Some of the many impressive intangible traits of Kobe Bryant were his willingness to win and his work ethic. Bryant showcased both these qualities when using a unique strategy of training to prepare for guarding Allen Iverson. According to Steve Stoute, the 6ft 6” shooting guard invited 10 young and shifty ball handlers from New York as a method of preparation.
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During an appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Steve Stoute and host Shannon Sharpe discussed numerous topics. At one point in the 130-minute episode, Stoute narrated an interesting story from Kobe Bryant’s youth. The record executive, whom Kobe was living with for a brief time, revealed that the youngster requested 10 guards from New York to prepare him to defend Allen Iverson.
“Kobe was gonna guard Allen Iverson that year and he was very much respectful of Iverson’s speed and all that. He wanted to get young guards from New York, that could do their thing – crossovers and all that. We got them,” Stoute narrated.
After getting all of these fancy dribblers in a single gym, the Black Mamba would line them up and ask them to charge toward the basket from the three-point line. Bryant, who began the drill by standing on the charity stripe, would only play defense, trying to prevent these guards from scoring.
“He line 10 of them up, they came in from the three-point line, he stood at the foul line, and they would come in like an assembly line and he would guard them, try to strip them and run back to the line before the next guy came. He never got on offense… He was guarding guys 6-foot, fast as sh*t,” Stoute recollected.
This method seems very tiring, but it’s barely the craziest method of preparation that the Lakers legend used to prepare for Iverson. In one of his articles for The Players’ Tribune, after his retirement, Kobe mentioned that he studied the movement of great white sharks to help him play better defense on AI.
“Working harder wasn’t enough. I had to study this man maniacally… I searched the world for musings to add to my AI Musecage. This led me to study how great white sharks hunt seals off the coast of South Africa,” Bryant wrote.
Bryant’s unique strategy allowed him to win more games (24-14) than Iverson across the 38 games that they played in their careers.
Iverson had the most respect for the 5x Champion despite the latter being his biggest rival. Apart from treating the Mamba with respect on the hardwood, the Answer often speaks about Kobe’s greatness. While the entire world talks about LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the GOAT candidates alongside Michael Jordan, the Philadelphia 76ers legend keeps pushing Kobe’s name in the discussion.
“When you think you know Mike’s the greatest, which he is, Kobe Bryant come along. You know what I mean. Then you got LeBron James. I get kind of upset at times when people talk about the comparison of LeBron and Mike and I’m like damn like you know people actually forget like out of sight out of mind is real… Michael Jordan all day long and Kobe Bryant is right on his heels,” Iverson declared.
The relationship that Iverson and Bryant shared was quite wholesome. Despite intensely fighting each other at the biggest stage of the game, the two’s respect for each other was heartwarming to see.
