Kobe Bryant participated in the NBA draft as a high school student in the summer of 1996.
At that time, it was extremely rare for high school students to succeed, so Kobe Bryant's draft pick was predicted to the end of the first round, which means that the first round 13 pick was overestimated.
He was appreciated by Cardinal auerbach. Although auerbach was very optimistic about Kobe Bryant, he was preoccupied with how to get tim duncan that summer.
At that time, the Celtics held the sixth overall position. Duncan was not the most promising rookie in the draft of 1996. In college, he was at a disadvantage with Camby.
So as long as Duncan participates in the 96 draft, the Celtics are likely to get a big man and choose Duncan with the sixth overall pick.
Auerbach's disciple Danny Anji was the general manager of Sun at that time, holding the draft pick 15, and auerbach was going to let Anji choose Kobe Bryant to trade with the Celtics.
In this way, the Celtics can play a combination of Kobe and Duncan.
The ending of the story is clear to everyone. Duncan didn't take part in the 96 draft, but was unexpectedly won by the Spurs in 1997. Kobe Bryant was intercepted by the Hornets at 13 and sent to the Lakers. Auerbach's plan was a complete failure.
Since then, the old "Bishop" has been disheartened and gradually left the circle of team management, and the Celtics have been rotten for more than ten years.
Be a novice
As a rookie guard, there were too many outside players in the Lakers lineup at that time, such as "fans" van Eijk Searle and eddie jones, who were relatively stable players in the Lakers.
In the first season, Kobe spent most of his time as a substitute, playing only 15.5 minutes.
Kobe once bluntly said in the future: "I regretted coming to the NBA at that time. Most of the time, he can only watch his teammates play on the court. "
Although playing time is very short, Kobe's efforts are famous in the NBA.
Jerry West, then general manager, also appreciated Kobe very much. West has helped Kobe too much, not only technically, but also psychologically.
For example, West's famous sentence "Offense can make you an all-star, and defense can open the gap between you and other all-stars".
It is rumored that West often practiced with Kobe at that time. Perhaps in Kobe, West saw himself when he was young.
Jordan basically decided to retire on 1998, and the league is eagerly looking for "Jordan's successor", among which Kobe Bryant is also in the league's sight.
Kobe Bryant's average performance in the 1997-98 season was not enough to support his selection to the all-star team, but with the popularity of "Jordan's successor", he was selected to the all-star team.
While challenging Jordan, young and frivolous Kobe also offended "postman" karl malone.
What happened at that time was this: karl malone gave Kobe a pick-and-roll, and Kobe refused by saying, "Put your damn pick-and-roll away, I want to fight Jordan." Malone was very angry.
peak
1998-99 season, Lakers coach Harris announced his resignation after coaching 12 games. He was replaced by Laker Cortland Biess in the 1980s.
Rambis loved Kobe very much, and with the change of the Lakers lineup at that time, Rambis promoted Kobe to the starting position of small forward, and Kobe officially started his own peak.
It is also for this reason that Kobe can often swing to the position of small forward when choosing the historical lineup.
This is not groundless, he did serve as a small forward.
With more opportunities, Kobe began to grow rapidly, from 15.4 points per game to 19.9 points and 22.5 points, and secured the position of the second leader of the team.
Kobe played a huge role in key games many times. For example, in the Western Conference finals in 2000, Kobe and O 'Neal hit a 3 1: 13 attack wave in the last quarter, which reversed the Blazers' lock on the Western Conference champion.
After winning the championship for the first time, Kobe became a top all-star player directly. In 2000-0 1 season, Kobe averaged 28.5 points per game, only 0.2 points worse than O 'Neal.
The playoff OK combination is even more invincible. It can be said that the Lakers rely entirely on the play of these two people. The Lakers won the first three consecutive championships in 2 1 century and are the only one at present.
Moreover, this three-time championship was not organized by several famous stars like the later NBA. Kobe Bryant was trained by the Lakers.
Pull the reins and take a different route.
People can give up everything in pursuit of success when they have nothing, and once they stand on the highest podium, they will be unattainable.
O 'Neill's state began to decline with age, while Kobe became more and more popular as he got closer to the peak, and the contradiction between them began.
But the contradiction never really broke out, because they kept winning. As long as they won everything, once they lost, the contradiction really broke out.
Perhaps every team on the road of the dynasty is like this, especially the team after two consecutive championships. When they pursue higher achievements, they will appear to be "enemies of the whole league and even the whole world."
20 1 1 Lakers, 20 14 Heat and 20 19 Warriors are all like this. It seems that except the fans of their home team, they are people who hate them.
After two unhappy seasons, Kobe and karl malone reconciled and broke up, Kobe and Jackson broke up, Kobe and O 'Neal parted ways, and even Fisher left the center of this whirlpool.
Kobe became the master of the team, but did not help the team out of the quagmire.
After many years, in 2005, the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time, and Kobe really stood on the cusp.
At that time, Kobe Bryant was questioned as much as Kelly Owen is questioned now.
Be yourself
Being yourself is easier said than done.
