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.
