Kobe Bean Bryant (Aug. 23, 1978 – Jan. 26, 2020) was a former U.S. professional basketball player who played as a scoring guard/small forward nicknamed Black Mamba. [1]
In the 1996 NBA Draft, Bryant was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1st round 13th place, and was later traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played for the Los Angeles Lakers throughout his NBA career. The Lakers won 5 NBA championships with the Lakers; won 1 regular season MVP, 2 Finals MVP, 4 All-Star Game MVP; 18 NBA All-Star Teams, 15 NBA Best Team, 12 NBA Best Defensive Teams; and two Olympic gold medals in the national team career. [21] [91]
On April 14, 2016, Kobe Bryant announced his retirement after the last regular season game of his career at home against the Jazz. [1] On December 19, 2017, the Lakers played at home against the Warriors, and the halftime time was held for Kobe's No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys. On March 13, 2018, Bryant won the 90th Academy Award for Best Short Film for his short film "Dear Basketball" with animator Gran Keane.
On January 26, 2020 (January 27, 2020 Beijing time), Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter accident in Calabasas, California, at the age of 41 [2-3]; on April 5, Kobe Bryant was officially inducted into the Nye Smith Basketball Hall of Fame; on August 13, Orange County in California declared August 24 as "Kobe Day".
Early life
Childhood
Childhood Kobe Bryant
Kobe's home is not rich, but it is still warm.
Father Joan and mother Pam are family friends, they have known each other since childhood, and they have been in love since high school. Bryant also followed his father at this point, and began to drag in high school. Pam bore her husband 3 children. Bryant was born on August 23, 1978, with two older sisters, Sharia and Shaya. Speaking of the origin of Kobe's name, there is also an interesting story: Joan and his wife love Japanese food, and Kobe beef is their favorite, so they named their only son after the dish name KOBE.
Joan Bryant, who has a fancy style, didn't go well in the NBA, turning his attention overseas. In 1984, the 30-year-old Joan finally decided: dragging a family of 5 across the ocean and embarking on the road of "gold panning" in Europe. The family eventually settled in Rena, Italy, when Bryant was only 6 years old.
New environment, unfamiliar language. Italy, obviously, is not a paradise for this little basketball fan. There, is the kingdom of football. After school, Little Kobe always has to compete with his football-loving classmates for the field, if the opponent is only two or three, Kobe Bryant can find ways to drive them away, but if there are 10 or so people playing football, Little Kobe bryant can only endure the pain of cutting love, and sometimes forced to be a goalkeeper.
The mother knows her son's mind best, and specially bought a basket frame for him and put it in the backyard. The basket frame, which is now dilapidated, records a small period of Kobe Bryant's childhood, and also leaves Kobe Bryant with countless lonely figures.
However, Italy still left Kobe Bryant with good memories. His father became the "hero" of the Italian basketball league, and there were always fans around him after the game to sign autographs. Kobe Bryant and his sister also quickly learned Italian, and the number of friends around them gradually increased. Bryant lived in Italy for 8 years, and his travel experience in a foreign country made him more closely related to his family. He and his two sisters talked about everything, whether happy or sad, the sisters and brothers could always share it together. After his father, Joe Bryant, retired in 1991, the Bryant family returned to the United States. [7]
High school years
Bryant in high school
In 1996, Bryant attended Raul Merion High School in Raul Merion in the Philadelphia suburbs. Bryant was coached by his father in his sophomore year of high school. Despite being mediocre in his first year, Bryant played all 5 positions over the next three years and led the team to a record of 77 wins and 13 losses. At Adidas ABCD Training Camp, Bryant won the 1995 MVP Award for High School Students and fought alongside later teammate Lamar Odom. In high school, then-76ers head coach John Lucas invited Bryant to try out and train with the team, where Kobe played one-on-one with Jerry Starkhouse. In his senior year of high school, Bryant led the team to the first state championship in 50 years. In his senior year of high school, Bryant averaged 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.0 steals and 3.8 blocks per game, leading Raul Merrion High School to a record of 31 wins and 3 losses. After Bryant's high school career ended, he surpassed Wilt Chamberlain and Leon Simmons to break the high school scoring record in southeastern Pennsylvania with 2883 points. For his performance in his senior year of high school, Bryant won several awards, including Naismith's High School Player of the Year, Gatorade's All-American High School Player of the Year, McDonald's All-American Team, and America's First Team Player.
Bryant's high school basketball coach Greg Downer described him as "a dominant all-around player." In 1996, Bryant invited R&B singer Brandy Norwood to his own prom, even though they were just friends. Bryant scored 1,080 on the Academic Proficiency Assessment (SAT) at the time of graduation, which was enough to ensure he got a basketball scholarship to get into a good college. Eventually, however, 17-year-old Bryant decided to go straight into the NBA, becoming the 6th player in NBA history to enter the NBA draft directly from high school. Because it's not common to get straight into the NBA from high school (Kevin Garnett was the only exception in 20 years), Bryant's decision got a lot of attention.
Although Bryant received a lot of attention at the time, in the golden age of 1996, Bryant's talent was not outstanding. So he was traded to the Lakers after being selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick.
Bryant holding the Lakers' No. 8 jersey
Top 12 at the time: Twelfth overall: Vitaly Potapanko
Eleventh pick: Todd Fowler
10th overall pick: Eric Dampier,
Ninth overall: Samaki Walker
Eighth pick: Kerry Kitters
Seventh pick: Lorenzen Wright
Sixth pick: Anthony Walker
Fifth pick: Ray Allen
Fourth overall: Stephen Marbury
Third overall: Sharif Abdul Raheem
Second pick: Marcus Camby
First pick: Iverson
Thus Kobe Bryant began a 20-year-long Lakers journey in the NBA.
The next ------ Bryant's NBA career...