(Translator's note: The Athletic journalist Sam Amick is the author of this article, and the content of this article does not represent the translator's views.) ）
Welcome to the NBA 75, The Athletic's one-by-one inventory of NBA's 75 biggest stars to mark the league's 75th anniversary. We will announce each weekday the greatest player of all time selected by The Athletic's NBA staff panel.
"When it comes to basketball, I don't have fear. ...... I'm not afraid to strike iron, be in a bad state, or get into an awkward situation. That's because I keep in mind that the game is long, and the final result is counted. I'll focus on the fact that I have to give to reap, and once I have it, there's another kill in my arsenal. If the price is a lot of work and some iron, it doesn't matter. --Bryant Bryant in Mamba Spirit: My Way of Playing.
On May 12, 1997, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, when Bryant threw four three-no-nos at a crucial moment — the daring rookie ended the Lakers' season in such a fearless way that this senseless way would have a profound impact in the years to come — Demar DeRozan was a 7-year-old who lived near Commpton, California. When the Jazz advanced with their heads held high, he cried. Little did he know that in the future he would consider Kobe Bryant a mentor and confidant before his unfortunate death 23 years later.
Three years later, when Bryant won the first of his five championships — the start of a three-game winning streak, With Shaquil O'Neal as his teammate and Reggie Miller's Indiana Pacers finishing second — Stephen Curry was an 11-year-old kid who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, while his father, Dale, played for the NBA Hornets, which meant Stephen could watch Kobe's journey to greatness from time to time. And 14 years later, Bryant patted Curry's butt in preseason, and this action is widely regarded as a symbol of supreme respect.
When Bryant's career came to an end on April 13, 2016 — the 50-point 60-pointer against the Jazz that reflected his incoherent and ruthless retirement — Devon Booker was a 19-year-old guard for the Phoenix Suns, and his rookie season would end after the same night against the Clippers.
Four years later, shortly after the January 26, 2020 crash of Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others in Calabasas, California, Booker tattooed Kobe's motto — "Be legendary" — on his right arm as a way to honor an old friend.
If you talk to today's stars, you'll find that their childhood was full of Kobe moments, and in later years, they also learned to imitate Kobe, as if the old Kobe never left. They talked about the "mamba spirit" as if he still had a fierce face on his face and preached the power of perseverance. His spirit of defiance, which can even be said to be irrational self-confidence, has been integrated with him for the past twenty years. That spirit is carried on by the top players today, who have been studying Kobe since they were young. What's more, this unique trait also put him at Number 10 on The Athletic's 75 list.
Bryant's entire life story is always full of controversy. The son of Joe Bryant and Pam Bryant, the young Kobe moved from Philadelphia to Italy and eventually returned to Laur Merrion High School. So long before the Eagle County incident in 2003 (and eventually Kobe Bryant apologized to the litigants while acknowledging that they had different views on the affair), Bryant had a very complicated personality.
By the time he died, Kobe's tattered image had been somewhat repaired because of the image of Bryant and his wife Vanessa, the proud parent who raised four daughters, and his early off-field achievements, which even included an Oscar.
Many people stopped paying attention to his previous notoriety, while Bryant turned his attention to a range of projects. He has his own production company. And his support for the WNBA has been extremely influential and effective. In turn, his passion for coaching Gianna's team was the driving force behind his opening of the Mamba Sports Academy in Southern California, which opened its doors to many young girls and NBA pros.
By the summer of 2019, his invitation-based mini-camp quickly became a legend.
His retirement life — obviously — has been planned for a long time.
But as you can see from his game and the conversations contemporary players have about his contributions, Bryant is very respected. He was their Michael Jordan.
Kobe Bryant's brilliant report card is as follows:
Fourth overall score in history (33,643 points, behind Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Carl Malone and LeBron James)
Fourth-highest all-time playoff scoring (5,640 points, behind James, Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar)
Second-highest all-Star Game all-time (18, tied with LeBron James, behind Abdul-Jabbar 19)
Four-time All-Star Game MVP (tied for first place in history with Bob Petit); the trophy is now named after him
Eighth in regular season playtime (48,637 minutes) and fourth in playoff playoff history (behind James, Jordan and Abdul-Jabbar)
Eleven-time selection to the All-NW First Team (tied for second with Carl Malone, behind James' 13th)
· One MVP (28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game in 2007-08)
Two-time scoring champion (35.4 points per game in 2005–06; 31.6 points per game in 2006–07)
Nine-time first-team addition to the All-Defensive Team (tied for first place in league history with Kevin Garnett, Jordan and Gary Payton)
One of 10 players who averaged at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in their careers
On January 22, 2006, he scored 81 points in Toronto, the second highest score ever scored in a single game, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points scored 30 years ago
But more importantly, Curry (Golden State Warriors), Booker (Phoenix Suns) and DeRozan (Chicago Bulls) are all Kobe Bryant disciples. To better understand how Kobe Continues to Influence The League Today, I recently chatted with all three of them about their memories of Kobe. Of course they can't represent everyone in the league, but they're all All-Star players, and they know him very well, and like many others, they're all influenced by Kobe's unique way of playing.
