Lakers: Workaholic Kobe Bryant's Outsized Influence On His "Redeem Team" Colleagues
Hall of Fame former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant was a demented "workaholic" throughout his NBA career, to the point where he claimed to only sleep for three to four hours so that he could maximize his time.
The "Redeem Team" U.S. men's Olympic basketball documentary arrived yesterday onto stateside Netflix accounts.
The Black Mamba made a lasting impression on his teammates, especially the 2008 youth movement era (i.e. immediately after his Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Bryant often led by example, letting his actions speak for him.
If you don't believe us, all you have to do is check out this surprisingly candid clip from Netflix's brand-new feature length film,
"We're in Vegas, we're training and all of that, and we all want to go out," power forward Carlos Boozer, also an Olympian in 2004 and a two-time All-Star, says in the documentary. "So we all go out -- everybody but Kobe."
Boozer continues, "We come back to the hotel [at] about 5:30 or 6 in the morning, and guess who's in the lobby on his way to the gym?".
"Kobe is downstairs in the lobby, with his bag and his sneakers, and his gloves -- weightlifting gloves," 2021-22 Lakers power forward Carmelo Anthony, a 10-time All-Star and guaranteed first-ballot Hall of Famer, relays now. "We were like, 'Where you going, bro?'"
"This motherf***er Kobe is already like drenched in sweat. We [said to each other], 'Man, he different,'" 18-time All-Star and now your Lakers' best player, the surprisingly endurable LeBron James, acknowledges in contemporary footage.
"Next thing you know, it goes from just Kobe going at 5:30 in the morning, to LeBron and [Dwyane Wade], and by the end of the week the whole team was getting up every morning, and we were on Kobe's schedule," Boozer, who later played during his final NBA season with Bryant on the Lakers in 2014-15, reflects.
"It was a domino effect," Anthony, still currently a free agent, added about the impact of Bryant's grind. "He wanted to see who was going to commit."
"For Kobe, he was the best player [among his fellow Olympians circa 2008]," men's national team head coach Mike Krzyzewski indicates. "But now LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, these guys were coming up. How do you handle that, how do you lead a team when you're the alpha dog?"
The answer is, that summer, Kobe Bryant handled it like a champ. Like a gold medal champ, if you will.
