Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant (born
August 23,
1978 in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.) 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 and current
Los Angeles Sparks head coach
Joe "JellyBean" Bryant. He rose to national prominence as he became the first guard to be drafted out of high school in league history. Bryant was ranked #59 on
SLAM magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time in 2003.
Kobe Bryant was born the only son of
Joe and Pam Bryant. According to Bryant's NBA bio
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant/bio.html], his parents named him after
a kind of steak seen on a restaurant menu prior to his birth. At the age of six, 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 1991, 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 prodigious basketball talent. While his SAT score of 1080
[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3129989/] 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.
A few years later, the 20-year-old Bryant 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, citing the couple's young age as their primary concern. This disagreement resulted in an estrangement period of over two years, during which Kobe Bryant did not have any contact with his parents.
The Bryants' first child, a daughter named Natalia Diamante Bryant, was born on
January 19,
2003. The birth of Natalia influenced Bryant to reconcile his differences with his parents, and the family was once again on good terms.
Vanessa Bryant suffered a
miscarriage due to an
ectopic pregnancy in the spring of 2005. In the fall of that same year, the Bryants announced that they were expecting their second child. Their second daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, was born on
May 1,
2006, and happened to be born within 6 minutes of former teammate/rival Shaquille O'Neal's daughter, Me'arah Sanaa.
1996 Draft
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. West stated that Bryant's workout was one of the best he had ever witnessed. West continued his quest to return the Lakers to championship status by trading then-starting center
Vlade Divac to the Hornets for the 18-year old Bryant.
Growing pains
During his first season with the Lakers, he mostly came off the bench behind guards
Eddie Jones and
Nick Van Exel. Bryant played limited minutes initially but this changed as the season continued. He earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan-favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.
In Bryant's second season (1997-98), he received more playing time and began showing more of his abilities as a talented young guard. He was the runner-up for the NBA's
Sixth Man of the Year, and, through fan voting, he also became the youngest NBA All-Star starter as well as the first player to start on the
All-Star team who was not a starter on his own team. While his statistics were impressive for his age, he was still a young guard who lacked the experience to complement
Shaquille O'Neal and significantly help the team contend for a championship.
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 fact that was evidenced 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 O'Neal, who formed an outstanding center-guard combination. Their success gave the Lakers three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
In the
2002-03 NBA season, Bryant averaged 30 points per game and embarked on a historic scoring run, posting 40 or more points per game in nine consecutive games while averaging 40.6 in the entire month of February. In addition, he averaged 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.2 steals per game, all career highs up to that point. For the first time in his career Bryant was voted on to both--All-NBA and All-Defensive 1st teams. After finishing 50-32 in the regular season, the Lakers floundered in the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the eventual NBA champion
San Antonio Spurs in six games.
In the following
2003-04 NBA season, the Lakers were able to acquire legends
Karl Malone and
Gary Payton to make another push at the NBA Championship. With a starting lineup of four future hall of fame players, including: Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton, the Lakers were able to reach the NBA Finals. In the Finals, that Laker team was eventually defeated by the Detroit Pistons in 5 games. In that series, Kobe averaged 22.6 points per game and 4.4 assists.
During 2003, the
Kobe Bryant sexual assault case had tarnished Kobe's image, but before this point Bryant was known to
|
Bryant, following his arrest in 2003 |
publicly fight with then team-mate Shaquille O'Neal. 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 in the face 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.
When O'Neal was traded, 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
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.
The 2005-06 NBA season would mark a crossroads in Bryant's basketball career. Despite past differences with Bryant,
Phil Jackson returned to coach the Lakers. Bryant endorsed the move, and by all appearances, the two men worked together well the second time around, leading the Lakers back into the
NBA Playoffs. The team posted a 45-37 record, a twelve-game improvement over the previous season, and played well enough in the first round of the playoffs to come within a game of eliminating the second-seeded
Phoenix Suns before finally falling short. Kobe Bryant was further questioned for his atypical performance in the 2nd half only taking 3 shots in the game 7 in the first round.
Scoring
Accomplishments
In many ways, however, the team's improvement in 2005-06 was often overshadowed by the spectacular individual scoring accomplishments posted by Bryant which resulted in the finest statistical season of his career:
* On December 20, Bryant scored 62 points despite playing only three quarters of play against the
Dallas Mavericks. Entering the fourth quarter Bryant had, by himself, outscored the entire Mavericks team 62-61, the only time a player has done this through three quarters since the advent of the 24-second
shot clock.
* On January 22, Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 victory against the
Toronto Raptors. In addition to breaking the previous franchise record of 71 set by
Elgin Baylor, his point total in that game was second in NBA history only to
Wilt Chamberlain's legendary
100-point game in 1962.
