Kobe Bryant
| Position: | Guard |
| Height: | 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm) |
| Weight: | 220 lb. (100 kg) |
| College: | None |
| High School: | Lower Merion HS
Lower Merion, PA, USA |
| NBA draft: | 1996, 1st round 13th overall |
| Pro career: | 10th season |
| Hall of Fame: | None (Active) |
Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is the son of former Philadelphia 76ers player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant. Although some have criticized him as selfish on the court, Bryant's combination of talent, skill, dedication, and work ethic have been instrumental in establishing his status as one of the premier athletes in the NBA. With his growing list of individual accomplishments, the 27-year old Bryant is expected by many to eventually rank among the greatest players in NBA history.
Early life
Kobe Bryant was born the only son of Joe and Pam Bryant. At the age of 6 he, his two sisters, and his parents moved to Italy, where his father began playing professional basketball. While living there, he gradually became accustomed to the lifestyle and subsequently learned to speak Italian fluently. In 1994, the Bryants moved back to the United States. After a spectacular high school career in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion, at Lower Merion High School, Bryant achieved national recognition as a prodigal basketball talent. While his SAT score of 1080 would have ensured his basketball scholarship to various top-tier colleges, Bryant eventually scrapped his original plans of continuing on to college by making the leap from high school directly to the NBA, a bold but controversial decision made by the then 17-year-old, the first guard ever to bypass college basketball. (Previous high schoolers who had turned professional had been frontcourt players, who often have a somewhat easier learning curve in the pro game.)
Bryant was originally selected 13th by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft, but they traded him on July 11, 1996 to the Los Angeles Lakers for center Vlade Divac. Though young and somewhat introverted, Bryant's talent made an impression on his teammates on the practice court. Despite his natural talent, Bryant often had trouble relating to teammates away from the basketball court, and he struggled to make friends early in his career.
Marriage
It was during this time that the 20-year-old Bryant first met 16-year-old Vanessa Laine on the set of a music video where Laine was working as a background dancer. The two began dating and were engaged six months later. They married on April 18, 2001 in Dana Point, California, while Laine was still a senior at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. Bryant's parents initially were staunchly opposed to the marriage for a number of reasons, with the couple's young age being one of their primary concerns. This disagreement resulted in an estragement period of over two years, during which Kobe did not have any contact with his parents. At this time his parents hired a hitman/doughboy by the name of Shaq, to teach him a lesson on pwning n00bs.
Kobe and Vanessa's first daughter Natalia Diamante Bryant was born on January 19, 2003. Soon after Natalia's birth, Kobe reconciled his differences with his parents, and the family was once again on good terms. After his owned stuff suffered a miscarriage due to an ectopic pregnancy in the spring of 2005, the Bryants announced that they are expecting their second child, another daughter, in May 2006.
Early NBA career
1996 Draft
Bryant's career trajectory as an NBA player out of high school has been nothing short of exceptional. Even before he was chosen as the 13th pick overall by the Hornets in 1996, Bryant had made a lasting impression on then-Lakers general manager Jerry West, who immediately foresaw the potential in Bryant's basketball talent during pre-draft workouts. After overseeing the arrival of Shaquille O'Neal to Los Angeles, West continued his quest to return the Lakers to championship status by trading center Vlade Divac to the Hornets for the 18-year old Bryant.
Championship years
Bryant was primarily labeled a work-in-progress by then-Laker coach Del Harris during his first two seasons with the Lakers, in which he played mostly off the bench under guards Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. However, Bryant's fortunes would soon change when Phil Jackson became coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. After years of steady improvement, Bryant had become one of the premier shooting guards in the league, a notion that was indicated by his annual presence in the league's All-NBA, All-Star, and All-Defensive teams. The Los Angeles Lakers became perennial championship contenders under Bryant and former teammate Shaquille O'Neal, who teamed up to form one of the deadliest center-guard combinations in NBA history. Their success gave the Lakers three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The 2003 season saw the end of the Lakers's run as a mini-dynasty, but also became the definitive season for Kobe Bryant. A superstar at only 24 years of age, Bryant averaged over 30 points per game and embarked on a historic scoring run, posting 40 or more points per game for nine consecutive games while averaging 40.6 in the entire month of February. After finishing a respectable 50-32 in the regular season, however, the Lakers floundered in the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the San Antonio Spurs in six games. Los Angeles was thereby denied a fourth consecutive NBA championship.
