The Fascinating Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant.

One of the best names in the American dialect.

Up there with Vida Blue and God Shamgod.

If a 21st century basketball player wanted a pseudonym to reflect today's game "Kobe Bryant" is about as good as it gets. Kobe referring to the famous beef of Japan, a subtle nod to the globalizing game. Bryant, one of the more common surnames in the English language, noting the game's American roots and epicenter.

But besides his great name, Kobe Bryant has made a name for himself. He is the most important American basketball player today. His participation in the 2008 Olympic Games will largely determine America's place in International Basketball.

He is also a fascinating American celebrity. Tabloids. Dated Brandy. Pals with Ronaldinho.

In the last decade, no one has played that American game of rebirth more or better. From #8 to #24. From Incrediboy to Mr. Incredible. Slamdunk champion to NBA Champion. Spotty defense to ultimate defense. One-dimensional to omni-dimensional. Adidas to Nike. Marketing dream to Eagle County to MVP.

He is embedded deep in American culture. What we watch. What sells. What is news-worthy. What is important. Who we are.

Few personalities can elicit such a diversity of reactions--from hate to love. Even fewer can share his spectrum of public success and failure.

2008 Kobe Bryant is a special player. Once in a life-time culmination of factors. After driving and dishing through the Utah Jazz D last night, he pulled the Lakers within one game of the Western Conference Finals. A step closer to that elusive NBA Championship.

By exploring him and giving his story some perspective, we explore Americana and give it some perspective.

His narrative is Hollywood. Out of Shakespeare. Made for Marvel.

Adolescence Internationale. Takes Brandy, the beautiful and equally youthful singer, to his senior prom. Million-dollar 18-year-old. Thrust into the spotlight. Champion and All-Star at age 21. American Icon. A pariah by the summer of 2003. Youtube legend and MVP five years later.

As a young Laker, Kobe was a rare NBA player. At 6' 5", he was the smallest high schooler drafted into the NBA. Unlike the taller Moses Malone or Kevin Garnett, the previous trend-setting high school draftees, Bryant was a shooting guard.

Given his youthful talent and high-flying acrobatics, the comparisons to the game's greatest shooting guard, Michael Jordan, exploded. While most of Bryant's peers shied away from such rich and lofty comparisons, the teenage Bryant welcomed them. Furthermore, while Vince Carter and Allen Iverson toiled on inferior teams as young players, Bryant was on championship-caliber Lakers teams. There was an expectation to win now.

But none of this seemed to faze Bryant. When asked about being the "Next Jordan," and whether the moniker bothered him, Bryant candidly responded,

It doesn't bother me...I expect to be that good. - SI April 1998

Socially Bryant faced obvious obstacles entering the NBA. At ages 18, 19, 20, Kobe, like all of the preps-to-pros, was far younger than the majority of his teammates. While the 25-year-olds and the 30-year-old vets hit the town, the younger Bryant had to go his own way. Where as most of his contemporaries lived in the sheltered worlds of university, Bryant entered a very adult realm.

On the court, he also encountered similar challenges. While maturing and growing as a player, he suffered his share of growing pains. For every 30-point outburst, there were a dozen air-balls, countless show-boat turnovers, and a cast of unimpressed teammates. Such a rare talent in high school and having forgone a college career, Bryant was still learning the team-game on the fly.

As Phil Jackson observed in 2000, Sometimes with Kobe, it's not "we," it's "me."

That mantra seemed to apply not only to Bryant's basketball life but also to his off-court affairs. In his first few years in the NBA, he lived with his parents. Then he married Vanessa Laine in 2001 and allegedly miffed his parents. Neither his parents nor his agent or teammates attended the small private wedding.

As Phil Taylor wrote in SI in March 2002,
By the time he was 22 he had been named to three All-Star teams and won two NBA titles, yet he had failed to develop a close relationship with any other player in the league. At last month's All-Star Game in Philadelphia he received a thorough booing despite a 31-point MVP performance in front of a hometown crowd, rough treatment that teammates say stung Bryant even more than he admitted.

While he and his teams steam-rolled through the NBA in 00, 01, 02, the success hid some of the behind-the-scenes maturation process. What we saw was the smile, the swagger. Adidas ads. Sprite Ads. Highlight reels. "Kobe Bryant, NBA Courtside" for the N64.

But the alpha-dog struggle with Shaquille O'Neal began to surface.

