Andrew Gaze: Kobe Bryant’s achievements will be remembered, on and off the court
Aussie basketball great Andrew Gaze was privileged to spend a few days travelling around Australia with Kobe Bryant. He reveals what happened during that trip — and the one thing that stuck out about the NBA superstar.
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I was blessed to spend time with Kobe Bryant during an Adidas promotion in Australia in 1998.
For three days we went from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It was a fantastic time as we engaged with the community and prize winners in a basketball setting.
But I was also able to get an insight into the drive of the man that has become a basketball legend.
Kobe just wanted to win, even when he was competing in one-on-one games against some of the prize winners who weren’t necessarily that familiar with the sport.
Kobe was highly determined to win, but in a fun and respectful way.
I think the thing that stuck out the most was his drive and love for the game.
And although my time with him during the promotional tour was at the very beginning of his career, you could still see how that drive was such an important part of his success.
Some 18 years later you see him snap his achilles in 2013. He faced a very difficult situation with his body and health, but he still had this passion and love for the game that drove him to want to come back to compete and challenge himself at the highest level.
While I didn’t get to know Kobe personally, I was fortunate to receive a brief insight into him.
To then see him grow and follow his career, I’ve taken inspiration from the standards that he was able to achieve and his incredible success with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Five NBA championships is phenomenal. He won those titles in a way that he was able to extract the best out of himself and his teammates.
You read the stories and watch documentaries, and clearly he was an incredible motivation to his teammates.
He pushed them to a level of excellence that he was trying to achieve every day.
Kobe will be remembered as one of the greatest basketballers of all time.
I think the five NBA championships stamp him in a very rare group of players that have been able to achieve that level of success.
Kobe’s two gold medals for Team USA in 2008 and 2012 can often be understated, but I believe they are equally as important as his NBA titles.
He came through in an era where the basketball world was catching up to the Americans.
USA’s dominance was being tested against some very good global teams, but there were several games where Kobe individually was able to perform to a level to help maintain the No.1 status of American basketball.
If it wasn’t for some of his exploits, I don’t think the Americans walk away with those gold medals.
Devastated. #24 #8. â¤ï¸ðŸ™
— Andrew Gaze (@AndrewGaze10) January 26, 2020
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Kobe’s athleticism, grace on the court, and his dogged determination, were things that everyone that has picked up a basketball can admire and be in awe of.
Kobe’s brilliance was such that even if you didn’t love or know much about the game of basketball, if you watched him play you could still appreciate the greatness because of the way he played the game.
He played with so much joy and incredible athleticism that he was respected and admired by even the untrained eye.
— Andrew Gaze is a two-time NBL champion, seven-time NBL MVP and five-time Olympian
Originally published as Andrew Gaze: Kobe Bryant’s achievements will be remembered, on and off the court