--- title: A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant | TIME description: L.A. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant gives TIME's Sean Gregory some tips for a pickup game canonical: https://time.com/video/IJ5zvA8w/ og:title: A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant og:description: L.A. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant gives TIME's Sean Gregory some tips for a pickup game og:url: https://time.com/video/IJ5zvA8w/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IJ5zvA8w/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant twitter:description: L.A. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant gives TIME's Sean Gregory some tips for a pickup game twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IJ5zvA8w/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant [Watch (HLS stream): A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IJ5zvA8w.m3u8) (7:36)  _Published 2009-03-05. L.A. Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant gives TIME's Sean Gregory some tips for a pickup game_ --- Jul 28, 2023 4:23 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [In Memoriam: Kobe Bryant](/video/QOhDgLG5/) ### In Memoriam: Kobe Bryant [Kobe Bryant to unveil Venture Capital Fund](/video/YiuN6egL/) ### Kobe Bryant to unveil Venture Capital Fund [Five of Kobe Bryant's greatest feats](/video/fgwBjFBa/) ### Five of Kobe Bryant's greatest feats --- ## Transcript >> Hi. I'm Sean Gregory from TIME. com. And we are here at Southern Nazarene University outside Oklahoma City, with Kobe Bryant who's in town with the Lakers who are playing the Oklahoman City Thunder tomorrow. And we're gonna get a free basketball lesson with Kobe Bryant. Kobe, thanks a lot of doing this. >> My pleasure. >> So, let's start with basic shooting form. >> Well, first of all, I start with the grip. I like to have my-- my fingers normally in the seams. So, you get your thumb right here in the seam. This way, you have a good grip on the ball, keep the ball in your fingertips. You're gonna be able to have that space. You don't wanna be able to-- you won't have to shoot the ball, you know, in your palm. >> Right. >> And what I do with this arm here, I normally keep my thumb in between-- it's just a comfort thing for me. And so, the important thing is to find-- to find a grip that's comfortable to you. And then, once you elevate it, muscle almost pretty much right here. This is where I'm comfortable with. And as a kid, I used to try to do this and that. But it just wasn't comfortable to me. So, this is a position that's most comfortable to me. It's almost like an " L ," but not really. >> Right. It's [ unk ] back a little bit. >> Right. Right. I mean, the difficulty that I have at shooting is a lot of times, my head moves, which then throws the balance of the shot off, so you know, if you-- even if I'm shooting a twist and fade away, or a free throw or a three- point shot, I like to keep my head straight because that's the balance. >> Could you just walk me through some jab steps. And everybody can just flow by people. So, you got to use some footwork. >> Thing about footwork is you don't have to be, you know, fast or quick. But what you-- what you have to do is you have to sell the fake, you know. So, for example, if I'm-- defender is guarding me, you know, I'll set it up the first time. If he's close to me, I'll just blow mine, I just go right. I just, you know, you just use this foot where you try to get to the outside of this foot, and just go right behind. >> All right. So-- >> Okay. >> it's-- so, you wanna blow by. >> You have to attack that. >> Right. >> You have to attack that foot, make him drop, then go right to the basket. >> You're attacking the foot 'cause as the defender, if you attack my foot, I kinda like stop or-- >> Well, it's-- I mean, you gotta be a really good-- really good defense player to be able to drop that foot and then cut somebody off, you know. So that next time, he knows I've already done that. So now, I could fake. And now, I could go. So now, you've got the defender in a quandary now. You know, he doesn't know. You can drive left, you can drive right, you can pull up a shoot. So, then, that's when you travel. You sell that fake, that jump shot fake. Defender raises up just a little bit, and now, you can go with the right or you can go left, you know. So, it's like-- almost like a-- it's like chess kinda. You-- each move sets up the next move. >> Do you ever [ unk ] like help coming over and like half right? >> All the time. All the time. Because that's when I'm working my pull- up jump shot, you know. 