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Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant

Net Worth

$600,000,000

Born in (City)

Philadelphia

Born in (Country)

United States of America

Date of Birth

23rd December, 1978

Date of Death

26th December, 2020

Mother

Pamela Cox Bryant

Father

Joe Bryant

Children

  • Natalia Diamante Bryant
  • Gianna Maria Onore Bryant (2006-2020)
  • Bianka Bella Bryant
  • Capri Kobe Bryant

About

Often considered as the second-best player the game has ever seen, the 6 feet 6 inch tall Kobe Bean Bryant is anything but ordinary. He was considered to be next to Michael Jordan and a lot of people have called him their generation's Jordan. With one of the most decorated careers in the history of the sport, Sporting News and TNT named Kobe their NBA player of the decade for the 2000s. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers throughout his career and he was the all-time leading scorer for the franchise and his five titles are tied for the most in franchise history. Kobe weaved magic with his agility, speed and accuracy on the court and he named himself "Black Mamba '' after watching Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movie. He wanted people to know that no matter how hard they can work-out, he can do better, he can prepare better.

Early Life

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Italy, Kobe was the youngest of three children and the first son of the family. His father Joe Bryant was a former basketball player. Bryant started playing basketball from the tender age of three and Lakers had been his favorite team growing up. His family moved to Italy when he was 6 and that's where his fluency of Italian comes from. He studied the game from the videos of NBA games mailed by his grandfather. As a kid, he was interested in both soccer and basketball and he eventually chose basketball to be his game. His family moved back to Philadelphia and he enrolled in eighth grade at Bala Cynwyd Middle School. His high school career was something beyond exceptional. He earned national recognition with his performances at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, located in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion. He was named Pennsylvania Player of the Year during his junior year, while also earning a fourth-team Parade All-American nomination attracting attention from college recruiters in the process. He became a state wide hero after leading Aces to a championship after 53 years during his senior year and at 2883 points, he ended his high school career as the South eastern Pennsylvania's all-time leading scorer. Even though his SAT score of 1080 and his basketball skills would have gotten him a seat in any college, he decided to quit college and wanted to join the NBA directly which turned out to be the life changing decision for Kobe as well as a lot of American basketball fans.

Road to Success

In 1996, when Kobe played an NBA game, he was the youngest to ever do so (18 years and 72 days). Even though he played for limited minutes, by the end of the tournament he averaged over 15 minutes. During the All-Star weekend, Bryant participated in the Rookie Challenge and won the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, which made him the youngest dunk champion at the age of 18. Bryant's performance throughout the year earned him a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Over time with study improvement under Phil Jackson, as his coach, Bryant became one of the premier shooting guards in the league, earning appearances in the league's All-NBA, All-Star, and All-Defensive teams. Jackson's triangle offense which helped him win six championships with Chicago Bulls came to his aid once again and helped both Bryant and O'Neal rise to the elite class of the NBA. They won three championships back to back in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The 2001-2002 season saw the true potential of Bryant, he played 80 games for the first time in his career during this season. On January 14, 2002, Bryant went on to record a then career-high 56 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in a 120–81 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies. He continued his all-round play and was also named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. On January 7, 2003, with 12 three-pointers against the Seattle Supersonics, he also set an NBA record for three-pointers in a game. Bryant became the youngest to reach 20000 points in a game against the New York Knicks, on December 23, 2007, which was later broken by LeBron James. With all his performances, Bryant was back on top during the 2007-2010 season.

Challenges

In his splendid career, Bryant faced several injuries and legal issues which kept him away from the game for quite some time. He was sidelined for six weeks prior to the start of the 1999–2000 season due to a hand injury that he had incurred during a preseason game against the Washington Wizards but he bounced back with an increase in all statistical categories in the next season. During the 2003-2004 season, Bryant was arrested for sexual assault and this caused him to miss some games due to court appearances or attend court earlier in the day and travel to play games later on the same day. With all that happened, he was closely scrutinized and criticized in the following season. Anyway, the criminal charges eventually dropped after the accuser refused to testify, with a lawsuit later settled out of court. Bryant denied the assault charge, but admitted to a sexual encounter and issued a public apology. He was prone to frequent injuries during the years 2013 to 2015 and he played his final season in 2016 before he retired satisfactorily saying that he had achieved everything he wanted.

Failures

In basketball, Bryant’s failures are well known. He feuded with Shaq. In 2003-2004, the accusation of sexual assault tarnished Bryant’s reputation, and the public's perception of him plummeted; his endorsement contracts with McDonald's and Nutella were terminated. Sales for Bryant's replica jersey fell significantly. He failed in the 2004 NBA finals, and again in the 2008 NBA finals. He failed to lead a young Lakers core to the playoffs during his last two years in the League. Chasing his sixth championship, Bryant finished the 2011 season averaging less than 20 shots a game, his fewest since the 2003-2004 season during which he was arrested for a sexual assault.

Achievements

Youngest player to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team: (1996–97)|18-time NBA All-Star : 1998, 2000-2016|Gold Medal- Summer Olympics 2008 & 2012|Ranked #1 in Dime Magazine's 2012 List : The 10 Best NBA Players Since 2000 (published in the February 2011 issue)|Ranked #5 in SLAM Magazine's 2018 revision of the top 100 greatest players of all time (published in the January 2018 issue)|2018 Academy Awards- Best Animated Short Film ("Dear Basketball"- Producer)

Quotes

  • Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.
  • The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
  • I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
  • Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they've taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.