Madison Avenue appeal
Bryant's image and accomplishments on and off the basketball court made him one of basketball's most popular and marketable players. He became a spokesperson for major corporations such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola. For several years, he had an exclusive apparel and shoe deal with Adidas but is currently under a four-year, $45 million advertising contract with Nike [1].
Work ethic
Much of Kobe Bryant's meteoric rise to NBA superstardom is attributed to his consummate work ethic. In each of his years in the league, Bryant showed improvement in all areas of his game, from offense to strength to defense. On the court he showed himself to be a very composed and competitive player with impressive concentration, able to deliver the toughest and clutch shots at the times most needed. These attributes allowed him to rise to the level of a premier player in the NBA.
Sexual assault allegations
Accusation and court cases
In the summer of 2003, the news media reported that prosecutors in Eagle County, Colorado were planning to charge Bryant with the sexual assault of a 19-year old hotel employee. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera hotel in Edwards, Colorado in advance of having knee surgery near there the next day. The woman in question, eventually identified as Katelyn Faber, accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room the night before the surgery. Law enforcement officials interviewed Bryant about the incident following his surgery. [2] A few days after that, formal charges were filed against Bryant.
After he was formally charged, Bryant held a news conference in which he adamantly denied having raped Faber. He confessed to having an adulterous sexual encounter with her, but insisted that everything that happened between the two had been consensual.
The case's pre-trial hearings went on through the 2003-2004 NBA season, a number of times causing Bryant to have to be in court in Colorado during the day, then immediately fly to another part of the country to play in the Lakers' game that night. Bryant generally performed well in such games, though the on-going proceedings and the media attention on them served as a continuing distraction, both to Bryant personally, and to the Laker team as a whole.[3][4]
As the hearings went on, it became clear that Bryant's defense team's strategy was going to be to aggressively attack Faber's credibility.[5] Various media reports about evidence that Bryant's defense was planning to present caused widespread speculation that chances of the prosecution overcoming reasonable doubt and obtaining a conviction were dwindling. Amid both such speculation and the intense scrutiny of her personal life, Faber decided to withdraw her support of the criminal prosecution informed prosecutors that she would be unwilling to testify in the case. With that development, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case against Bryant, with District Attorney Mark Hurlbert citing Faber's unwillingness to continue as his reason for doing so. As part of the overall agreement, Bryant issued a statement in which he continued to assert that he believed his encounter with Faber to be consensual, but acknowledged that Faber "did not and does not view this incident the same way that I did."
In the aftermath of the trial, Faber filed a civil lawsuit against Bryant over the incident. The two sides ultimately settled that lawsuit, with the specific terms of the settlement being undisclosed to the public. Just as media sources speculated that the criminal case was dropped by the prosecution due to Faber's reluctance to expose the various details of her personal life, many media sources also speculated that Bryant had decided to settle the civil case out of court so that the details of his own personal life would not be made public.
Aftermath and image problems
Kobe Bryant had always received an abundance of criticism regarding his play on the basketball court. Detractors have long branded him as a selfish, egotistic player who pads his own achievements at the expense of his team. However, one factor which had helped to uphold a generally positive public image even despite such criticism had been the public's perception of him as "squeaky-clean" with regard to his moral behaviors. The public had become accustomed to tales of high-profile professional athletes indulging gratuitously in a wild nightlife rife with alcohol, drugs and/or sexual promiscuity. But Bryant had a reputation as one who eschewed such behaviors, preferring to keep quietly to himself, even to the point of his being criticized for not socializing enough with his teammates.
The events surrounding the alleged sexual assault changed that dynamic drastically. At best, he was guilty of the adultery to which he had confessed. And when the police transcript of his interview with investigators later became public, it revealed that Bryant had further confessed to investigators that his adultery with Faber was not an isolated incident. He had acknowledged that unbeknownst to his wife, he had been maintaining an on-going affair with another woman in New York.[6] But still worse was the fact that despite the lack of a criminal conviction, many people believed him to be guilty of rape.
The loss of Bryant's positive moral image as a shield also led to the previous criticism of his play taking on a new intensity. With his image so badly tarnished, the public's perception of Bryant plummeted, and his endorsement contracts with McDonald's, Nutella, and Ferrero SpA were terminated. Sales figures from NBA merchandisers indicated that sales of replicas of Bryant's jersey fell far off of their previous highs.
