On the Court With... Kobe Bryant

by Matt Christopher

  It was a savvy move on Cowens’s part, but a risky proposition for the Lakers. O’Neal had yet to sign with L.A., and West didn’t want to trade Divac until he had acquired O’Neal. But he knew if he didn’t go after Bryant right away, the Hornets might well trade him elsewhere.

  As a player, West had gambled many times. Now he did so again. When Cowens dangled Bryant in front of the Lakers, West couldn’t resist. He traded Divac for rights to the young player.

  In mid-July Bryant flew to Los Angeles to sign the standard rookie contract, worth 3.5 million dollars. At the airport, while he waited for his luggage, a stranger approached the tall young man and said, “You must be a basketball player. Who do you play for?”

  Without thinking, Bryant started to answer, “Lower Merion.” Then he caught himself. “I guess I’m a Laker,” he said with a smile. He liked the way that sounded.

  “I’m very excited to be here,” said Bryant after the signing ceremony. “It’s a dream come true to come to a team like L.A. that has a great history. It was a team I looked up to growing up.”

  Jerry West was similarly delighted, but he cautioned that Bryant was unlikely to be an overnight sensation. “In five or six years the people of Los Angeles will be talking of him in very high terms. We know there will be some growing pains in the process, but we are prepared to accept this challenge.”

  Kobe’s father, mother, and sister Shaya soon joined him in California. Joe Bryant even gave up his job at LaSalle. They realized that Kobe was only seventeen and would need a lot of support. They all moved into a house in the southern California hills. The house had a spectacular view, with the ocean on one side and the city on another. Kobe’s room overlooked the Pacific Ocean. But he tried to stay focused on his goals.

  “I won’t be doing a lot of hanging out after the games,” said Bryant. “I’ll be going home to do homework and play video games and chow down on a home cooked meal.” Bryant had already made the decision to start taking college courses in business to help him manage his new fortune.

  Meanwhile, Jerry West’s gamble paid off. He was able to sign Shaquille O’Neal to a contract worth an incredible 123 million dollars. The Lakers had paid a stiff price, but West had acquired the two players he believed could lead the Lakers to a championship.

  Bryant was still a kid who just loved to play basketball. Before training camp started, he traveled to Venice Beach, just outside L.A., where some of the best pickup games in the area were played. He wanted to be ready for training camp.

  But during one game in early September, he took a tumble and cracked a small bone in his left wrist. Some members of the press questioned his maturity for playing in an unorganized game.

  Although the Lakers weren’t thrilled with his injury, West understood, saying, “This guy will play in a Little League tournament. It doesn’t bother me. He loves to play basketball and is one of the most dedicated players I have ever seen.” He appreciated Bryant’s unbridled passion for basketball.

  Still, when training camp opened in October Bryant was unable to play. All he could do was run and participate in drills that didn’t require him to handle the ball.

  Kobe took camp seriously and worked hard to fit in. Veteran Lakers were curious about the young player.

  He immediately impressed them with his work ethic, but his inability to participate in workouts left him far behind. He couldn’t really learn the offense or determine where he fit in on the Laker team.

  With O’Neal playing center, everything was changing and the team had to learn to play a whole new way. The veteran players were more concerned with learning their roles than they were with how Bryant was adjusting.

  He also didn’t quite know how to behave around the veteran club. After practice, many Lakers took full advantage of their celebrity status in the city, going to clubs and hanging out together. Kobe was too young to get into most of the nightclubs and didn’t care to spend his time in them, anyway. He kept to himself, stayed quiet, and tried to learn by watching.

  Some members of the team thought he was aloof and didn’t quite know what to make of him. Bryant knew that until he had a chance to play and demonstrate his skills, it would be hard to fit in. Besides, although he wasn’t intimidated being around the other players, he was cautious about succumbing to the NBA lifestyle. His priorities began and ended with basketball.