'Cause now, you beat the defender, oh, here comes the help. You know, you gotta shoot that pull- up-- pull- up jump shot or the double team's coming here, you spin here. >> A pull- up jump shot, perfect segway. It's the law start in basketball. >> Right. >> Everybody-- every announcer says back in the 70 and the 80s, they all can do [ unk ] jumper. >> Right. >> It's hard to do. >> Now, the science of it really is this-- you wanna be on balance once you're going up. After that, you know, you may fake, you might do whatever. But going up, you wanna be able to have a firm base, and pivoting here with this leg here and get in the strong base here. Now, once you elevate, now you can fake. Feel like, oh, I'm doing-- so this is your left going there to your strong hand. I'm doing going right. >> Okay. >> So, when I'm coming here as the defender, this is what you're seeing. You're seeing this right here as the defender. So now, I'm taking it from here. >> Okay. >> I'm raising up and shooting that shot. >> That's a cue. It's protecting the ball from your-- >> Yeah. >> kinda plant in your foot. >> You have to. >> You got to protect. I can-- >> You have to. >> I can just grab. >> Especially when you got little guys on you. Because they will get up in there and try to take it from you, you know. So, you gotta protect it, the way you're going to shoot right over the top of them. >> Foul shooting. Kobe against the Knicks went 21 for 21, 22 for 22, and you scored 61 at the Garden, the Garden record. Just what are you thinking of? Do you take the same amount of dribbles every time? You know, Mark Jackson used to, you know shift the rim or something like-- do something like that. >> Yeah. >> What's your kinda-- what's your routine? >> Oh, it is-- I'm walking through my routine right now. A lot of times, my hands get dry. This course of the game, it's tough to feel the ball. So, a lot of times, you see me either blow my hands, or I'll get some sweat from my forehead, dry my hands off just slightly. The ref would throw me the ball. Once I catch it, I'll roll it out, take a breath, I'll settle here. One, two, three. Square here. Keep your head steady. >> Follow through. >> Follow through. >> When you follow through, your other hand is kinda straight up. I mean, your off hand. >> You know what? I always use the off hand as like, as a guide, really. It's like a, you know, it's-- I use it to aim. >> What are you looking at when you're guarding somebody? Talk me through what you're kind of-- what your-- mentality >> Well, I played to hit some-- my opponent's weaknesses. >> Okay. >> Obviously. It's like your left hand. So, I'd probably sit inside here and get this hand inside here, you know. So, it's a little trick for the Weekend Warriors over there. >> Trick. Trick. You like trick. >> Once this guy makes his move with his right hand, what you try to do is you try to pin this arm. See this-- see this arm right here? It's a strong hand. You pin this 'cause you know he's inevitably gonna come back to his strong hand, right? So now, when he makes that move, now, you can't come back while he's trying to cross over. Uh- oh. And ball pops out. That ball pops out because you pin that, you take away his strength. >> Right. >> Right here. You get up inside of him. >> Uh- oh. >> Yeah. Out of control. >> Uh- oh. >> How do you do that without getting a foul call? >> Huh? >> How do you do that without getting a foul call? >> It's so-- it's too fast. >> It's too fast. >> It's so quick. >> And the-- >> Absolutely quick, you know. You're in here, it's the-- this guy here. >> Yeah. Right. >> So, once he goes, right, now, I sit in his pocket here, and I won't let him-- I won't let him come back. So when he comes back, he's coming right back to me, and I could steal that ball. And we're off. >> How do you tune out trash talk or heckling? I mean, how do you, you know, kind of all the stuff going around-- >> You get in character. Like the game we played the Knicks. I won't even talk to anybody. And I wasn't-- I wasn't gonna say hello to Spike, I wasn't gonna say hello to my man, Jay Z, you know. I just wasn't in the mood. I didn't wanna hear anything, I was in my moat, my focus. I wasn't gonna let anybody break that. Basketball, a lot of times, it's-- has to do with the emotional space that you can put yourself in. And that particular game, I was in one of those moods. I mean, you know, a couple of Knick guys would come up to me during the game and say hello as we've done in the past, and I just ignore them 'cause I just-- I, you know, I was in my zone. And I didn't want anything, you know, outside of that taking me out of it. >> You know, we've come through a lot. Any other tips for-- >> Have fun. Have-- oh, and stretch. >> Stretch? >> Stretch. >> Really? >> Stretch. >> 'Cause you know, some people-- you grow up, you know-- >> Stretch. You better stretch. My dad still plays basketball now. And the hardest part is not actually playing, it's getting up in the morning the next day. That's the hardest part for him. Got to stretch. >> Anything else? >> Have fun. See you when I see you. >> My [ unk ] broke, don't fix it. Uh- oh. Excuse me. Oh. Come here. I see that's talking trash. >> Yeah. >> That's talking trash. When you try to play, you can do none about it. >> No. >> Take-- give me your hand. Give me your hand. Give me your hand. >> Hook shot. >> Oh, don't reach, don't reach. Don't reach. Oh. Excuse me. >> All right. Kobe, I really-- >> Very welcome, man. >> Thanks a lot for the lessons. >> Hope that helps you out a little bit. >> Hope so, too. Thanks. Sure will. Good luck. >> Thank you. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant","description":"L.A. 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