Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant, a player that doesn’t need any introduction, a legend of the game and one of the greatest to ever do it. He came into the league right from high-school, and that particular thing says a lot about his talent and his way to approach the game. In my opinion, that is a very cool feature to accomplish, if you think that an eighteen year old kid can go and take the challenge of playing against well matured and veteran players. He was drafted in 1996 with the 13^th overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets, but they immediately traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers, and the rest is… history. Even though he started his NBA career a little bit rough as a rookie, he continued to improve season after season and the best was obviously yet to come. After they managed to find how they could co-exist, Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal, the two went on a historic run and won three consecutive NBA titles, in 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. At that moment, people from the media were talking about them possibly being one of the, if not the most dynamic duo of all time. But, the fact that they were so high honored by the people around the league didn’t mean too much for them, apparently, as they separated in 2004, when O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat, after played a final again, but this time losing it to the Detroit Pistons. After Shaq was gone, the Los Angeles Lakers was Kobe’s team, and rightfully so, because he dominated the league with his ability to score from deep, get into the paint and score mid-range fadeaway jumpers, or simply dunk on much taller and stronger defenders. That was because of his mindset coming into the game, that killer instinct that nobody else but Michael Jordan had back in the day. He won only one MVP trophy, but many thought that he could have won more if it wasn’t for the “underdogs” such as Steve Nash in 2005-2006 or Dirk Nowitzki in 2006-2007. Even if he has won only 1, between the 2001-02 and 2012-13 seasons, he was always in the top 5 on the MVP ladder, so we can see from here how dominant he was, for such a long time. Later in his career, he managed to win yet again back-to-back championships, in 2008-09 and 2009-10, while being the Finals MVP for both of them, too. With those two rings he cemented his legacy and the comparisons with Michael Jordan started to take shape. As he is well known for his scoring desire, he won two scoring titles in 2006 and 2007, and by the end of his career he managed to pass Michael Jordan on the all-time points leaders list.

Andrei Dilean, info@brainbasketball.net

Kobe Bryant