Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a National Basketball Association player for the Los Angeles Lakers; he is also the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.

Future

Kobe has a massive bout of rebuilding ahead in both his personal and basketball life. In the middle of the 04-05 season, Bryant publicly admitted that leading a team was much harder than he had expected. His basketball achievements regressed, as he failed to make All-NBA First Team and Defensive Team for the first time in 3 and 2 years, respectively. He also had trouble with some of his teammates, although these were less widely publicized than those with O'Neal. In particular, Lamar Odom appeared frustrated with Kobe's insatiable need to dominate ball-handling time and shot attempts. On court, Bryant had trouble finding any rhythm and at many times the Lakers' losing ways appeared to disgust and frustrate him.

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There are those who believe Kobe learned something from this adversity and hope he will tackle the next season with a new sense of zeal. So far, however, the Lakers have added no players likely to command enough of Kobe's respect to tempt him to relinquish some of his stranglehold on the offense. Most of the media attention the Lakers are receiving centers around Kobe's reunion with Phil Jackson after a one-year hiatus. Despite Jackson's slams of Kobe in "The Last Season," both declared they had buried past differences for the upcoming reunion tour. Jackson will be seeking his own redemption, as he hopes for the Lakers' performance to answer dual charges against his legacy. The first charge, often (jealously?) reiterated by former Celtics coaching legend Red Auerbach, is that Jackson's uninterrupted success has come exclusively at the helm of teams with overwhelming talent which automatically made them top contenders for league championships. The second is that Phil lost interest in coaching the Lakers through their personality differences in 2004, and later scapegoated Kobe to distract from his own passivity. Business matters have been an area where Kobe's future is beginning to look up a bit, with Nike using him for a Sports Illustrated campaign that represented his first print ads in two years.

Related Topics:
Red Auerbach - Nike - Sports Illustrated

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