Adam Morrison gives his perspective on the difference between Kobe as a person and as a player: "He knew when he could touch somebody's life or make their day"

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Kobe Bryant was one of the most talented prospects out of high school when he joined the NBA in 1996. He was confident enough to bypass college and go straight to the NBA. Kobe knew he could compete in terms of talent, but the only thing that could separate him was his dedication and hard work.

His teammates were always impressed with how much Kobe worked, which became the primary reason behind the Lakers’ success. Kobe learned how to be a secondary star and turned into the biggest star in the basketball world through the lessons he learned and his hard work behind the scenes.

Bryant’s former teammate Adam Morrison once talked about the Black Mamba and his approach to practice and the elite preparation during practice.

“Everything that everybody has talked about his mentality is completely true. I’ve seen him numerous times when we had a game in back-to-backs, I would come and shoot at 8:00, which is still early but not crazy, and he’s getting done with a workout from 5:30,” Morrison said in 2020. “He had an almost psychotic drive to be successful, at first, it rubbed people the wrong way, but he was just trying to win games… It was unbelievable how tough and prepared he was.”

Morrison says Kobe was a “self-made” player

Adam spoke about how Kobe was a “self-made” player, which means he already had talent, but he kept working and became a superstar through sheer determination and hard work. Bryant had an obsessive approach to basketball, as he trained in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes, he would ask his teammates to train with him around 5 AM, an unnatural time for most people to be awake. However, that was the sacrifice Kobe was making to separate himself from other talented players.

That obsession with winning helped Kobe become one of the best players in the history of the NBA. He expected his teammates to follow a similar routine, but only a few did, which led to feuds between teammates like the one between Kobe and Smush Parker.

No one doubted Kobe’s hard work, which made him one of the best self-made players in NBA history, according to Morrison. Additionally, Adam loved being around Bryant because the five-time champion was a genuine and good person behind the scenes, contrary to some disparaging stories.

“As a person, he was fantastic, a little bit aloof at first, but if you got to know him, he was somebody who could sense if you were struggling or he knew what he meant to other people,” Adam continued. “He knew when he could touch somebody’s life or make their day, which is who he was, that is why I was fortunate to get invited to his ceremony in L.A.”

Morrison benefited from having Kobe as a teammate

Morrison was one of Kobe’s lucky teammates during his prime in 2009 and 2010. Adam was a player on the end of the Lakers’ bench, but he was a good piece for chemistry, considering he was one of Kobe’s favorite teammates.

“Adam, he’s one of our favorite teammates of all time… Secondly, that’s a testament to our team because Adam can really play, he can really go. For him to take a step back and do things like that really helped us get to that championship level,” Kobe said about Morrison on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

That kind of appreciation for a player at the end of the bench showed why Kobe was an excellent teammate despite all the controversies around him, including the feuds with Smush and Shaquille O’Neal. The Black Mamba deserves praise for his contributions to the game and his success in 20 seasons in the league.