Many athletes and celebrities have had their own personal Kobe Bryant stories to share since the NBA legend tragically died in a helicopter crash back in January, and Kevin Hart’s is easily one of the best.
Hart recently took to social media to reveal that he attended a basketball camp with Bryant when the two were both in high school. The camp was in Philadelphia and run by former La Salle University basketball coach Speedy Morris. At the time, Hart had aspirations of playing at a top college program, while Bryant was already established as one of the best players in the country. But one thing really stuck out about Kobe at this particular camp — he used nothing but his left hand.
According to Hart, Morris tried to motivate the campers a few days in by pointing out that Bryant was using the time to work on shooting, dribbling and passing with only his left hand. The whole story is worth listening to, but the best part starts at around 2:57.
.@KevinHart4real tells an incredible story about Kobe’s unparalleled work ethic and focus
Mamba went an entire camp in high school without using his right hand pic.twitter.com/6f5fJ4kBhB
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 5, 2020
“Kobe Bryant approached the camp to only work on his left hand,” Hart recalled. “He never shot the ball with his right hand, he never dribbled the ball with his right hand. Kobe Bryant played us left-handed. The opportunity I thought was gonna be the biggest of my life was an (expletive) practice pad for Kobe Bryant. The moments I thought I was playing some of the hardest defense ever, Kobe Bryant was just counting in his head, ‘One dribble, two dribble, three dribble, four…’
“We didn’t even know he was practicing on us until the head coach made us all feel stupid for not working as hard as he worked. Needless to say, that’s when my NBA dreams were shattered.”
It’s somewhat cliche to say a star athlete “works harder than anyone you will ever see,” but that was certainly true in Bryant’s case. There’s plenty of evidence to support that, and Shaq helped spell it out for us with an awesome story he shared about Kobe’s rookie year a while back.
There aren’t many high schoolers who would dedicate an entire basketball camp to only using one hand. Kobe was that type of competitor, which is a big reason he won five NBA titles.