  But that didn’t make him immune to the usual hazing and pranks veterans pull on rookies. At a team dinner they made Bryant sing and teased him about his friendship with the pop singer and TV actress Brandy, whom he had taken to his senior prom. They weren’t trying to be mean, but Bryant was sensitive to the teasing.

  Near the end of training camp his wrist finally healed and he began to get some playing time. He demonstrated confidence in his game, but also showed that he still had a lot to learn.

  Bryant played the same way he had in high school. He thought nothing of going one-on-one against players of greater size and more experience, or taking the important shot. His teammates immediately nicknamed him “Showboat.”

  The name stung. Bryant considered himself a team player. But he was so confident that when he saw an opening, he tried to exploit it. He just wasn’t accustomed to playing in a system where every other player was a legitimate option.

  He had particular trouble on the defense. He often went for the steal or went after rebounds he had no chance of getting. As a result, he sometimes left his own man wide open.

  That wasn’t the way Laker coach Del Harris wanted things done. He wanted Bryant to stay within the offense, work the ball inside to O’Neal, and play team defense. Although he knew Bryant would be a great player someday, Harris also knew that his job depended upon his-ability to win now. He couldn’t afford to wait for Bryant and really wasn’t concerned with getting him playing time. He was far more occupied with the task of getting his starters to learn to play with a force like O’Neal. The club had undergone a complete changeover since the previous year and only five players remained from the 1995-96 team.

  When the season started, Bryant only played during garbage time, when the Lakers were far ahead or far behind. Even then, the instant he made a mistake, Harris pulled him from the game. Kobe didn’t get his first basket until the fifth game of the season.

  With O’Neal at center, everyone expected the Lakers to win immediately, and in fact they did get off to a hot start. That made it even more difficult for Bryant to get meaningful minutes. Harris was far more concerned with giving his key players more time playing with one another than he was with working Bryant into the lineup.

  Bryant tried to be philosophical about it, telling the press, “My father keeps telling me my time will come.” But for a basketball junkie like Bryant, sitting on the bench was hard to deal with. Some members of the press who had thought it was a mistake for Bryant to skip college took note of his lack of playing time and began whispering, “I told you so.”

  Behind the scenes, Lakers president Jerry West was putting some pressure on Harris to play Bryant more often, but the coach was resistant. The Lakers were on pace to win more than 50 games, and he didn’t want to risk disrupting his team just to give Bryant some experience.

  When the league broke to celebrate the annual All-Star weekend, the Lakers led the Pacific Division. Due more to his name than his numbers, Bryant was selected to participate in the Rookie All-Star game; a showcase for younger players played the day before the All-Star game.

  Bryant was pumped up about finally playing. The game would be broadcast nationally, giving many NBA fans their first real look at Bryant.

  In the free-form, 30 minute contest, which more resembled a pickup game than a regular-season NBA contest, Bryant flourished, outscoring more heralded rookies like Allen Iverson to lead all scorers with 31 points.

  But he saved the best for the slam-dunk contest. Although the contest had once attracted the game’s biggest stars, they had begun to shy away. As a result, young players like Bryant were invited to
participate.

  He started slowly and barely made it to the final round of four players. Then Bryant rose to the occasion. As he had done so many times in his high school career, he saved the best for last.

  Starting on the left side, he charged the basket, went into the air, and seemed to hang in defiance of gravity. As he did, he passed the ball from one hand to the other between his legs, then spun to the basket and slammed the ball home! It was a spectacular move.

  The crowd jumped to its feet, as did judge Julius Erving, who as a player had been best known for his artistic dunking style. Jazzed up by the crowd, Bryant bounced to midcourt, stood before the judges, and flexed his slender body like a bodybuilder.

  The crowd roared again. To no one’s surprise, Bryant won the contest.

  But none of his All-Star weekend success mattered when the regular season resumed. Bryant continued to play only five or ten minutes a game even as O’Neal was lost for over a month to injury.