Mamba Spirit
Bryant, in a conversation we had on January 26, 2013, discussed the state of the Lakers at the time, and more specifically, Dwight Howard, the Lakers' big man at the time:
"For us, a team with a confrontational and an advantage can inspire the competitive spirit of others, you know what I mean? If everyone just loosened up and went with the flow, then our team would be like this. Then you meet a confrontational team and it's like crashing into a bus. That's what happened to us in 2008. For us everything was very easy and very smooth. ...... Everyone loves each other. Then we got to the Finals (against Boston) and we were like crashing into a bus. The Celtics tackled us in six games — those bastards beat us out of the shit. ”
"Yes (Howard can fit into the team). I don't doubt [that] anymore. It's just about learning. It takes a process for him. He wants to be one of the greatest players of all time, and to do that, you have to learn from the great players of history – whether it's Bill Russell or Shaq. Even though Shaq is a moody guy. So if you've watched the big man game before, you're starting to see a common denominator. Wilt (Chamberlain) - God bless him - he is phenomenal, but he does not win as often as Russell and his partners - Jordan, the magician, myself. ...... I'm a problem solver. I tried to get things straight and go to the soup to get rid of all the difficulties. ”
Although the conversation with Curry and DeRozan took place over the phone, we spoke face-to-face with Booker on December 21. And it's the same place where Bryant has spent so many nights explaining his crazy competitive ideas to the media: the building, formerly known as staples Center.
"Yes, I'm glad Crypto did that," Booker said as he stood next to a crate labeled With Kobe's photo on the side. "Let this basketball legacy live on."
The entrance to what is now known as the Crypto.com Arena has a certain legendary color. Since the Lakers moved here from the Great Western Forum in 1999, the ramp leading to Cheekhurn Field has become a must-see for Lakers superstars to play at home every night — usually in triumph.
But Bryant, unlike most people, preferred to continue interviews about the team in the post-match dressing room. Bryant's comment above comes in one such discussion, when the Lakers had Kobe, Paul Gasol, Ci Shiping, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, who had just lost to the Utah Jazz and had a season record of 18-25.
That night, less than six months before Howard chose to leave Los Angeles for Houston, Bryant spoke of his head-to-head leadership style that didn't work well with his latest big-man duo. His lauded virtues, and the ruthlessness with which he led the Lakers locker room, have always been an important part of the debate about Kobe. But as Curry saw, the result was a rationale.
"There's always someone pointing fingers at what he does as a teammate," Curry said. "But whether you like him or not, or whether you like to play with him or not, he's that kind of guy, a hot guy, and you know he's going to push you." When that kind of thing comes on the pitch, it almost takes the game to another intensity. If you don't know you have this ability, you'll almost become jealous. ”
Bryant's approach doesn't always get such respect.
As writer Jeff Pierman chronicles in his book The Triproprie: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty, O'Neal slapped Kobe Bryant in a team game in 1998, when debates over who were the team bosses had erupted. This is one of the disputes in the long history of contradictions between the two men. But from a classic Kobe-Bey perspective, he insists that infighting has elevated the team.
"After that fight, I was angry, I got every next point and won that game," he told Jimmy Kimmel in March 2018.
In the end, the struggle between Bryant and O'Neal over the status of the team proved to be a failure. Just this week, more than 18 years after the Lakers traded O'Neal to Miami in the summer of 2004, O'Neal lamented his end with Kobe bryant as he discussed the differences between Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.
"I didn't realize this until I left Los Angeles," O'Neill said. "I could have won eight or nine titles with that guy instead of us arguing about whose team it was. ...... When the dust settles, you don't want to say to yourself, 'I wish I could...'"
From O'Neal to Howard to his years of trying to turn Gasol into a "black swan," the tension between Kobe and his teammates is often rooted in the idea that they didn't throw themselves into the game with the necessary aggressiveness. When it comes to his work ethic, there are countless stories about his crazy methods.