Furthering the blemish upon Bryant's reputation was the public rift through the Laker core of Bryant, O'Neal, and coach Phil Jackson. In well-documented episodes throughout their careers together on the Lakers, mainly over leadership of the team, O'Neal and Bryant have feuded in dramatic fashion. The 2000-era Lakers were built around the dominant center in O'Neal but Bryant seemed to tire of his formal role as "second fiddle" on the team. Though there were periods when the two seemed to get along very well, during the rougher times, O'Neal would not be shy about launching criticisms toward teammates, usually without explicitly mentioning names, but with details that left no doubt he was referring primarily to Bryant. Bryant only responded publicly on one occasion, in an interview with Jim Gray of ESPN, where he called O'Neal "fat" and bristled at O'Neal's previous characterizations of their relationship as "big brother" and "little brother."
The sexual assault allegations ultimately led to one of the largest blows to the relationship between Bryant and O'Neal, as well as serious damage to Bryant's personal reputation among other NBA players. According to a supplemental report added to the original transcript, when questioned by the police during their investigation, in an apparent attempt to deflect questioning, Bryant had brought up alleged extramarital affairs by O'Neal. [7] If Bryant made such a comment, it meant that in order to extricate himself from his own situation, he had either made false allegations of adultery against O'Neal, or, even if the allegations were true, had betrayed O'Neal's confidence in that matter to investigators. Either explanation served only to further sully Bryant's image.
Other conflicts
Other conflicts have also done their share of damage to Bryant's image. In addition to his problems with O'Neal, Bryant feuded with other teammates during his career. In an isolated incident, he allegedly punched then teammate Samaki Walker from behind outside of the team bus. In 2004, a dispute between Bryant and former teammate Karl Malone became public prior to Malone's expected re-signing with the Lakers. Bryant claimed Malone had made inappropriate comments to Bryant's wife. Malone claimed the comments were in jest and that Bryant was overreacting. In the subsequent months, rather than re-join Bryant and the Lakers, Malone turned his attention to the possibility of joining another team, but ultimately decided to retire. More recently, there have been rumors of Bryant clashing with teammate Lamar Odom which both have denied and attribute to media rumors.
Bryant also clashed with coach Jackson. While remarkably efficient in Jackson's "triangle offense," Bryant had a personal distaste for Jackson's brand of basketball and subsequently called it "boring." In games, Bryant would often disregard the set offense completely to experiment with his own one-on-one moves, incensing the normally calm Jackson. Bryant managed to test Jackson's patience enough that the "Zen Master" even demanded that Bryant be traded, although Laker management rejected the request.
The dynasty ends
Jackson's coaching contract ran out following the 2003–04 season and the Lakers failed to produce a championship despite sporting Hall-of-Fame caliber players Karl Malone and Gary Payton, in addition to O'Neal and Bryant. Bryant opted out of his contract and became free agent, thus having the ability to choose to leave for another team if he desired. Amid that atmospherre, Jackson was not invited back to coach the team. Many fans attributed Jackson's departure directly to the wishes of Bryant, whom Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss championed. O'Neal, indicating that he felt the franchise was indeed pandering to Bryant with the departure of Jackson, demanded to be traded, and was dealt to the Miami Heat. O'Neal's departure was also widely believed to have been something Bryant desired, if not explicitly demanded. With Jackson and O'Neal gone, Bryant would no longer have to play "second fiddle" to O'Neal in Jackson's offense that didn't use Bryant as its focal point. For these reasons, many basketball fans have blamed Bryant for the break-up of the Lakers' dynasty after their one-sided 2004 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons.
Bryant proceeded to engage in a long off-season flirtation with the Lakers' STAPLES Center suitemates, the Los Angeles Clippers, raising the possibility that the Lakers had made such drastic moves, perhaps primarily to please Bryant, and yet would lose him anyway. Ultimately though, Bryant did re-sign with the Lakers for the veteran's maximum of seven years at over US$136 million.
Unquestioned leader
With O'Neal gone, Bryant became the Lakers' unquestioned leader of the team going into the 2004-2005 season. As it turned out, however, his first season at the helm of a team would prove to be a very rocky one. With his reputation so badly damaged from all that had happened over the previous year, Bryant was closely scrutinized and criticized during the season.
