It's kinda hard to believe it's been 15 years since Kobe Bryant played in high school. Somewhere between him getting traded to the Lakers on draft night for Vlade Divac (we still can't believe somebody in L.A. didn't get arrested for committing a robbery that night) and winning his fifth NBA Finals title last year, #8 #24 has grown up right before our eyes. But after WorldStarHipHop dug up an old seven-minute clip of the highlights from KB's senior year at Lower Merion High earlier today (complete with an awkward rendition of "One Shining Moment" at the end), we realized something: We've seen this guy grow up in the NBA, but we clearly haven't learned everything there is to know about him. Because there are some very important things we learned about Kobe Bean while watching these clips from his final high school campaign. Here are five of 'em:
1) KOBE HAS BEEN MAKING THAT CHEESY "YO, YOU CAN'T GUARD ME, SON!" FACE FOR A LONG FUCKIN' TIME NOW.
Time Stamp: 3:07
It's obviously evolved since then. But this guy really just took Jordan's "shrug" and ran with it, didn't he?
2) KOBE HAS ALWAYS BEEN HIP-HOP. WORD TO THE 3XL TALL TEES HE USED TO ROCK UNDERNEATH HIS JERSEYS!
Time Stamp: 4:35
Ah, this is a lost look, isn't it? The old T-shirt underneath the jersey. Why the hell was Kobe's so big, though? Um, yeah. Pause that, please.
3) KOBE'S HIGH SCHOOL TEAM LOOKED LIKE THE EXTRA DIVERSE TEAM A STUDIO EXECUTIVE WOULD PUT TOGETHER FOR A SITCOM.
Time Stamp: 6:12
Kobe's HS team featured black kids, white kids, even a kid with red hair! It must have been like an episode of Hang Time every time he walked into school. And with that type of diversity training, it's no wonder he can handle juggling the personalities of Ron Artest, Pau Gasol and Luke Walton at the same time.
4) KOBE ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO PASS PRETTY WELL—WHEN HE WANTS TO.
Time Stamps: 0:55, 2:05 and 6:25
Hey, look at that. Kobe knows how to drop a dime pretty effectively around the rim. Sometimes when we watch Lakers games, we forget what it looks like.
5) KOBE HAS NEVER REALLY PLAYED WELL WITH OTHERS.
Time Stamp: 2:35
We aren't going to say Kobe's teammates didn't like him in high school. They look perfectly happy when he's draining threes and throwing down dunks. But, freeze the screen at the 2:35 mark. See it? All of Kobe's teammates jumping up and down and celebrating with one another on the left side of the screen. And Kobe standing by himself and trying to get some face time with a cameraman on the right side. Maybe some things just never change.
