Jasmine Evans - Kobe Bryant: A Biography

Kobe Bean Bryant is an American professional basketball player. More specifically, he is a shooting guard (#24) for the Los Angeles Lakers and has been since 1996. This basketball season, the 2012 season, Kobe ranks #1 in the following categories:

• Points per game
• Minutes played
• Field Goals Made
• Field Goal Attempts
• Points
• Points Per 48 Minutes ( NBA.com, Kobe Bryant Player Profile )

Bryant is a great basketball player and some argue that hes one of the best that ever played. Over the span of time that Bryant has been with the Lakers, the team has gone on to win five championships. He is best known for his offensive skills but has also made his mark on the defensive side of basketball.

His career has included some scandal on and off the court. Most notably, Bryants ongoing sibling rivalry with Shaquille ONeal got pretty heated in the 2003-2004 season. That season ended with the Lakers losing the NBA Finals and ONeal leaving the Lakers. Bryant has also faced scandal in his marriage and personal life.

In 2003, Bryant was arrested based on allegations that he had sexually assaulted a 19 year old hotel employee. Bryant admitted to an adulterous affair with the woman but repeatedly denied sexually assaulting her. Despite the drama, Bryant continues to have a strong fan base and to perform well in the game.

(Photo Credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/68382174@N08/6215168312/)

(Photo Credit:http://www.flickr.com)

Kobe Bryant was born on August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents, Joe and Pamela Bryant, named him after a kind of steakKobe steakafter seeing it on a menu at a restaurant. His father, whose nickname was Jellybean, also played in the NBA. He played eight seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Diego Clippers, and the Houston Rockets.

Because of his fathers basketball career, Bryant started learning how to play at the age of three. He idolized Magic Johnson and admired the famous players ball-handling skills. Bryant also claimed the Los Angeles Lakers as his favorite team early in his youth.

After one season with the Houston Rockets, Joe Bryant continued his professional basketball career in Italy. Kobe Bryant, his mother, and his two older sisters moved to Italy as well. They each practiced Italian after school each day and became quite fluent in the first year. To this day, Bryant can still speak Italian. ( ESPN.com , Kobe Bryant Biography )

While he was in Italy, Bryants grandfather would mail him video tapes of various NBA games. Bryant watched these tapes closely and would try to mimic many of the moves he saw. He did not just mimic Hall of Famers. He also studied good but less known players like John Battle . This habit of studying and mimicking other players continued into Bryants later years. He admits in an interview that, I seriously have stolen all my moves from the greatest players. ( ESPN.com , Kobe Bryant: Imitating Greatness )

In 1991, Joe Bryant retired from basketball and moved his family back to the United States. In the years to follow, Kobe Bryant earned national recognition for his impressive high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, which is located in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was one of the first freshmen to play on the varsity team in decades. His almost instant success was due to years of coaching from his father and years of dedication on Bryants part. Almost every day throughout his high school career, Bryant would jog to the nearby Wynnewood Park and practice for hours on end shooting jump shots and layups. It was there that he would envision success for himself. ( ESPN.com , Before They were Stars: Kobe Bryant )

Over the course of Bryants last three years of high school, the team at Lower Merion High (the Aces) had a spectacular record of 77-13. Bryant played all five positions during this time. As a senior, he averaged nearly 31 points a game and helped lead the team to win the state title, their first in 50 years.

That year, Bryant was the Gatorade player of the year and a McDonalds All-American. He also played pickup games with several players of the Philadelphia 76ers during this time. Reports state that he held his own in the pros even as a high school student.

By the end of his high school basketball career, Bryant had scored 2,883 points making him the all-time leading scorer in Southeastern Pennsylvania high school history. With this record, Bryant surpassed other basketball greats like Wilt Chamberlain and Lionel Simmons.

He was receiving many college recruitment letters, but Bryant, who was already hearing comparisons to Michael Jordan , had his sights on the NBA. When Kevin Garnett, from Chicago, went to the NBA directly from high school, Bryant began to think that he could do it too.

After months of rumors and speculation that Kobe would bypass college and go straight to the pros, Bryant announced his intentions to join the ranks of the NBA at a press conference in the gym at Lower Merion High. Bryant came to the conference sporting a baggy brown suit and black shades over his head. ( ESPN.com , Before They were Stars: Kobe Bryant )

Soon after the press conference, Bryant signed with an agency and got multi-year endorsement deals with Adidas and Sprite. He would be the sixth player to join the NBA draft without having played a college game. Some sports pros and commentators believed Bryant was ready and others thought it was a bad decision. ( JockBio , Kobe Bryant Biography )

Nevertheless, in 1996, Bryant was selected as the No. 13 draft pick by the Charlotte Hornets before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. After he was selected, Bryant was quoted saying, Im going out there to answer a challenge that I put to myself since the ninth grade. I had said to myself that if I had the option to skip college and go straight to the NBA, I would.

The option came my way, and I took advantage. This is a great challenge. Bryant certainly went out and answered the challenge he put to himself as just a 14-year-old. ( New York Times , PRO BASKETBALL; Big Trade and Some Twists in N.B.A. Youth Parade )

The Makings of a Star

( Photo Credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynniceman/5311288381/)

When Bryant started with the Lakers, he was incredibly excited. The Lakers had always been his favorite team and he had finally realized his dream to play in the NBA. Bryant played well during the Lakers summer league averaging 25 points a game. But due to a fractured left wrist and his relative inexperience, Bryant did not get much floor time during the first half of the 1996-1997 season.

The head coach, Del Harris, did not see a need to push Bryant too hard during those first several weeks.

Injuries plagued the Lakers that season. Bryant did not see too much floor time until March and April when the coach had little choice. Towards the end of the season, Bryant averaged about eight points a night.

The next season, Harris decided to have Bryant be the Lakers sixth man. Bryant and the team flourished with him in that role. They started the season with 11 victories. Despite this positive start, the Lakers did not have much success in the playoffs for the second season in a row. This theme repeated in Bryants third season as well.

For his individual professional career, Bryant was thriving for a rookie. He scored 31 points in the Rookie Game during All-Star Weekend and he won the Slam Dunk Contest. As the Lakers sixth man, he bumped up his average points per game from eight to 18. Fans voted him into the All-Star game in his second year. The NBA played up this game as a showdown between Michael Jordan and his heir apparent.