A particularly damaging salvo came from Phil Jackson in his book The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul. The book detailed the sordid events of the Lakers' tumultuous 2003–04 season and hurled numerous harsh criticisms of Bryant. Along with other unsavory adjectives, Jackson called Bryant "uncoachable."
Then, midway through the season, Rudy Tomjanovich suddenly resigned as Lakers coach, citing the recurrence of health problems and exhaustion. Without "Rudy T," stewardship of the remainder of the Lakers' season fell to career assistant coach Frank Hamblen. Despite the fact that Bryant was the league's second leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, the Lakers floundered and missed the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. This year signified a drop in Bryant's overall status in the NBA by not making the NBA All Defensive Team and being demoted to All NBA Third Team.
Current season: 2005-2006
Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers for the 2005-2006 season, a move that Bryant said he welcomed, despite Jackson's past pointed criticism of Bryant. The two have had no major public disagreements since Jackson's return.
Currently, Bryant is the leading scorer of the 2005-2006 NBA season, averaging 34.6 points per game, the most since Michael Jordan averaged 35.0 points per game in 1988. He has done all this while helping the Lakers maintain a .500 record. Consequently, he is among those mentioned as possible candidates of the Most Valuable Player award.
Sixty-two points
On December 20, 2005, in one of the most spectacular individual scoring feats in NBA history, Bryant scored a then career-high 62 points in only 33 minutes of play in a 112-90 rout of the Dallas Mavericks. His 30 points in the third quarter alone surpassed the Lakers' previous franchise record of 24 points in a single quarter. Bryant had outscored the entire Dallas Mavericks team 62-61 by the time he departed at the end of the third quarter, becoming the first player ever to outscore his opposition through three quarters since the advent of the 24-second shot clock.
Miami game
When the Lakers faced the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bryant and O'Neal made headlines by engaging in handshakes and hugs before the game, an event that is believed to signify the end of the feud that had festered between the two players since the O'Neal's acrimonious departure from Los Angeles.
Olympics
In late January 2006, Bryant officially agreed to a three-year commitment to the USA Basketball team that, once qualified, will play in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Eighty-one points
On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored a career high and Los Angeles Lakers team record 81 points as the Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 122-104 at Los Angeles. The 81 points rank second all-time in points scored in a single game, behind the late Wilt Chamberlain's 100 on March 2, 1962, and broke Elgin Baylor's previous franchise record of 71. 55 of Bryant's 81 points were scored in the second half alone. Bryant shot 28 of 46 from the field, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range, and made 19 of 20 free throws. He also recorded 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. The accomplishment made Bryant only the fifth player in NBA history to score 70 points in a game (the others being Chamberlain, who accomplished the feat six different times, David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson), and only the second player to score 80.
Bryant's 2005-2006 scoring splurge--especially his two career best games--have sparked a widespread discussion in the media and among sports fans regarding the implications of his scoring so many points. Commentators have vehemently debated whether Bryant's 81-point game, coming from the guard position and in the modern NBA era, is a more impressive feat than center Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962.
Criticism
Additionally, there are frequent arguments over whether Bryant's prolific scoring is a good thing for the Laker team as a whole. Some consider him to be a "ball hog" and argue that Bryant taking so many shots is not true 'team' basketball and thus sets a bad example and inhibits the development of other Laker players. Others argue that the other players on the current Laker team are not nearly as talented as Bryant, and thus having Bryant take the bulk of the team's shots gives the team the best chance to win. Nevertheless, the Lakers are fighting for their first playoff berth since the departure of Shaquille O'Neal and currently hold the 7th seed in the Western Conference.
Current image
Bryant's image problems have by no means disappeared in the wake of his high-scoring season in 2005-2006. However, by all accounts he has recovered at least somewhat in that realm. Sales of replicas of his jersey, while not as high as they were before the sexual assault case, are nonetheless up significantly, placing them once again among the leaders. One of the legacies of his legal troubles seems to be that Bryant is now one of the most polarizing individuals in the NBA. He retains a loyal fan base, no doubt expanded by his most recent accomplishments on the court, but there remains a large segment of the NBA fan populace that is just as vehemently scornful of him as his fans are adoring.