* Also in January, Bryant became the first player since 1964, and the only player aside from Chamberlain and
Elgin Baylor to score 45 points or more in four consecutive games.
* For the month of January, Bryant averaged 43.4 per game, the eighth highest single month scoring average in NBA history, and highest for any player other than Chamberlain.
* By the end of the season, Bryant had also set Lakers single-season franchise records for the most 40-point games (27) and most points scored (2,832), among others.
* Bryant won the league's scoring title for the first time, posting the highest scoring average (35.4) since
Michael Jordan's 37.1 average in 1986-87.
* Bryant finished in fourth-place in the voting for the 2006
NBA Most Valuable Player Award, but also received 22 first place votes — second only to winner
Steve Nash, and by far the highest number of first-place votes Bryant had ever received in his career.
Other notable events
* When the Lakers faced the
Miami Heat on
January 16,
2006, Bryant and Shaquille 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 O'Neal's acrimonious departure from Los Angeles. A month later, at the 2006
NBA All-Star Game, the two could be observed laughing and joking together on several occasions.
* Late in the season, it was reported that Bryant would change his jersey number from #8 to #24 at the start of the
2006-07 NBA season. #24 was Bryant's first high school number, before changing to #33.
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2421874] After the Lakers' season ended, Bryant made a television appearance on TNT, where he stated that when he came into the league, he wanted #24, but it was unavailable. He went on to say that he believed the new number signified the start of the second half of his career.
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 :* 8 consecutive appearances. (No All-Star game in 1999 due to league-wide lock-out)
*
NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2002
*
NBA Scoring Champion: 2006 (
35.4)
*
8-time All-NBA Selection::*
First Team: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 :*
Second Team: 2000, 2001 :*
Third Team: 1999, 2005
*
6-time All-Defensive Selection::*
First Team: 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 :*
Second Team: 2001, 2002
* 2-time NBA regular-season leader,
points: 2003 (
2,461), 2006 (
2,832)
* 2-time NBA regular-season leader,
field goals made: 2003 (
868), 2006 (
978)
* NBA regular-season leader,
field goals attempted: 2006 (
2,173)
* NBA regular-season leader,
free throws made: 2006 (
696)
*
NBA All-Rookie Second Team: 1997
*
NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Champion: 1997
*
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.)
*
7th highest single-season point total in NBA history:
2,832,
2005-06 (Top 6 held by
Wilt Chamberlain and
Michael Jordan)
*
9th highest single-season scoring average in NBA history:
35.4,
2005-06 (Top 8 held by
Wilt Chamberlain,
Elgin Baylor,
Michael Jordan, and
Rick Barry)
*
Career 40+ Point Games (Regular Season): 67
*
Career 50+ Point Games (Regular Season): 11
*
Career triple-doubles (as of 2006):
14 [http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/triple_doubles.html]*
Career statistics (as of 2006): 23.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 0.61 bpg, 1.50 spg, .451 FG%, .336 3FG%, .834 FT%
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant]*
Career playoff statistics (as of 2006): 22.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.5 apg, 0.73 bpg, 1.34 spg, .438 FG%, .329 3FG%, .791 FT%
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant]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
Kobe Bryant holds eight NBA records:
* Most three-point field goals made, one game:
12 (January 7, 2003 vs.
Seattle SuperSonics; first player to reach this plateau; tied with
Donyell Marshall).
[http://www.nba.com/history/records/regular_3ptfg.html]* Most three-point field goals made, one half:
8 (March 28, 2003 vs.
Washington Wizards; tied with 5 players).
[http://www.nba.com/history/records/regular_3ptfg.html] * Most consecutive three-point field goals made, one game:
9 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics; first player to reach this plateau; tied with
Latrell Sprewell and
Ben Gordon).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230107013]* Most free throws made, one quarter:
14 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks; tied with 5 players).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=251220013&period=3] [http://www.nba.com/history/records/regular_freethrows.html]* Most free throws attempted, one quarter:
16 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks; tied with 6 players).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=251220013&period=3] [http://www.nba.com/history/records/regular_freethrows.html]* Most All-Star Game three-point field goals made, all-time:
11 (1997–present; tied with
Tracy McGrady,
Ray Allen, and
Jason Kidd).
[http://www.nba.com/history/allstar/individual_records.html]* Holds shot-clock era records for: :* Greatest percentage of own team's 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
Kobe Bryant holds thirty Los Angeles Lakers franchise records:
*
Points:* Season:
2,832 (
2005-06; 7th highest NBA single season scoring output of all-time):* Game:
81 (January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors)
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260122013] :* Half:
55 (2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260122013] :* Quarter:
30 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks)
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=251220013]:* Overtime, playoffs:
12 (May 4, 2006 vs.