For example, on the night of Utah's four "three no-sticks" ending his rookie season, Bryant later shared his flight from the Los Angeles airport straight to Pacific Palisade High School and shot until sunrise.
"These shots let me know what I needed to work on the most: my strength," Bryant said in his book Mamba Spirit. "That's what those air balloons brought to me. In that game, mental tension was not an issue. I just wasn't strong enough to put the ball into the basket. My legs were like spaghetti; they couldn't cope with that long season. ...... I feel - I know - my future is unquestionable, nothing - no matter which person or which game - can spoil this. ”
Just as Bryant was finding his way to play in the NBA, Booker grew up in central Michigan while he was still learning how to walk. But as Booker got older, even though he was a detroit Pistons fan, his father made sure to keep him focused on Bryant's game.
"I was a toddler in Handan in the front yard – Rip Hamilton was my favorite player, but I was thinking about Kobe, Booker said. Booker's father, Melvin, played internationally and had a brief NBA experience in the mid-1990s (he played 32 games but never played Against Kobe). "My gut told me at the time that I was going to be Kobe. So that was the earliest memory, and then I went through college, got into the NBA, and spent a few years learning from the tape. Then my father asked me to watch the young Kobe Bryant videotape and learn his footwork.
"You'll hear the story of him getting up at 4 or 5 and he's done training when people are still on their way to the gym. You've heard high school seniors do this when you were a kid, but some of them are rumors, and you know they're fabricated. But for Bryant, it feels like each of these stories is 100% real from start to finish. I think that's the difference. A lot of people have a work ethic, a lot of people are engaged in work and focused on their bodies, but there are still slight flaws on some levels. But the problem is that Bryant has no places that are not qualified. ”
Like Booker, DeRozan's mastery of the middle distance is related to the study of Kobe.
"Dude, it's just relentlessly, countlessly, non-stop repetitions, doing the same thing over and over again," DeRozan said of Bryant's impact on his daily training. "So when you're in a situation, it doesn't feel fresh anymore. You don't feel rushed. You also don't panic. Just do the same thing over and over again, invest in something again and again, and everything will come to fruition.
"It becomes second nature, in muscle memory. Your state of mind, your mind, your confidence, just by constantly honing your skills, in the middle of the night, in the early morning, the days when you want to lie flat and do nothing. I learned a lot from Kobe's spirit. ”
Mentor role
On February 21, 2016, Bryant talked about his relationship with Jordan during his final season:
"When I came into the league and played against him, I found... He was very willing to build a relationship - a mentorship. He gave me a lot of advice, a lot of details, strategies, training plans and so on. Seriously, I don't think it's possible for people to understand the impact he had on me as a player and as a mentor. ”
For Kobe, Jordan will always be the gold standard. A lifelong goal. He has six championships. GOAT status. Every shot, every action you can imagine. Do Not Disturb on Flight Mode. Bryant wanted to replicate all of that.
But he's not just chasing a basketball ghost. No, because Bryant would reflect more as he got older, and his relationship with Jordan started early and developed from there. When Jordan gave a tearful speech about Kobe at Kobe's memorial service, everyone could see the deep connection.
For most of Bryant's career, however, he has put his peers off. His focus is on fear, and he always tries to make his opponents feel threatened. There is no better example than his well-known estranged relationship with LeBron James, which only became more meaningful later in his career.
Over time, however, Bryant began to reciprocate in much the same way jordan had done to him. If you're a young player who Kobe thinks deserves respect, that's enough to make you stand up with pride. Or, like Curry, pluck your ass.
For Curry, Kobe Bryant's slap in the 2014 preseason was largely a hat-off tribute from Kobe. Bryant kept biting him and bullying him on the court, so much so that Curry stumbled even when he crossed the half-court line.
He used his left hand to support the ball all the way. Bryant was then propped open with his right elbow, and the not-so-subtle push created enough room for Curry to fire. Well, into the net.
"Wow, in the other half," Lakers announcer Bill McDonald said on the broadcast. "Bryant patted him on the back, gave him a smile, and said, 'Boy, this shot is good.'" ”
After about 18.6 million YouTube views, the move clearly conveys an unmistakable message that Bryant highly values Curry's talent. However, in Curry's eyes, three years before this move, Kobe Bryant made him feel like an elite player.