  But another injury finally gave him a chance to play. began to realize he could provide some instant offense. He ended up averaging 15 minutes per game Point guard Nick Van Exel went down and shooting guard Derek Fisher took over the point. Harris had little choice but to pair Bryant in the backcourt with Fisher.

  For the first time all year, Laker fans got a glimpse of the future. The team won five of the six games he started. Bryant proved that he Could score — and the opposition discovered that at times they had to double-team him. Even better, he demonstrated that he was learning what to do in such situations, as he rarely forced a hot and proved adept at finding the open man.

  Although he went back to the bench when Van Exel returned, Bryant’s playing time increased as Harris began to realize he could provide some instant offense. He ended up averaging 15 minutes per game over the course of the season. O’Neal returned to the lineup and the Lakers made the playoffs easily, finishing 56-26, just a game behind Seattle SuperSonics for. second place in the Pacific Division.

  In the first round, the Lakers blew out the Portland Trailblazers, winning the best-of-five playoff three games to one. Bryant hardly played in the three Laker wins, but in game three, with the Lakers trailing, he had come off the bench to keep things close by scoring 22.

  In the next round, against the Utah Jazz, the Lakers lost the first two games of the best-of-five series and again Bryant played only a few minutes. But opportunity came in game three once again.

  The Lakers jumped ahead early, but turned cold as Utah began to make a move in the fourth quarter. Harris recalled Bryant’s performance against Portland and he put him in the lineup, looking for some points.

  Bryant proved he was becoming an explosive scorer. He scored 17 points in the final period as he kept the pressure on Utah by driving to the basket again and again. They responded with fouls, and he coolly sank 13 of 14 free throws to secure the 104-84 win.

  If L.A. didn’t win game four, their season was over. Harris decided to go with the hot hand and Bryant played much of the game.

  With the Lakers nursing an 87-85 lead with less than a minute remaining, Jazz veteran guard John Stockton went one-on-one against Bryant. When the rookie went for a fake, Stockton blew past him to score a layup and tie the game with 11 seconds remaining.

  L.A. called time-out. O’Neal had fouled out and the Lakers needed someone to take the final shot. Harris decided that someone would be Bryant. He told his team to get him the ball and get out of the way. The decision showed a lot of confidence in the rookie.

  L.A. inbounded the ball to Kobe and his teammates scattered, leaving him isolated on one side of the court. He moved toward the basket, pulled up, and from fourteen feet shot a potentially game-winning jumper. He had made the same shot thousands of times while playing shadow ball.

  But this time, there was a national television audience, thousands of fans in the/ stands, and a hand in his face. The ball fell short. Air ball! The game entered overtime.

  Bryant was uncharacteristically unnerved. In the extra period he shot three more times, and three more times he missed the basket entirely. The Jazz won going away, and the partisan Utah crowd hooted Bryant and his teammates off the court.

  The press questioned Harris’s decision to put the ball in Bryant’s hands in crunch time, and the coach snapped, “All year I get criticized for not playing him and now I’m criticized for playing him.”

  But no one felt worse than Kobe Bryant did. After returning to Los Angeles, the next morning Bryant went to the gym and began working on his second season in the NBA. His rookie year was over.

  CHAPTER NINE

  1997-1998

  One Step at a Time

  Bryant knew he had to work harder if he was ever to achieve the level of success he expected from himself in the NBA. In addition to his time spent in the gym, he added a grueling weight-training regimen to his fitness routine so he could become bigger and stronger. He also played for the team the Lakers sponsored in the L.A. Summer Pro League, coached by former player Larry Drew.

  Although Bryant’s performance in the playoffs seemed to indicate that he would play a key role on the team in the upcoming season, as he played in the summer league it became apparent that wasn’t necessarily the case. The Lakers tried to put restrictions on his game. They didn’t want him to score as much as they wanted him to pass.

