爱华网Early life
Kobe Bryant is the youngest child and only son of Joe and PamBryant. His parents named him after a kind of steak: the famousbeef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu. At theage of six, Kobe, his parents and two older sisters, Shaya andSharia, moved to Italy, where his father began playing professionalbasketball. He became accustomed to the lifestyle and became fluentin Italian. At an early age, he learned to play soccer and hisfavorite team was AC Milan. Bryant once said that if he had stayedin Italy, he would have stuck with soccer and would have tried tobecome a pro soccer player. In 1991, the Bryants moved back to theUnited States. A spectacular high school career at Lower MerionHigh School in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion, broughtnational recognition. While his SAT score of 1080[2] would haveensured his basketball scholarship to various top-tier colleges,the 17-year-old Bryant made the controversial decision to godirectly to the NBA.
Early NBA career
1996 Draft
Even before he was chosen as the 13th draft pick overall by theCharlotte Hornets in 1996, the 17-year-old Bryant had made alasting impression on then-Lakers general manager Jerry West, whoimmediately foresaw the potential in Bryant's basketball talentduring pre-draft workouts. West stated that Bryant's workout wasone of the best he had ever witnessed. West continued his quest toreturn the Lakers to championship status and startled spectators byoffering and completing the trade for starting center Vlade Divacto the Hornets for Bryant.
Growing pains
During his first season with the Lakers, he mostly came off thebench behind guards Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. Bryant playedlimited minutes initially but this changed as the season continued.He earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan-favoriteby winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.
In Bryant's second season (1997-98), he received more playingtime and began showing more of his abilities as a talented youngguard. He was the runner-up for the NBA's Sixth Man of the YearAward, and through fan voting, he also became the youngest NBAAll-Star starter.
While his statistics were impressive for his age, he was still ayoung guard who lacked the experience to complement ShaquilleO'Neal and significantly help the team contend for achampionship.
Championship years
However, Bryant's fortunes would soon change when Phil Jacksonbecame coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. After years of steadyimprovement, Bryant had become one of the premier shooting guardsin the league, a fact that was evidenced by his annual presence inthe league's All-NBA, All-Star, and All-Defensive teams. The LosAngeles Lakers became perennial championship contenders underBryant and O'Neal, who formed an outstanding center-guardcombination. Their success gave the Lakers three consecutive NBAchampionships in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
End of a dynasty
In the 2002-03 NBA season, Bryant averaged 30 points per game andembarked on a historic scoring run, posting 40 or more points pergame in nine consecutive games while averaging 40.6 in the entiremonth of February. In addition, he averaged 6.9 rebounds, 5.9assists, and 2.2 steals per game, all career highs up to thatpoint. For the first time in his career Bryant was voted on toboth--All-NBA and All-Defensive 1st teams. After finishing 50-32 inthe regular season, the Lakers floundered in the playoffs and lostin the Western Conference Semifinals to the eventual NBA championSan Antonio Spurs in six games.
In the following 2003-04 NBA season, the Lakers were able toacquire legends Karl Malone and Gary Payton to make another push atthe NBA Championship. With a starting lineup of four potential Hallof Fame players in Shaquille O'Neal, Malone, Payton, and Bryant,the Lakers were able to reach the NBA Finals. In the Finals, theywere eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in 5 games. In that series,Bryant averaged 22.6 points per game, shooting 35.1% from thefield, and 4.4 assists per game.
Conflicts and turmoil
Bryant, following his arrest in 2003In 2003, Bryant's reputationwas tainted by criminal charges, in which Katelyn Faber, a youngwoman from Colorado, accused Bryant of sexual assault. With hisimage badly tarnished, the public's perception of Bryant plummeted,and his endorsement contracts with McDonald's, Nutella, and FerreroSpA were terminated. Sales figures from NBA merchandisers indicatedthat sales of replicas of Bryant's jersey fell far off of theirprevious highs.
