We all know Kobe is the ultimate competitor so it comes as no surprise that something that happened about twenty years ago could still motivate him till this day!
@IamJoeSports
When both Carter & Kobe were in high school, Carter carried his team to the Florida State championship, despite nagging injuries during the season. Kobe’s coach at Lower Merion High School, Gregg Downer in Pennsylvania used to tell Kobe that after seeing what Vince did that he was better than Kobe.
“When I came into the league,” Kobe told the Los Angeles Daily News yesterday, “I always wanted to play extra hard against Vince because of it.”
Carter said he was unaware of that connection between him and Kobe and laughed when Daily News reporter Mark Medina brought it up to him this week. But Carter also said that he wasn’t shocked to learn about it.
“Any information he can get for the good of himself to better him, he’s going to use it,” Carter said. “It doesn’t surprise me.”
Downer also was not surprised that Kobe remember that. “Of all the things that Kobe could remember,” Downer said, “he remembers me poking fun at him and saying that Vince Carter was better than him. He encapsulates all that stuff in his mind. He wanted to be the best. All these years later, you can’t compare what Kobe’s done to what Carter’s done.”
All of this truly sounds like typical Kobe. He will use anything to give himself what he feels is a mental edge. Obviously Kobe had the better pro career but Vince has had himself a very respectable career as well. Just not as good as Kobe.