  Bryant tried to adjust, but he found the transition difficult. He was convinced that his talents were best used as a scorer, but the Laker offense was increasingly focused on getting the ball to O’Neal inside. It was a slowdown style that Bryant felt uncomfortable with.

  He tried his best to fit in. But in the preseason it became clear that Coach Harris planned to use Bryant off the bench as a sixth man, either at shooting guard or small forward.

  While Bryant was disappointed that he wasn’t in the starting lineup, the role suited him. Since he was no longer playing the point, he wasn’t expected to distribute the ball. And he often entered the game while either O’Neal or the Lakers other main scoring option, Eddie Jones, was taking a breather. Bryant’s job was to energize the team and put the ball in the basket.

  That was something he was beginning to do in ever more spectacular fashion. He’d grown an inch and become stronger in the off-season, and his offensive skills began drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan. He looked even taller, as he let his hair grow out into a distinctive, short Afro.

  In one amazing sequence, Bryant showed that he had skills that perhaps even Jordan didn’t have. In a preseason game against Washington, Bryant got the ball in transition and charged down the court, freeing himself from his defender with a nifty crossover dribble.

  He had two options. He could either shoot the short twelve- to fourteen-foot jump shot or drive to the basket, where Washington’s six-foot-nine forward Ben Wallace stood blocking his way.

  The situation was not unlike that which he had faced at the end of the game against Utah. All summer long he had replayed the sequence in his head, trying to figure out why he had missed the shot. He finally came to the conclusion that he had shot an air ball because he had really wanted to drive straight to the basket. He hadn’t because he had worried about committing a foul or being accused of being too flashy. In short, he had talked himself out of doing what came naturally, out of being Kobe Bryant. That lack of confidence had probably led to the three air balls he had shot in overtime, as well.

  He was determined not to let that happen again. Without hesitation he went right at Wallace.

  The big man was in perfect position — in a slight crouch in case he had to jump up to block a shot, with his arms and legs spread wide to keep Bryant from cutting past him. There was no apparent opening to the basket for Kobe Bryant.

  But that didn’t stop him. He took the ball in his hand, took a quick, hard step, and went up…

  … and up, and up, and up. Legs spread wide, Bryant went straight at, then over the befuddled defender, who ducked slightly as Bryant soared over his head and jammed the ball
through the hoop!

  His teammates, the opposition, and the fans sat stunned in their seats for a moment. Then, as the crowd roared, Bryant’s teammates looked incredulously at one another. The sheepish Wallace spun and looked around as if wondering where Bryant had gone. But he was already back down to earth, racing down the court. It was a move that no one, not even Michael Jordan, could have made.

  When the regular season started, the Lakers opened with a rush, winning their first eleven games. O’Neal dominated the inside and Bryant came off the bench to score almost at will, averaging nearly 20 points a game, a remarkable total for a player who was usually on the court for only half the game. While some observers groused that he was still out of control and still failed to play within the team concept, the results were undeniable. The Lakers were winning.

  The comparisons to Jordan continued when the Lakers and Bulls met for the first time that season in a game the press hyped as a meeting of the past and future of the NBA. Although Chicago won by 20 and Jordan poured in 36 points, Bryant held his own against the legendary star, hitting for a career-high 33 points and making Jordan work for every shot.

  Basketball fans throughout the country were beginning to realize what Bryant’s teammates already knew; he was becoming the most exciting player in the NBA. “He amazes me,” said teammate Nick Van. Exel. “I see him every day and he still amazes me.”

  Added Eddie Jones, “Every play, you look at him and you wonder, ‘What’s next?’ I would pay money just to watch Kobe play for ten seconds.”

  The fans confirmed Jones’s estimation of Bryant when they voted for the NBA All-Star team. Kobe Bryant, the sixth man on his own team, collected more votes than any other player, out-polling even Michael Jordan to earn a starting berth on the Western Conference squad. It was an unprecedented achievement for a nineteen-year-old player.