Even before being arrested for rape, Bryant was known topublicly feud with his teammates, including Shaquille O'Neal,Samaki Walker and Karl Malone. In an isolated incident, heallegedly punched teammate Walker in the face outside of the teambus.[citation needed] In 2004, a dispute between Bryant and formerteammate Malone became public prior to Malone's expected re-signingwith the Lakers. Bryant claimed Malone had made inappropriatecomments to Bryant's wife. Malone claimed the comments were in jestand that Bryant was overreacting [1]. In the subsequent months,rather than re-join Bryant and the Lakers, Malone turned hisattention to the possibility of joining another team, butultimately decided to retire.
Unquestioned leader
When O'Neal was traded, Bryant became the Lakers' unquestionedleader of the team going into the 2004-2005 season. As it turnedout, however, his first season without O'Neal would prove to be avery rocky one. With his reputation badly damaged from all that hadhappened over the previous year, Bryant was closely scrutinized andcriticized during the season.
A particularly damaging salvo came from Phil Jackson in The LastSeason: A Team in Search of Its Soul. The book detailed the eventsof the Lakers' tumultuous 2003-04 season and has a numbercriticisms of Bryant. In the book Jackson also calls Bryant"uncoachable."
Then, midway through the season, Rudy Tomjanovich suddenlyresigned as Lakers coach, citing the recurrence of health problemsand exhaustion. Without "Rudy T," stewardship of the remainder ofthe Lakers' season fell to career assistant coach Frank Hamblen.Despite the fact that Bryant was the league's second leading scorerat 27.6 points per game, the Lakers floundered and missed theplayoffs for the first time in over a decade. This year signified adrop in Bryant's overall status in the NBA by not making the NBAAll-Defensive Team and being demoted to All-NBA Third Team.
2005-06 season
The 2005-06 NBA season would mark a crossroads in Bryant'sbasketball career. Despite past differences with Bryant, PhilJackson returned to coach the Lakers. Bryant endorsed the move, andby all appearances, the two men worked together well the secondtime around, leading the Lakers back into the NBA Playoffs. Bryantalso resolved his conflict with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal.The team posted a 45-37 record, an eleven-game improvement over theprevious season, and the entire squad seemed to be clicking. In thefirst round of the playoffs, the Lakers played well enough (3-1series lead) to come within a game of eliminating the second-seededPhoenix Suns before finally falling short. Even with Kobe Bryant'sremarkable game winning shot in Game 4, the Lakers broke down,falling to the Suns in Game 7. In the following offseason, Bryanthad knee surgery, preventing him from participating in the 2006FIBA World Championship tournament.
Accomplishments
In many ways the team's improvement in 2005-06 was oftenovershadowed by the individual scoring accomplishments posted byBryant which resulted in the finest statistical season of hiscareer:
On December 20, Bryant scored 62 points despite playing onlythree quarters of play against the Dallas Mavericks. Entering thefourth quarter Bryant had, by himself, outscored the entireMavericks team 62-61, the only time a player has done this throughthree quarters since the advent of the 24-second shot clock.
On January 22, Bryant scored 81 points in a 122-104 victory againstthe Toronto Raptors. In addition to breaking the previous franchiserecord of 71 set by Elgin Baylor, his point total in that game wassecond in NBA history only to Wilt Chamberlain's legendary100-point game in 1962.
Also in January, Bryant became the first player since 1964, and theonly player aside from Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor to score 45points or more in four consecutive games.
For the month of January, Bryant averaged 43.4 per game, the eighthhighest single month scoring average in NBA history, and highestfor any player other than Chamberlain.
By the end of the season, Bryant had also set Lakers single-seasonfranchise records for the most 40-point games (27) and most pointsscored (2,832), among others.
Bryant won the league's scoring title for the first time, postingthe highest scoring average (35.4) since Michael Jordan's 37.1average in 1986-87.
Bryant finished in fourth-place in the voting for the 2006 NBA MostValuable Player Award, but also received 22 first place votes —second only to winner Steve Nash, and by far the highest number offirst-place votes Bryant had ever received in his career.
