Kobe Bean Bryant means something different to everyone.
To most, he is the source of inspiration behind two generations (and counting) of young men who never made it in professional basketball but aspired to achieve their hoop dreams anyways.
To others, he is the measuring stick of success, and the man responsible for showing us all how much hard work it takes to reach those goals.
Call me crazy, but my admiration of Bryant stretches beyond the sphere of basketball. I attempt to mimic his mannerisms in my day-to-day interactions with my friends and colleagues, while applying what he says in post-game press conferences and interviews to the grander scheme of life.
I felt uneasy watching Bryant register for Facebook in 2009 and felt the same way about him taking Twitter and Instagram by storm this past year. I worshipped him due to his opaqueness. The ethos of Kobe Bryant was that of a maniacal winner and not much else.
In a generation where players are more than eager to share parts of their personal lives through social media (see: World Peace, Metta), most of what we’ve learned about Bryant are through tales told by trainers about his meticulous work ethic. As I wrote about two weeks ago, Bryant was truly the last of his kind.
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Throughout Bryant’s first decade and a half in the league, he was notorious for being a loner. His first tweet was appropriately: “the antisocial has become social.”
By beginning to share his life with us, he slowly shifted from the mythical Kobe Bryant to a relatable guy who just so happens to be extremely good at basketball.
As much as I enjoy Phil Jackson’s books, they provide me with the same trepidation as Bryant’s social media ventures. Jackson always seems to recall these wonderful anecdotes of Bryant and the rest of the players he’s coached, which is fine as they make for great reads; but for someone who places Bryant on a pedestal, having his coach humanize him is the scariest thing for me.
In his 2005 book, the Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul, the Zen Master deemed Kobe “uncoachable.” But as we all know, the two reconciled and won two more championships together.
In Jackson’s new book, Eleven Rings, that was released across the country Tuesday, he pulls back the curtain even further on his time with the Lakers.
This time around, Jackson revealed that Kobe’s first words upon Michael Jordan were “you know I can kick your ass one on one.” Classic Kobe.
Jackson also shared that one of the biggest differences between Jordan and Bryant is their ability to lead. Jackson attributed Bryant’s inferior leadership qualities to the fact that Bryant never had a chance to fully develop his social skills in college.
Everyone is putting the spotlight on Jackson’s comparison of Bryant and Jordan, and rightfully so. However, Rick Fox’s two cents on the greatest shooting guard of all-time debate shouldn’t be overlooked.
We’ve all been a position where we must behave ourselves appropriately around a superior at work or school, which is what Jackson was to Bryant. However, those who know us best tend to be the people who we act more naturally around, those who we deem to be on the same level as us, which is what Fox was to Bryant.
What Fox said is very telling of Bryant’s body of work. “I think Kobe competes with himself more than anything else…He’s obsessed with chasing the goals he set for himself at age 15 or 16.”
That means at some point during history class at Lower Merion High, a teenage Kobe was tuning out his teacher in order to chart his rise to become a NBA legend in his notepad.
It explains a lot of the more forgettable moments of Bryant’s career.
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Remember in 1997 when Bryant threw up not one, not two, but three air balls as a sophomore against the Utah Jazz in Game 5? Some might’ve viewed that as Kobe letting his veteran teammates down in a critical playoff game, but with Fox’s insight, the only person Kobe let down that night was Kobe.
Or how about in 2006, when the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns squared off in an anti-climactic Game 7, one that the Lakers ended up losing 121-90. In that game, Bryant decided to only take three shots in the entire second half. To the naked eye, it was a selfish act of defiance. To Kobe, he likely thought he had taken the supporting cast of Chris Mihm, Smush Parker and Devean George as far as he could, thus having satisfied himself, gave up on the rest of his team.
Bryant has had a lot of success in his career. In hindsight, a lot of those successes are on his own terms, especially after he drove Shaq out of town in the summer of 2004.
Scoring 81 points. Dropping 55 on Jordan when he was a Wizard. Being the sole alpha male on the 2009 and 2010 championship teams.
All those are examples of Laker successes being contingent on Kobe having success on his own terms.
We are much closer to the end of Bryant’s career than we are to the apex of it.
A lot of us were wondering what his big announcement at the Sports Spectacular charity event was going to be. Mainly fearing he would announce when he would retire from basketball that night.
Bryant scoffed at the notion of retiring on Twitter upon hearing those rumours make their rounds on the Internet.
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While we are made to believe Bryant can’t retire because he has to honor the last year of his contract, we now have a better idea of why he can’t truly retire yet.
He has to overcome this Achilles injury in order to retire on top and on his own terms. I also have a hunch he has a couple more things he’s yet to check off on that bucket list he complied for himself when he was 15 or 16.
Besides Jackson’s books, the most detailed account of Bryant’s personal life comes from a Sports Illustrated feature about his father Joe, back in May 2012. Chris Ballard, the author, ends the article by writing “Joe Bryant may never be great, but he is happy. Kobe Bryant may never be happy, and perhaps that’s what makes him great.”
Even though we now have further access to Kobe’s thoughts through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, we’ll never truly grasp how a man can sacrifice happiness in his life for the relentless pursuit of perfection in his professional life.
Add that to the endless list of reasons why we all admire Kobe.