As soon as Kobe saw Gan Guoyang on the training court, his eyes lit up, and for the rest of the training session, he couldn’t take his eyes off Ah Gan.
How long had he waited for this day? Five years? Eight years? No, it was ten years, two months, and nine days, since he first saw Gan Guoyang in Italy in July 1986.
He still remembers watching Gan Guoyang’s game at Palatriast Arena, and after the match, he saw Ah Gan up close in the locker room.
Ah Gan sat there like a deity, exuding an aura of divinity from head to toe, and that moment left an indelible impression on Kobe’s soul.
In the ten years that followed, on the path to becoming the greatest basketball player in history, Kobe always used that moment of amazement to inspire himself.
In times of exhaustion, frustration, pain, and continuous failures, when he stagnated, Kobe would close his eyes and recall that childhood moment, and confidence and motivation would flood in.
"You have to get close to him, then become him, and finally surpass him."
Kobe told himself countless times in his heart that this was the goal he had set for himself.
As time went on, Kobe found that this goal became more and more insurmountable, one championship, then two in a row, three in a row, four in a row.
Regular season 81 points, playoff 60 points, finals 60 points, he stood at the foot of the mountain and hadn’t even started climbing, and the mountain kept growing taller.
But the more it was like this, the stronger the drive within Kobe became, and he became increasingly demanding of himself, to the point of obsession.
Many times his father Joe Bryant didn’t understand, "Why are you pushing so hard? I really can’t understand you, Kobe."
Kobe just remained silent, training late every day on the court, the ball almost never leaving his hand, a passion for basketball that ordinary people couldn’t comprehend.
After becoming a nationally renowned high schooler, this basketball genius should have been popular with girls at school, surrounded by many girlfriends.
But in fact, his female classmates revealed that if they became Kobe’s high school girlfriends, the only thing they could do together in the evening was watch basketball videos.
And it was Ah Gan’s basketball game videos.
When Gan Guoyang decided to retire, Kobe was very sad.
That day he made many calls to Gan Guoyang and sent many pager messages.
Gan Guoyang had to comfort this ardent fan on the phone, telling him, "I’m just taking a temporary leave, I might come back in the future."
"Really? You have to come back, or else I can’t beat you."
Gan Guoyang laughed out loud, thinking, just to beat you in the future, I definitely have to come back once.
After graduating high school in 1996, Kobe decided to enter the draft under enormous pressure, wanting to join higher-level basketball competitions as soon as possible to follow in Ah Gan’s footsteps.
Kobe’s situation was different from other high schoolers entering the draft early, like Moses Malone and Shawn Kemp, who wanted to start earning money sooner.
Kevin Garnett and Little O’Neal had grades too poor to get sufficient scores on the SAT exam and couldn’t get into good colleges, so they chose to enter the draft.
Kobe wasn’t short of money, his father Joe Bryant played years of professional basketball, earning handsomely in the NBA and Europe, resulting in a very good financial situation.
Kobe scored 1080 on the SAT (out of 1600), enough to apply to any university, but he didn’t do that.
He wanted to leap directly from high school to the professional league, challenging the highest basketball stage, a decision filled with visible courage and determination.
He couldn’t wait another minute.
By contrast, at the same time, Little O’Neal jumped the college ranks and entered the NBA draft, facing a somewhat better situation since Little O’Neal was an inside player.
The draft risk for inside players is much lower than for outside players, especially guards, so Little O’Neal’s pressure couldn’t be compared to Kobe’s.
The final draft outcome caught everyone by surprise. Kobe arrived in Portland as he wished, and with Little O’Neal, sparking a lot of controversy.
And what seemed like a smooth and uneventful draft was actually filled with fierce mental games and high-risk intrigues and plots.
The Trail Blazers’ highly controversial decision to take on two high schoolers was a high-risk investment for future high returns, disrupting many teams’ drafting plans.
Jerry West desperately wanted Kobe, and the Philadelphia 76ers also considered picking Kobe with the first pick but ultimately chose Allen Iverson due to risk concerns.
The New Jersey Nets had a chance to pick Kobe at the 8th spot, but Jerry West conveyed false information through Kobe’s agent Tellem to the Nets:
If the Nets chose Kobe, he wouldn’t report to New Jersey and might go to Italy to play.
The 1996 draft featured many college geniuses; the Nets didn’t want to take risks on Kobe.
At the draft, they backed down and picked the more secure Kittelers with the 8th pick.
Jerry West trialed Kobe in Los Angeles, had a long discussion with him, and was very pleased with Kobe, saying Kobe’s performance was the best he’d ever seen.
He wanted him after just watching for 20 minutes, envisioning a core framework of Kobe + Jide + O’Neal, confident that this would return them to the top of the Western Conference within three years.
When the Nets didn’t pick Kobe at the 8th spot, Jerry West breathed a huge sigh of relief, thinking the biggest obstacle to picking Kobe had been removed.
The Trail Blazers, having gotten the 10th pick, would choose Little O’Neal, and the 11th and 12th spots had their choices, so the Lakers would go all out to trade for the 13th pick, willing to give up anyone but Jide.