Other notable events
When the Lakers faced the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, Bryantand Shaquille O'Neal made headlines by engaging in handshakes andhugs before the game, signifying the end of the feud that hadfestered between the two players since O'Neal's acrimoniousdeparture from Los Angeles. A month later, at the 2006 NBA All-StarGame, the two laughed and joked together on several occasions.
Bryant's jersey.Late in the season, it was reported that Bryantwould change his jersey number from #8 to #24 at the start of the2006-07 NBA season. #24 was Bryant's first high school number,before he switched to #33.[3] After the Lakers' season ended,Bryant said on TNT that he wanted #24 as a rookie, but it wasunavailable, as was #33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He saidthe switch to 24 signified the start of the second half of hiscareer. Bryant took number 8 after his favorite Italian leagueplayer, Mike D'Antoni. The Lakers guard grew up watching D'Antonias a star point guard in the Italian league, where his father,"Jelly Bean" Bryant, also played.[4]
Player profile
Bryant is a shooting guard who is also capable of playing smallforward. As of 2006, he is considered one of the premier players inthe NBA, being elected into the All-NBA Teams en bloc from 1999 onan featuring eight NBA All-Star call-ups. Bryant was a vital partof the three most recent Lakers' championships.
He is a prolific scorer, averaging 23.9 points per game for hiscareer, and also scores 4.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 stealsper game. The 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Champion Bryant is capable of bothdunking on opposing big men or scoring with his fadeaway jump shot,able to hit the shot from mid-range to long three pointers (.335from beyond the arc). His versatility was especially showcased inthe 2005-2006 NBA season, where Bryant averaged 35.4 points pergame to secure the first NBA scoring title of his career, includinghis 81-point game and his 62 points in 3 quarters-game. Inaddition, Bryant also maintains a reputation for clutchperformances in games, able to rise to the challenge and hit thedifficult shot.
On his own half of the hardwood, Bryant plays tenacious defense.He has made the All-NBA Defensive Team a total of 6 times, and hasestablished himself as one of the best perimeter defenders of hisgeneration.
A controversial side of his game is his tendancy to show thebehaviour of a ball hog: in his record-setting season, he racked up2173 shot attempts in 80 games (avg. 27.1). However, fans andexperts widely agree that Bryant is one of the best two-guards ofhis generation.
Private life
In November 1999, 21 year old Bryant met 17 year old Vanessa Lainewhile she was working as a background dancer on the Tha Eastsidazmusic video[5] " G'd Up " (In the video Vanessa is in theconvertible in a silver bikini). Bryant was in the building workingon his debut musical album, which was never released.
The two began dating and were engaged just six months later inMay 2000,[6] all while Laine was still a senior at Marina HighSchool in Huntington Beach, California. Due to the media, shefinished high school through independent study.[7] According toVanessa's cousin Laila Laine, there was no prenuptial agreement.Vanessa said Kobe "loved her too much for one". [8].
They married on April 18, 2001 in Dana Point, California. Therewere only about 12 guests at the wedding. Neither Bryant's parents,his two sisters, longtime advisor and agent Arn Tellem, norBryant's Laker teammates attended. Bryant's parents were opposed tothe marriage for a number of reasons. Reportedly Bryant's parentshad problems with him marrying so young, especially to a woman whowasn't African-American[9]. This disagreement resulted in anestrangement period of over two years, during which Kobe Bryant didnot have any contact with his parents.
The Bryants' first child, a daughter named Natalia DiamanteBryant, was born on January 19, 2003. The birth of Nataliainfluenced Bryant to reconcile his differences with his parents.Vanessa Bryant suffered a miscarriage due to an ectopic pregnancyin the Spring of 2005. In the Fall of 2005 the Bryants announcedthat they were expecting their second child. Their second daughter,Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, was born on May 1, 2006. Interestingly,Gianna was born 6 minutes ahead of former teammate ShaquilleO'Neal's daughter Me'arah Sanaa, who was born in Florida