Then on March 1, 2002, amidst the Lakers final title run, Kobe threw a hay-maker at the Pacers' Reggie Miller, after the buzzer sounded in a 96-84 Lakers win. After years of branding himself with the smile and golden boy image, Kobe's scuffle was a mystery. Seemingly unprovoked. After the horn in an easy win.



The fight took on more meaning when Reggie Miller offered these cryptic words in a statement:

Kobe has other issues he has to deal with. This had nothing to do with me or the basketball game played on Friday evening.

What's more, Miller didn't erupt with these words in the post-game press conference. Days later, in a formal statement through the Pacers communications team, he issued them. A competitive vet, but also a smart one, Miller thought for a few days about his choice of words.

A year later, in July 2003, the sheriff of Eagle County, Col. arrested Bryant on suspicion felony sexual assault against a hotel worker. In an emotional press conference, Bryant publicly declared his innocence, apologized to his young wife, and maintained that the encounter was consensual.

While the court later acquitted Bryant of all charges, he still endured trial appearances and the wrath of fans, media, and business. Most of his endorsers, who eagerly lined up before, terminated his contracts.

Worse yet, he made odd comments about his teammate Shaquille O'Neal that further polarized him from his teammates.

In a police report, Bryant said that, "he (himself) should have done what Shaq does...that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything."

Amidst all of this brew-ha however, the Lakers returned to the NBA Finals, with Bryant often appearing in legal court in the morning and on the basketball court later that same day. His relationship with O'Neal remained icy. The tight-rope act seemed to work. They won 56 games and defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals. But despite new additions Karl Malone and Gary Payton, the Lakers unexpectedly lost to the Detroit Pistons in 5 games.

Famously, the Lakers then broke up the Kobe-Shaq tandem. They traded the aging O'Neal to the Miami Heat for a bevy of players including current Laker Lamar Odom. While Shaq went on to win an NBA Championship with Dwyane Wade and the Heat in 2006, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers struggled in NBA mediocrity.

Bryant increasingly became an individual superstar. Surrounded by unaccomplished NBA players, he shouldered the load himself.

During the 2005-6 season, he averaged a spectacular 35.4ppg. On January 22 against the Toronto Raptors, he scored the second-most points ever in a single game. In the Lakers' lop-sided win, Bryant's 81 points hit the record books as second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 in 1962.

Bryant's season was one of the best individual season's ever in the NBA. Collectively, the Lakers' season was average.

The season ultimately culminated in a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Phoenix Suns. After the season, Bryant announced his plans to change his number from 8 to 24, a subtle reference to Michael Jordan's 23.

But frustrated with the Laker's demise and General Manger Mitch Kupchak's failure to acquire significant players, Bryant famously demanded to be traded the following summer. In an amateur video, he denigrated Andrew Bynum, the young Lakers center, and berated the team's leadership.

Oddly enough, the 2008 NBA season ended in the most unexpected of ways. While most anticipated a trade or perhaps another .500 season, the Lakers produced quite the opposite. Mid-season, Kupchak creatively traded very little for Memphis Grizzlies Center Pau Gasol. It was an immediate success. Alongside Odom, the newly-acquired Gasol, and an improved supporting cast, Bryant won a Western Conference-best 57 games.

The whole culture of the Lakers, and Bryant, dramatically shifted. From hazy to heavenly. The team won. Kobe was happy and cheerful. Always an outspoken and fierce co-worker, he became a full-blown teammate.

He and role player Ronny Turiaf laughed their way through the intriguing Aston Martin commercial. Whereas before, Bryant appeared solo, against-the-world, he now appeared with teammates, laughing, and a part of something besides himself.



At his MVP-winning press conference, he openly joked with his teammates. When forward Luke Walton asked how he plans to reward them, Bryant laughed and lauded their role in the success. Suddenly, it was not about me, but it was about we. He was still Kobe Bryant, the amazing, individual-MVP-force, jumping over Aston Martin's, and scoring 81 points. But he was sharing it. It was finally about others. About Turiaf. Gasol. Walton. As the most recent SI article highlights, it's all about Bryant and his "bench mob."

At almost 30 years old, Bryant has come into himself.

While the Lakers still battle the Jazz for a birth in the Western Conference Finals, they are again an elite team. For the first time since the 2004 NBA Finals runner-up team, the Lakers have a legitimate contender.

At its helm is the fascinating Kobe Bryant.