The (at least partial) rebound in his public perception has begun to open up channels for Bryant in the way of commercial endorsements. In Februrary, 2006, Nike, Inc. launched a new signature shoe for Bryant, dubbed Zoom Kobe I. With Bryant having been completely absent from the product endorsement scene since 2003, the campaign around the shoe marked the corporate world's first effort to test whether Bryant's image has recovered enough to make marketing him a profitable endeavor. The television commercials promoting the shoe featured a "love me or hate me" theme with Bryant directly addressing the fact that the public's reaction to him is so highly polarized.
Awards and achievements
Career highlights
- 3-time NBA Champion: 2000, 2001, 2002
- 8-time NBA All-Star: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
- (has started in each of his appearances)
- NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2002
- 7-time All-NBA:
- First Team: 2002, 2003, 2004
- Second Team: 2000, 2001
- Third Team: 1999, 2005
- 5-time All-Defensive:
- First Team: 2000, 2003, 2004
- Second Team: 2001, 2002
- NBA All-Rookie Second Team: 1997
- NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Champion: 1997
- NBA regular-season leader, total points: 2003 (2461)
- NBA regular-season leader, field goals made: 2003 (868)
- 2nd highest single-game point total in NBA history: 81, set on January 22, 2006 vs. the Toronto Raptors. (The record is 100 points set by Wilt Chamberlain on March 2, 1962.)
NBA milestones
- Youngest player in NBA history to reach:
- 10,000 points (24 years, 193 days), set March 5, 2003 vs. the Indiana Pacers.
- 14,000 points (26 years, 240 days), set April 20, 2005 vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.
- 15,000 points (27 years, 136 days), set January 6, 2006 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers.
- 16,000 points (27 years, 192 days), set March 3, 2006 vs. the Golden State Warriors.
- Youngest player to start an NBA game (18 years, 158 days), making his first start for the Los Angeles Lakers on January 28, 1997.
- Youngest player to start an NBA All-Star Game (19 years, 175 days), making his debut at the 48th annual All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden on February 8, 1998.
- Youngest NBA All-Star Slam Dunk champion (18 years, 175 days), after winning the contest at the 1997 NBA All-Star Weekend.
- Became the first player ever to outscore the opposing team through three quarters since the advent of the 24-second shot clock after scoring 62 points in three quarters of play on December 20, 2005 vs. the Dallas Mavericks.
NBA records (8)
- Most 3-point field goals made, one game: 12 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics; first player to reach this plateau; tied with Donyell Marshall).
- Most 3-point field goals made, one half: 8 (March 28, 2003 vs. Washington Wizards).
- Most consecutive 3-point field goals made, one game: 9 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- Most free throws made, one quarter: 14 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks; tied with 5 players).
- Most free throws attempted, one quarter: 16 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks; tied with 6 players).
- Most All-Star Game 3-point field goals made, all-time: 11 (1997–present; tied with Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, and Jason Kidd).
- Holds records for:
- Greatest percentage of own teams' point total (66.4% of the Lakers' 122 points)
- Greatest percentage of both teams' combined point total (35.8% of the Lakers' and Raptors' 226 points)
- (both set on January 22, 2006 vs. the Toronto Raptors).
Lakers franchise records (25)
- Points
- Game: 81 (January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors)
- Half: 55 (2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
- Quarter: 30 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks)
- Consecutive games of 40 points or more: 9 (February 6, 2003–February 23, 2003)
- Consecutive games of 20 points or more: 50 (December 9, 2005–March 22, 2006)
- Field goals made
- Half: 18 (2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
- Quarter: 11 (February 2, 1999 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- Field goals attempted
- Half: 28 (tied with Elgin Baylor; 2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
- Free throws made
- Game: 23 (twice, most recently on January 31, 2006 vs. New York Knicks).
- Half: 16 (January 30, 2001 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers)
- Quarter: 14 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks)
- Quarter, playoffs: 11 (tied with 3 players; May 8, 1997 vs. Utah Jazz).
- Consecutive: 62 (January 11–22, 2006).
- Free throws attempted
- Quarter: 16 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks).
- three-point field goals made
- All-time: 766 (1996–present)
- Game: 12 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- Half: 8 (1st half, March 28, 2003 vs. Washington Wizards).
- Quarter: 6 (2nd quarter, January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- Without a miss, game: 7 (January 6, 2006 vs. Philadelphia 76ers).
