Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant recently shared one of the many factors that contributed to him being widely considered as one of the greatest to ever play the sport.
According to the retired five-time NBA champion, learning the sport in Italy allowed him to master the technical aspect of the game:
“It gave me a huge advantage actually because when I grew up playing overseas, I was learning the fundamentals of the game,” Bryant explained, via FIBA.basketball. “I wasn't learning the between-the-legs, behind-the-back stuff. I was learning just tactical things like moving without the ball or making the fundamentally sound passes, left hand, right hand. How to use the angle on the bank shot. How to hide behind screens – just all the tactical things. We would have been lucky to scrimmage and play once a week. We'd be really lucky to do that.”
Bryant and his family moved to Italy when he was just 6 years old, and it wasn't until he was 13 before he returned to the United States to pursue a career in basketball.
Kobe went on to point out that upon his return, he quickly realized that his tactical knowledge gave him a huge advantage against the kids he was playing with:
“I think it gave me a huge advantage, so when I came back to America, the kids didn't know how to do that,” he added. “And you couldn't learn to do that in one day or one week. That stuff had to be taught over years whereas between-the-legs and behind-the-back, I could learn that in a week.”
This definitely makes a lot of sense, as Kobe Bryant is considered one of the most intelligent basketball minds the sport has ever seen. As it turns out, his time abroad worked wonders for the 18-time All-Star, and it definitely played a huge role in molding one of the best in the business.
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