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When is kobe bryants birthdayLogin • Instagram - Who Was Kobe Bryant?
A shooting guard , he spent his entire year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association NBA.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Bryant won five NBA championships , was an time All-Star , a time member of the All-NBA Team , a time member of the All-Defensive Team , the NBA Most Valuable Player MVP , and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. Bryant also led the NBA in scoring twice, and ranks fourth in league all-time regular season and postseason scoring. He was posthumously voted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in The son of former NBA player Joe Bryant , he was born in Philadelphia and partly raised in Italy.
Recognized as the top American high-school basketball player while at Philadelphia suburb Lower Merion , Bryant declared for the NBA draft and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick; he was then traded to the Lakers.
As a rookie, Bryant earned a reputation as a high-flyer by winning the Slam Dunk Contest , and was named an All-Star by his second season. Despite a feud with teammate Shaquille O'Neal , the pair led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from to In , Bryant was charged with sexual assault ; [8] with the alleged victim being a year-old hotel employee.
Criminal charges were later dropped after the accuser failed to testify, and a lawsuit was settled out of court, with Bryant issuing a public apology and admitting to a sexual encounter he maintained was consensual. The accusation briefly tarnished Bryant's reputation, resulting in the loss of several of his endorsement contracts.
After the Lakers lost the NBA Finals , O'Neal was traded and Bryant became the cornerstone of the franchise. He led the NBA in scoring in the —06 and —07 seasons and was named league MVP in On January 22, , he scored a career-high 81 points; the second most points scored in a single NBA game , behind Wilt Chamberlain's point game. Bryant led the team to consecutive championships in and , both times being named NBA Finals MVP. He continued to be among the top players in the league through the —13 season , when he suffered a torn achilles tendon at age His next two seasons were cut short by injuries to his knee and shoulder, respectively.
Citing physical decline, Bryant retired after the —16 season. In , the Lakers retired both his Nos. The all-time leading scorer in Lakers history, Bryant was the first guard in NBA history to play 20 seasons.
His 18 All-Star designations are the second most all time , and he has the most consecutive appearances as a starter. Bryant's four NBA All-Star Game MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history. He gave himself the nickname " Black Mamba " in the mids, and the epithet became widely adopted by the general public.
He won gold medals on the and U. Olympic teams. In , he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the film Dear Basketball Bryant died, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California , in Bryant was born in Philadelphia , [13] the youngest of three children and the only son of Pamela Cox Bryant and former NBA player Joe Bryant.
He was also the maternal nephew of NBA player John "Chubby" Cox. Bryant started playing basketball when he was three, [21] and the Lakers were his favorite team when he was growing up. Kobe became accustomed to his new lifestyle and learned to speak fluent Italian. Kobe would work at the games as a ball and mop boy and would practice shooting at halftime, with Douglas sharing, "At every one of our games at halftime, it was the Kobe show.
He'd get out there and get his shot up. We'd come out of the locker room at halftime and have to chase him off the court". Bryant also learned to play soccer, and his favorite soccer team was A. Bryant earned national recognition during a spectacular high-school career at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore , located in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion.
He played on the varsity basketball team as a freshman. However, after high schooler Kevin Garnett went in the first round of the NBA draft , Bryant also began contemplating going directly to the pros.
At Adidas ABCD Camp , Bryant earned the senior MVP award [42] while playing alongside future NBA teammate Lamar Odom. During the run, he averaged Bryant received several awards for his outstanding performance during his senior year at Lower Merion. These included being named Naismith High School Player of the Year , Gatorade Men's National Basketball Player of the Year, a McDonald's All-American , a first-team Parade All-American and a USA Today All-USA First Team player.
He did everything well — beyond well. He was exceptional in everything that he did. And then we commented, as I recall, on how reminiscent he was of Michael. Before the NBA draft , Bryant had worked out in Los Angeles, where he scrimmaged against former Lakers players Larry Drew and Michael Cooper and, according to then-Laker general manager Jerry West , "marched over these people".
The Lakers were looking to trade their starting center Vlade Divac for a player's draft rights to free up salary cap space to make an offer to free-agent center Shaquille O'Neal. Bill Branch, the Charlotte Hornets ' head scout at the time, said that the Hornets agreed to trade their No. Before the trade agreement, the Hornets never considered drafting Bryant.
During the draft, the Lakers told the Hornets whom to select minutes before the pick was made. After the draft, the trade was put in jeopardy when Divac threatened to retire rather than be traded from Los Angeles. However, on June 30, Divac relented on his threat and the trade was made final on July 9, , when the league's off-season moratorium ended.
