1 day Ago By Joseph Galizia
When LeVelle Moton reflects on his younger days, one memory stands out above the rest. The current head coach at North Carolina Central University remembers being in Philadelphia and watching a teenage Kobe Bryant practice with the 76ers. Kobe was still in high school at the time, but already, the way he moved, the way he carried himself—Moton could tell this was something different.
He spoke about it in detail during an interview on the Run Your Race podcast with Theo Pinson.Kobe’s name echoed across the high school basketball scene like folklore. The soon-to-be Black Mamba was a phenom at Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania, torching defenses and stacking up accolades with the poise of someone twice his age.
The future Hall of Famer only added to his hype when he decided to forgo college and immediately enter the NBA draft. Suffice to say, the rest was history.Moton remembers the moment he saw Kobe and wondered who this young kid was that was going toe-to-toe with the pros.
“It was Kobe,” he stated. “But Kobe was playing with the Sixers and they’re already like, he’s a junior at this time, homie going to the league.” Watching a young Mamba ball wasn’t just a transcendent experience.
It also showed Moton that basketball was a constant rotation of the youth taking over.“They gonna take the jobs of somebody else who got to feed their families,” stated Moton. “That’s when I realized it’s really a young man’s game.
It’s a new wave every year.” The words resonated with Pinson, who posted the question to all future players: “You gonna get there. But can you stay there?” he asked.
The entire viewpoint is a good representation of not just Kobe’s era, but the current one. Young studs like Anthony Edwards, SGA, and Tyrese Haliburton are dominating the grizzly veterans on the court on every possession. The game always changes, but the wave of fresh legs just makes it harder to adapt.
Sure, the great ones know how to do it. But not many were in Kobe Bryant’s tier.Training was key to Kobe’s success, even when he was youngKobe Bryant had the heart of a champion the very moment he first picked up a basketball.
But it wasn’t just his incredible skill that aimed the Mamba at his riches. It was his hard work and his willingness to always want to improve. Kobe believed that if his teammates wanted to find the same success, he needed to push them to get there.
“As the leader of a team, it’s always your responsibility to elevate the rest of the guys,” said Kobe during an old interview on the Coach’s Diary. “And in practice, for me, it was a chance to challenge them. And this is where you have to know your teammates.
”The NBA legend went on to explain that if practice was harder than a Game 7, then the pressures of a Game 7 would be easier for his teammates to handle.It’s crazy to think that from his time as a teenager to his last 62-point performance as a Laker, Kobe lived and breathed basketball. He knew the game better than anyone because he constantly adapted and learned.
We should all aim to be half as good as people as the Mamba was at ball.The post “Take The Job Of Somebody Else”: Teen Kobe Bryant’s Brilliance Enlightened Levelle Moton appeared first on The SportsRush..
