MIAMI -- With the sudden deaths of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, still so raw within the NBA community, stories are coming out everywhere about Kobe the athlete, the father, the philanthropist and businessman, and the common denominator of so many of them is Kobe's incredible work ethic. More than anything else, that seems to be the thing about Kobe that stuck with people the most. 

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is no different. On Monday night prior to Miami's game vs. Orlando, Spoelstra shared with the media some of his personal Kobe memories. 

"I still remember the first time I met him," Spoelstra said. "I was an assistant coach, and one of my responsibilities was with the young players. Rasual Butler and I walked out for an early workout. The veterans would always have the best time slotted to work out before the game, so we had to get our work in way before everybody. We got in there four and a half hours [before the game}. We thought we would be there way before anyone else would be on the court. Kobe was already on the court. 

"The painstaking detail and focus he was putting into that workout was remarkable. Rasual and I just ended up watching about 15 or 20 minutes of it. Then we went back to work. And as Kobe finished up his workout, he came and sat down, and it was a surreal moment as a young assistant coach. I was like: 'Wow, he's going to sit here and watch this workout.' Rasual was from Philly, so they knew each other, and he wound up introducing me to [Kobe]. 

"And what I found so amazing about that moment, the reason I bring it up, is because there was nobody that was going to be more fierce or more of a savage as a competitor [than Kobe], and yet the next two minutes of what Kobe was doing to encourage a young player [in Rasual] was simply amazing. And that was early mentorship, when [Kobe] was still a young player [himself] in this league. But Rasual wasn't playing at the time, and Kobe could separate the two things and offer a lot of encouragement, basically telling him: 'Hey, you stick with this. That kind of workout, you're going to earn your spot in this league, it's just a matter of time.' 

"And then to come out in the game that night and just try to destroy everybody. It was paradoxical almost, those two kinds of personalities. He was very giving. We all saw that later in his career when he was such a mentor. But also one of the fiercest competitors you could ever come across."

Spoelstra then went on to tell the story of the time Heat President and former Lakers coach Pat Riley became a Kobe believer. 

"I remember [Kobe's] second year. I remember this vividly," Spoelstra recalled. "In Miami Arena. [Kobe] was still a teenager. We were beating them fairly handily, and he came in in the fourth quarter. And it's not as if he scored 40; he just got his minutes. He got his opportunity at that moment in the game, and played well going down the stretch. 

"So we would all meet in Pat's office after the game," Spoelstra continued. "I was just a video guy so I would sit in the back. But I vividly remember Pat saying: 'Wow. Jerry [West] was right. That kid is going to be special.' And I just thought that was super unique. Anybody that knows Pat knows he's not super complimentary of young players, certainly not of somebody on another team. But that one caught my attention. And then obviously [Kobe] made everybody a believer pretty quickly after that."