Bryant debuted in the Summer Pro League in Long Beach, California , scoring 25 points in front of a standing-room-only crowd. Defenders struggled to get in front of him, and his performance excited West and Lakers coach Del Harris. By the end of the season, he averaged During the All-Star weekend , Bryant participated in the Rookie Challenge and won the Slam Dunk Contest , becoming the youngest dunk champion at the age of The Lakers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs against the Utah Jazz , when Bryant was pressed into a lead role at the end of Game 5.
Byron Scott missed the game with a sprained wrist, Robert Horry was ejected for fighting with Utah's Jeff Hornacek , and Shaquille O'Neal fouled out with remaining in the fourth quarter. Bryant shot four air balls at the end of the game; the Jazz won 98—93 in overtime to eliminate the Lakers 4—1.
He first missed a game-winning two-point jump shot in the fourth quarter, and then misfired 3 three-point field goals in overtime, including two tying shots in the final minute. In Bryant's second season , he received more playing time and began to show more of his abilities as a talented young guard.
As a result, Bryant's point averages more than doubled, from 7. Bryant's The —99 season marked Bryant's emergence as a premier guard in the league. With starting guards Van Exel and Jones traded, Bryant started every game for the lockout-shortened game season.
Even at an early stage of his career, sportswriters were comparing his skills to those of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Bryant's fortunes would improve when Phil Jackson took over as coach of the Lakers in Jackson utilized the triangle offense that he implemented to win six championships with the Chicago Bulls ; this offense would help both Bryant and O'Neal rise to the elite class of the NBA. Three championships were won consecutively in , , and , further cementing this view.
Bryant was sidelined for six weeks prior to the start of the — season due to a hand injury that he had incurred during a preseason game against the Washington Wizards. This included leading the team in assists per game and steals per game. The duo of O'Neal and Bryant backed with a strong bench led to the Lakers winning 67 games, tied for fifth-most in NBA history. This followed with O'Neal winning the MVP and Bryant being named to the All-NBA Second Team and All-NBA Defensive Team for the first time in his career the youngest player to receive All-Defensive honors.
In the Finals , against the Indiana Pacers , Bryant injured his ankle in the second quarter of Game 2 after landing on the Pacers' Jalen Rose 's foot. Rose later admitted he placed his foot under Bryant intentionally.
In Game 4, Bryant scored 22 points in the second half and led the team to an OT victory as O'Neal fouled out of the game. Bryant scored the winning shot to put the Lakers ahead — Statistically, the —01 season saw Bryant perform similarly to the previous year, but he averaged six more points per game It was also the year when disagreements between Bryant and O'Neal began to surface.
The Lakers, however, only won 56 games, an game dropoff from the previous year. The Lakers would respond by going 15—1 in the playoffs. They easily swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.
In the semifinals round, the Lakers swept the Sacramento Kings. In Game 4 against the Kings, Bryant recorded 48 points, 16 rebounds and 3 assists in a — series-clinching win. They would go on to win the next four games and bring their second championship to Los Angeles in as many seasons. During the playoffs, Bryant played heavy minutes which brought his stats up to In the playoffs, teammate O'Neal declared Bryant the best player in the league.
In addition, he was also voted to start in the NBA All-Star Game for the third year in a row no game in In the —02 season , Bryant played 80 games for the first time in his career. On January 14, , Bryant recorded a then career-high 56 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in a —81 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.
Bryant also had a career-high He claimed his first All-Star MVP trophy after a point performance in Philadelphia when he was loudly booed by fans as they had throughout the game, stemming from his earlier comment to a 76ers heckler during the Finals that the Lakers were "going to cut your hearts out".
The Lakers won 58 games that year and finished second in the Pacific Division behind in-state rival Sacramento Kings. Bryant was suspended one game after he punched Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers after the Lakers' March 1, victory over the Pacers. The road to the Finals would prove a lot tougher than the record run the Lakers had enjoyed the previous year.
While the Lakers swept the Blazers and defeated the Spurs 4—1 in the first two rounds of the playoffs , the Lakers did not have home-court advantage against the Sacramento Kings. The series would stretch to seven games, the first time this had happened to the Lakers since the Western Conference Finals. However, the Lakers were able to beat their division rivals and make their third consecutive NBA Finals appearance. In the Finals , against the New Jersey Nets , Bryant averaged
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