- Consecutive, game: 9 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- three-point field goals attempted
- All-time: 2,293 (1996–present)
- All-time, playoffs: 375 (1996–present)
- Game: 18 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
- Steals
- Half: 6 (tied with 3 players; February 13, 2006 vs. Utah Jazz).
- Quarter, playoffs: 3 (tied with 6 players; May 17, 1999 vs. San Antonio Spurs).
Personal records
- Second-most points scored in a regular season game in NBA history: 81 (January 22, 2006).
- One of only two players in NBA history to score 80 points in a single game (the other is Wilt Chamberlain).
- One of only two players in NBA history to score 35-plus points per game for 13 consecutive games (the other is Wilt Chamberlain).
- One of only three players in NBA history to score 40-plus points per game for 9 consecutive games (the others are Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain).
- One of only three players in NBA history to score 45-plus points per game for 4 consecutive games (the others are Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain), and the first to accomplish it since Chamberlain, who did it in November of 1964.
- One of only two players in NBA history to average 40-plus points per game for an entire month on two separate occasions (40.6 ppg in February 2003, 43.4 ppg in January 2006) (the other is Wilt Chamberlain).
Other awards and achievements
- 1996 Naismith High School Player of the Year
- 1996 Gatorade Circle of Champions High School Player of the Year
- 1996 McDonald's High School All-American
- 1996 USA Today All-USA First Team
- Named to the USA Today All-Time All-USA First Team in 2003.
- USA Today and Parade Magazine's 1996 National High School Player of the Year with a seasonal average of 30.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.0 steals and 3.9 blocks per game.
- Led Lower Merion High School to a 31-3 record, including 27 straight wins, and the PIAA Class AAAA state title as a senior (1996).
- The all-time leading scorer in Southeastern Pennsylvania school history with 2,883 points.
Late-game heroics
Throughout much of his career, Kobe Bryant has been heralded as one of the premier "clutch" scorers in the NBA. In a sense, this term refers to a player's ability to take over and lead his team to victory under pressure during tight games, notably at the end of regulation or in overtime periods. Bryant's exceptional ability to will his team to victory in the last seconds of a close game has often been compared to the legendary Michael Jordan's capacity to do the same thing. According to an NBA poll directed at general managers throughout the league before the 2005–06 season, Bryant was overwhelmingly voted as the player they would choose to take the last shot during the crucial moments of basketball games.
Interestingly though, there are some who question whether Bryant's reputation in this regard is fully justified. One prominent such group would be APBRmetricians, who have performed a number of statistical analyses yielding results indicating that Bryant's reputation for performing "in the clutch" exceeds his actual deeds in that regard.[8], [9]
In February of 2006, USA Today conducted an analysis which took into account NBA players' scoring, rebounding, assist and turnover statistics within the final two minutes and in overtime periods of the games of the 2005-2006 NBA season prior to the All-Star break. Kobe Bryant's name was noticeably absent from the league's individual leaders in every category, as were the Lakers in every team category. Moreover, from the 2003-2004 season through March 16, 2006, Bryant has hit a lower percentage of his "game-winning" shot attempts (defined as a shot taken when one's team is tied or trailing by one or two points, and with 24 seconds or less left in the game) than the overall league average, and a substantially lower percentage of such shots than many other players, such as Allen Iverson, Michael Redd, and Jalen Rose, who are not nearly as widely lauded for late-game heroics as is Bryant.[10]
Trivia
- He lists Star Wars as his all-time favorite movie.
- Bryant has two sisters, Shaya and Sharia.
- He speaks fluent Italian and is currently studying Spanish.
- He wore jersey #33 while at Lower Merion High School.
- He is currently endorsed by Nike
- He took R&B singer Brandy to his senior prom in 1996.
- Bryant's first name was given after the famous Kobe beef in Japan.
- He guest starred on TV shows Moesha and In the House.
- Bryant almost released a rap album, guest rapped on Brian McKnight's "Hold Me" remix.
- Has a number of nicknames including Black Mamba, Three Rings or Lord of the Rings (when at Rucker Park), Kobe-Wan Kenobi, and most recently, The 8th Wonder of the World and Mr. 81.
- His 81-point game was the 666th game of his professional career. It came from 66 shots, 46 from the field and 20 from the free-throw line. His 55 second-half points in that same game matched the single-game high of the NBA's all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.