” Kobe explained. “I have to train differently…so when the playoffs come around, my legs are stronger and that ball gets there.” Others might have psychologically wilted from embarrassment. Kobe viewed it as an opportunity for growth.

“Obsessive work and mental fortitude turned a failure into triumph and his first NBA title.”

Three years later, Bryant hit his first playoff game-winner—pulling up over legendary defender Jason Kidd and drilling a 16-footer with two seconds on the clock. Kidd had stayed with Bryant’s initial crossover and nearly blocked his shot, but Kobe adjusted by clutching the ball back, hanging in the air a touch longer, and releasing it on his way down. It’s hard to imagine a shot requiring more physical strength, to say nothing of the mental and athletic acuity to contort under pressure.

Kobe, still just 21, would complete his redemption arc in the Finals against Indiana. After Shaquille O’Neal fouled out, Bryant—playing on a sprained ankle, no less—knocked down four huge shots in overtime to swing a pivotal Game 4 on the road. His self-diagnostics, obsessive work, and mental fortitude turned a failure into triumph and his first NBA title.

Bryant’s growth from his rookie season to expert-level closer required the proper preparation as well. He carefully crafted a weight-training program for an 82-game grind. He dedicated to act out that plan every day for multiple years. It epitomized what Bryant would ultimately brand his “Mamba mentality,” which he described more like a spiritual self-improvement guide instead of a basketball mantra: “It simply means trying to be the best version of yourself.” And to do that, he had to outwork everyone.

Chasing growth
Kobe’s work ethic is legendary. He was known for waking up everyday and working out at 4 am, then putting in multiple practice sessions scheduled around his team’s…actual practice. According to teammates, he would rent out local high school gyms for road games, so if the team plane arrived at 3 am, he could go train before sunrise. When he was in high school, he would train at 5 am before his first class. “I didn’t want to retire knowing there was more I could have done,” he would say years later. Sleep, apparently, was not a priority.

Bryant’s curiosity informed his training. One of his reasons for skipping college was to learn from the best players in the world. He had studied the legends on film, but to play against Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and other veteran greats provided hands-on knowledge. And access! Kobe asked a ton of questions of both seasoned teammates and opponents. Later in his career, he would train with younger players to try and steal the best tricks from their games. 

“To eliminate fear on the court, he swam in the ocean with great white sharks.”

As a teenager, Kobe wasn’t great at chasing players around screens, but his teammate Eddie Jones was. “I didn’t understand how to do that,” Kobe said, so he would sit with Jones before and after practice, picking his brain to learn the angles and subtle details of screen navigation. Bryant made his first of 12 all-defensive teams a few years later. In 2001 he was asked to chase the smaller Allen Iverson around screens in the NBA Finals, as the Lakers marched to their second consecutive title.

The summer before, Kobe was unable to train because of an ankle injury. Frustrated with his repeated ankle sprains, he said “I gotta address that.” His solution? Take tap dancing lessons to strengthen his ankles and feet. “It changed my rhythm and approach to the game,” he said later. It also vaulted him to fourth in the league in scoring. 

Kobe kept growing. In his first six seasons, he was a low volume, 31 percent 3-pointer shooter. In 2003, he extended that iconic pull-up jumper out to the 3-point line. In an extraordinary month of February, Kobe averaged 41 points per game while making nearly three 3s per game. If he made triples at that pace for the entire year, he would have led the NBA in 3-pointers made. In 2006, he finished 8th in the league in 3-pointers made, again turning weakness into strength.

Most all-time greats have a superpower or two: Some combination of freakish size, strength or hand-eye coordination. Kobe was more well-rounded, perhaps, because his superpower might have been his approach to the game itself. When he wanted to improve his post game, he studied Oscar Robertson and trained with Hakeem Olajuwon. When he needed to train but couldn’t, he took dance lessons. And when he wanted to eliminate fear on the court, he swam in the ocean with great white sharks.

Weakness As Inspiration
From 2001 to 2010, Bryant made nearly 6,000 two-pointers outside of 15 feet. These long midrange shots have mostly disappeared from the NBA because they’re less valuable than the slightly longer 3-pointer. Yet these difficult, long 2s were the definitive Kobe shot. He could fire over defenders with multiple hands in his face, or hang and contort in the air, sometimes altering the arc of the ball to outwit his opponents. This was Kobe’s antidote to perfect defense.

Mathematically, he might have been better off taking more 3s, but those tough mid-ranged shots epitomized Bryant’s mentality. He made double-clutch, game winners in the playoffs. He made twisting jumpers from behind the backboard. He made insane fadeaways falling out of bounds. Bryant even made a spinning left-handed 3 from the corner once.

These tough shots are the ultimate manifestation of Bryant’s work. Perhaps no one in NBA history made more contested, challenging mid-rangers than Kobe. All of those difficult attempts could drag down his overall shooting percentages, but they also led to some of the biggest scoring outbursts the game has ever seen. 

Since 1997, when the league officially started tracking play-by-play, no one has had more 25-point halves than Kobe. From ’01-10, he had 31 quarters with at least 20 points. The next closest players—LeBron James and Tracy McGrady—each had 12. No one went white hot like Bryant, topping 35 points in a half nine times that decade. That’s more than every player in the league combined. 

So while his shot selection might not have been perfect, it embodied his mentality, creating some of his most memorable—and motivational—moments. During a rewatch of his 81-point game against Toronto, Kobe tweeted that he was so locked in during the second half that he “wouldn’t pass a kidney stone.” Critics said he should have passed more, but so much of his process was finding ways to control the outcome himself, which meant mastering a hundred difficult shots. This was the never ending hunt for perfection.

“This is my gift and my curse,” Kobe once told former teammate Wesley Johnson. “If I feel like the other players on the court aren’t really playing as hard as me, I’m not passing.” Bryant ranked 29th in NBA history in assists when he retired, so he passed plenty. He studied ways to punish double teams and practiced counters to varying defensive coverages. But so much of his mentality was betting on himself, focusing on what he could control to bend an outcome toward his will. 

“When I retire I didn’t want to have to say ‘I wish I would have done more’.”

This emphasis on the controllable, and breaking down goals into small, attainable steps, are classic principles of behavioral change. Sometimes Kobe’s basketball advice sounded more like Marcus Aurelius than Michael Jordan. “The greatest fear we face is ourselves,” he would say in interviews after he retired. So while five titles and over 30,000 points helped, he’s also idolized for how he won and how he scored all those points.

Always bet on Black (Mamba)
The dunk is probably the highest percentage shot in basketball, so it’s almost viewed as easy. Shaq had such a size advantage, he merely had to grind his way in close for a dunk. But Kobe’s more difficult shots were indelible. They were more relatable. His superpowers generalize to all fields, ages, and cultures. “Just put one foot in front of the other,” he once said, describing the long path to accomplishing anything meaningful.

Bryant created an advantage with his mind. With his will. With his heart. That’s why he’s admired by so many hoopers around the world. A young Kobe once told teammate Bryon Scott, “if I work out three times a day, and all these other guys...just workout one time a day, over a five year period, they can’t catch me.” Like so many dreamers, risk-takers, and self starters, Kobe bet on himself and his work ethic. And that was often a winning bet.