"It was my second year, we played at Oracle and he was sitting on the bench," Curry said. "I dribbled in front of their bench precursors, made a small fake move, and hit the board hit. They gave him a close-up, and as I walked off the field, he looked at me and you could tell he said "That bastard played well." ”
"I didn't see it at the time. I saw it later. He was very quiet at the time, but they caught him saying that on camera and someone sent it to me. That's cool. When I saw it, it was a "Wow! "Moments. It's a bit of a cliché, but it's the "when your idol becomes your opponent" type. It's amazing. He recognized my skill level, and I didn't even know who I was as a basketball player, so it was another way to build confidence. It felt like I was on the right path. ”
Bryant gave Booker the same feeling, signing "Becoming a Legend" on his sneakers after the game on March 23, 2016, and talking to Booker for 15 minutes. Curry was already the MVP and champion at the time. But as Booker shared at the time, Bryant was very encouraging to pull the mighty Warriors off their thrones.
"He just told me, 'Keep up the good work, you know?'" Never settle for the status quo in this league. Booker told reporters. He said, 'You know, Stephen and Clay [Thompson] — obviously they're doing their thing right now, but the league is fighting, keep working on it.' ”
That same night, Bryant explained his views on these relationships.
"I think the most important thing in my career is to be able to pass on the torches so that the next generation of athletes can embody the same spirit, learn the same techniques, have the same mindset," Kobe said. "It's the coolest thing for me. Tonight against Booker, I mean when he just caught my movements, he went straight to me. "You don't have to beat me when I'm doing the moves!" But it was nice to see. It's nice to see because I remember I did the same thing with MJ. ”
With three All-Star selections and another in the 2021 NBA Finals, and the Suns currently boasting the best record in the league (42-10), Booker can now be proud of not living up to those huge expectations.
"Bryant left me with the 'become legendary,'" Booker explained in our chat. "That's what I told you. I will not limit any possible greatness. I don't. Interestingly, I remember watching an interview after I scored 70 points (the March 24, 2017 game against Boston) where Bryant said on the live stream, 'My favorite part of his 70 points is that I asked (Booker),' Can you do it again?' He said, 'I don't understand why not.' It made a big impression on him. Hearing this vignette reminded me of what I shouldn't limit, what I was going to do. I just keep trying. ”
As for DeRozan, Bryant's most open mentoring moments for him were completely different. One day after Bryant's 39th birthday (August 24, 2017), he challenged renowned rapper Kendrick Lamar ("Revolutionizing the Music Program at Centennial High School"), then-Boston Celtics player Isaiah Thomas ("selected for the NBA's First Team next season"), and DeRozan.
"I challenge you to rekindle the friendship you lost at Compton when you were younger," he wrote to DeRozan, who was still playing for the Toronto Raptors at the time.
The implication behind this message was a mystery to DeRozan – at least at first.
DeRozan said: "If you know anything about him, he will challenge you to the point where you question the challenge. "That's the beauty of him making you want to explore and observe more deeply, to understand what the next challenge is for you."
"It leads to something. But in retrospect, you'd say, 'Damn, I was confused when he brought it up.' But you know, when something comes to light later, you say, 'Damn, it happened before I knew it.' ’...... He will always find different ways to challenge you. ”
Great memories from friends
In February 2015, Bryant said as we talked about his documentary Muse:
"As you get older, you gradually begin to understand. You begin to have a broader perspective and understand that if you don't just grasp the discovery itself, there will be greater growth. But if you share this finding, then you end up having an impact. It's not about saying, "Do this or do that" or "My method is the right way." The best way to do this is to say, "This is how I got to this height." It was my journey. Then let the audience interpret it the way they see fit. ”
When Bryant made the decision to pull back the curtains late in his career to share his years-old secrecy with the NBA public, the gift was a gift that many of them will never forget. Of course, the sad fact that he has left means that these memories will be even more precious than ever.
For DeRozan, that means winning goals — like earlier this season when he became the first player in league history to achieve two consecutive night-to-back kills — and these are products of Bryant's influence. That's what happened, DeRozan said after he hit a Golden Rooster independent three-pointer against the Indiana Pacers on Dec. 26.
"The first thing that comes to my mind is (December 4, 2009) that one-legged shot that Kobe Bryant hit against Wade," DeRozan said. "It's crazy. That's all I got from Jordan and Kobe Bryant about winning the ball.
"That's one of the moments when you think back to the people you've seen and tried to emulate — whether it's by the trash can, in the kitchen, or wherever."
In 2016, after Booker sat with Bryant for 15 minutes after the game, he immediately knew he wanted more. So he found a mutual friend: Robert Laura, a longtime security guard for the Lakers who know Kobe very well and who has a long history of Ties to Booker's alma mater, Kentucky.
"[Laura] always told me, 'Come and hook up with Kobe!' Come and hook up with Kobe