Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty
The NBA icon Abdul-Jabbar, 75, posted a tribute to the late, beloved Bryant on hisSubstack newsletterto remember his fellow Los Angeles Laker on 8/24, aka Kobe Bryant Day.
Kobe Bryant.Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty
Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, were among the nine killed in January 2020 when the helicopter they were aboard crashed in Calabasas. The tragedy shocked and saddened the globe.
To honor his friend on this year’s 8/24 (Bryant’s two NBA numbers), Abdul-Jabbar noted that others would likely focus on the obvious accolades and awards, but he wanted to highlight something different that Abdul-Jabbar found most impressive: “Kobe Bryant missed the most career field goals in NBA history. He missed 14,481 times.”
Calling that stat “the foundation of his greatness as an athlete,” Abdul-Jabbar said what would otherwise be perceived as a negative flew in the face of what most athletes fear most: Losing.
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“They strive and hustle and push because they don’t want to fail,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote. “That fear of failure is often rooted in anxiety about how they will look to others. However, the great ones are driven not to win, but to exceed their own expectations.”
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And that was exactly who Bryant was, Abdul-Jabbar noted.
Continued Abdul-Jabbar, “To take the shot is to embrace failure and success at the same time. To miss so much and yet feel confident enough to shoot again and again embodies the best qualities of human beings: to imagine something beyond what is, beyond what you’ve ever been able to do, and to strive to make that a reality, no matter how many times you fail. We love Kobe because he wasn’t afraid to take the shot.”
source: people.com
