So in the wake of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant I’ve been looking at a lot of social media posts by current and former NBA players (I was a huge fan of Kobe). Came across one a few minutes ago that should be interesting to Oklahoma State basketball fans.
It was an Instagram post and Live video by John Lucas III, who was one of the stars of our 2004 Final Four team and hit the game winning shot in the Elite 8 to send us there.
The live video is still up if anyone is interested: https://instagram.com/jl3basketball?igshid=aqlvmx9egbx6
Here’s my recap:
I particularly enjoyed his story about when John Lucas had finished his Jr year at Oklahoma State, coming off a Final 4 run where he was the star player. He said he was full of himself, and he went to a Rockets-Lakers game in Houston to see Kobe so that he could brag and impress Kobe with his college career. John Lucas bragged that he was putting up 8,000 shots a week, and Kobe says “That’s all? I put up 12,000.” John Lucas then says that he couldn’t believe it because he felt his arm was about to fall off after 8,000, and he wasn’t sure if Kobe was telling the truth or playing mindgames with him to motivate him.
John Lucas said that it drove him to try and work even harder his senior year, so much so that coach Eddie Sutton had to tell staff to not let Lucas in the gym because he was spending way too much time there. John Lucas also credits Kobe for talking him into to returning to Oklahoma State for his Senior year (Thanks for the 2005 Elite 8 run Kobe!).
I remember the thousands of shots John Lucas put up in practice was a big story back in those days, and it’s kinda cool to find out all these years later that it was at least partially inspired by Kobe.
His Instagram post also had some cool stories about High School Kobe.
How his dad (John Lucas II) first heard of Kobe because his wife told him she had just seen a HS player than was better than JL2 when he was HS (JL2 was a former #1 overall NBA draft pick).
Another was that Kobe kept a garbage bag with basketball gear in his car at all times. John Lucas III still has a bag with basketball gear in his car at all times to this day.
Basically Kobe was his hero since Kobe was a Jr in HS and John Lucas was in 7th grade. For me personally, this was really neat to discover because John Lucas III was my first basketball hero, and all these years later I learn that his hero was my all-time favorite athlete Kobe Bryant.
Sidenote: John Lucas briefly mentioned his OSU teammates JamesOn Curry and Tony Allen in the video as well, and talked about the loss to Ga Tech in the 2004 Final Four.
Anyway, thought it was interesting and wanted to share it here. May all the victims of the tragic helicopter crash this past Sunday rest in peace.