Phoenix Suns)
[http://www.nba.com/games/20060504/PHXLAL/playbyplay.html] :* Scoring average, month:
43.4 (January 2006):* Games scoring 40 points or more, season:
27 (
2005-06)
[http://www.nba.com/games/20060416/PHXLAL/recap.html]:* Consecutive games of 40 points or more:
9 (February 6–February 23, 2003)
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230223013]:* Consecutive games of 20 points or more, season:
62 (December 9, 2005–April 19, 2006)
*
Field goals made:* Half:
18 (2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=260122013&period=0] :* Quarter:
11 (February 2, 1999 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
[http://www.lakerstats.com/records/indreg.php?category=fgm]*
Field goals attempted:* Half:
28 (tied with
Elgin Baylor; 2nd half, January 22, 2006 vs. Toronto Raptors).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=260122013&period=0]*
Free throws made:* Game:
23 (twice, most recently on January 31, 2006 vs.
New York Knicks).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=260131018] :* Half:
16 (January 30, 2001 vs.
Cleveland Cavaliers)
[http://www.lakerstats.com/records/indreg.php?category=ftm] :* Quarter:
14 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks)
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=251220013&period=3]:* Quarter, playoffs:
11 (tied with 3 players; May 8, 1997 vs.
Utah Jazz).
[http://www.lakerstats.com/records/indplayoffs.php?category=ftm]:* Consecutive:
62 (January 11–22, 2006).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260122013]*
Free throws attempted:* Quarter:
16 (3rd quarter, December 20, 2005 vs. Dallas Mavericks).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=251220013&period=3]*
Three-point field goals made:* All-time:
799 (1996–present)
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant]:* Game:
12 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230107013] :* Half:
8 (1st half, March 28, 2003 vs. Washington Wizards).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230328013] :* Quarter:
6 (2nd quarter, January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=230107013&period=2] :* Without a miss, game:
7 (January 6, 2006 vs. Philadelphia 76ers).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260106013]:* Consecutive:
9 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230107013]*
Three-point field goals attempted:* All-time:
2,379 (1996–present)
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant]:* All-time, playoffs:
410 (1996–present)
[http://www.lakerstats.com/records/careerplayoffs.php?category=3pta]:* Season:
518 (2005-06)
[http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant]:* Game:
18 (January 7, 2003 vs. Seattle SuperSonics).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230107013]*
Steals:* Half:
6 (tied with 3 players; February 13, 2006 vs. Utah Jazz).
[http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=260213013]:* Quarter, playoffs:
3 (tied with 6 players; May 17, 1999 vs.
San Antonio Spurs).
[http://www.lakerstats.com/records/indplayoffs.php?category=steals]Personal records
* Second-most points scored in a regular season game in NBA history:
81 (January 22, 2006) (the most is 100 by
Wilt Chamberlain).
* One of only two players in NBA history to score
80-plus points in a single game* 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 Wilt Chamberlain and
Michael Jordan).
* 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 three players in NBA history to
average 40-plus points per game for an entire month at least once (the others are Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor)
* One of only two players in NBA history to
average 40-plus points per game for an entire month on three separate occasions (
40.6 ppg in February 2003,
43.4 ppg in January 2006 ,
40.1 in April 2006) (the other is Wilt Chamberlain).
* Only player in NBA history with at least
2,800 points and
180 three-point field goals made in one season.
Other awards and achievements
* 1996 Naismith High School Player of the Year
[Fact sheet HoopsHype.com (accessed May 17, 2006)]* 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
* 1995 Adidas ABCD Camp Senior MVP
* 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.
[Biograhy NBA.com (accessed May 17, 2006)]* 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.
* Bryant's 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.
* Bryant wore jersey #24 as a Freshmen while at
Lower Merion High School then changed it to #33.
* 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 [http://www.prwatch.org/node/4180].
* Bryant has two sisters, Shaya and Sharia.
* Bryant's first name was given after the famous
Kobe beef of
Japan.
* He appeared on the front cover of
Nintendo 64 games
NBA Courtside and
NBA Courtside 2 early in his career. Later, he was on the cover of
NBA Courtside 2002, for
Nintendo GameCube. He will appear on the cover of
NBA 07 for
PlayStation 2 and
PSP.
* Bryant appears in one of Nike's
U.S. Joga Bonito TV commercials alongside American male and female players and
Brazilian
footballer Ronaldinho.
*
NBA.com Profile at
*
Kobe Bryant - video highlights
*
Career Statistics at Basketball-Reference.com
*
Profile at the
IMDb.com
*
Kobe Bryant Fan Blog - News, interviews and articles
*
List of active NBA players who have spent their entire career with one team*
List of National Basketball Association players with 60 or more points in a game