In order to prove his ability, Kobe opened the individual scoring mode, and his peak body provided great support for Kobe.
From 62 points in three quarters to 8 1 minute in a single game, Kobe finished the season with 35.4 points per game.
He lost to Nash in the playoffs of 1996. Although Kobe scored 50 points in a single game, he still couldn't stop the Lakers' rout and make up for the gap in team strength.
Since the crazy score is not good, why not try something else? Kobe tried to change his offensive style in the following season.
His average shots dropped from 27.2 to 22.8, his hit rate increased by 1.3%, and his average assists increased by nearly 1.
Similar to last season, Kobe's playing time is still around 4 1 minute. In the middle of the pre-season, the Lakers had a good record, starting with 15 wins and 6 losses.
In the subsequent games, the Lakers won and lost, until February 2007, when their record began to deteriorate.
First, a six-game losing streak. After Kobe beat the Celtics by 38 points, he ended the unfavorable situation with a three-game winning streak, but then the Lakers started a new wave of losing streak.
Since March, the Lakers have suffered seven consecutive defeats. Seeing that the Lakers are about to fall out of the top eight in the West, Kobe finally started scoring mode again.
In five consecutive games, Kobe scored 65 points, 50 points, 60 points, 50 points and only 43 points. The Lakers successfully won a five-game winning streak.
But opponents seem to be used to Kobe's high score:
Kobe Bryant scored 53 points against Yao Mai.
Against the Nuggets gold double gun, scored 39 points;
He scored 34 points against his old rival Sun.
Against the brand clippers, 50 points empty.
Through several "empty-cut" battles, the Lakers' sixth position in the Western Conference was surpassed by the Nuggets.
At that time, it seemed a little difficult for the Lakers to get a playoff ticket. Seeing the state of the Lakers, Kobe had to use an "efficient" high score to help the team win.
Against the Sonics, Kobe Bryant made 25 shots 18 and scored 50 points to help the Lakers secure a playoff seat.
Bryant's playoff performance was the best in his career, averaging 32.8 points per game, but was easily defeated by the Suns 4-/kloc-0-0 again.
Departure storm
It is rumored that in 2004, Derry Bass and Kobe had an agreement, and Bass promised to make the Lakers a champion team within three years. Three years later, the Lakers are still a backwater after 2007.
Kobe hopes that Buss can effectively sign, and Kobe himself knows that the player's best condition is only a few seasons, and his body is not allowed to wait any longer.
The two sides could not reach an agreement all the time, so there was the "Kobe forced the palace" incident that people often said later.
After a big detour, Kobe finally stayed in the Lakers, and the Lakers lineup didn't change much. Insisting on changing the offseason is the return of Kobe's old teammate Fisher.
As we all know, Gasol helped the Lakers reach the first record in the West in his first season.
But what fans don't know is that before Gasol arrived, the Lakers had become the number one in the West.
65438+ 10, the Lakers became the leader in the western conference with a wave of seven consecutive victories.
Establish a position
These three years are three seasons in which Kobe established his historical position. Without the achievements of these three seasons, maybe Kobe will be forgotten.
These three years, although it has been 10 years now, are still indelible memories in the hearts of Kobe fans.
The Lakers reached the finals three times and won the championship twice, and Kobe won the first and only regular season MVP in his career. At that time, Kobe was really in full swing.
No matter which opponent, he can't really restrain Kobe.
In these three years, Kobe defeated Iverson and Anthony's golden double gun;
Beat Deron Williams's Jazz Five Tigers three times;
Revenge for Billups, Nash and Celtic;
Defeated the peak "Warcraft" Howard.
In the past three years, Kobe's performance in any series is "excellent", especially against Nuggets in 2009 and 20 10 against Suns, which are all representative works of Kobe's career.
End of career
No one can beat the years.
The Lakers lost in the pursuit of three consecutive championships at 20 1 1, and then fell out of the top team. Although I can reach the semi-finals of the division next season, I lost very cleanly in front of the Thunder.
The Lakers realized this "crisis" and tried their best to remedy it, but all this was in vain.
Prosperity will decline, which is a natural law. When a team reaches the peak, no matter which direction it goes, it will only go downhill.
However, the Lakers still refused to give up and responded to the phrase "Man proposes, God disposes".
20 12 they put all their eggs in one basket and bet on the "F4" team, but the result was nothing more than a paper tiger.
After the injury, Kobe Bryant has not been smoothed by the years, and he is still the paranoid teenager.
He wants to prove that even if Howard leaves, the Lakers will not fall.
So, at the end of 20 13, his injury did not fully recover and he came back by force. Not long after, he was injured again and announced that he would reimburse the season expenses again.
At this time, Kobe may really realize that the current league no longer belongs to him.
Life curtain call
After retiring, Kobe did not completely stop paying attention to basketball.
As a famous Laker, he often appears in the headlines, sometimes giving advice to the Lakers and sometimes analyzing a player.
However, all this will not happen again with Kobe's unexpected death.
The Lakers are a reincarnation every ten years: in 2000, the Lakers won the championship with the help of Kobe Bryant and O 'Neal; 20 10 Lakers won the championship with the help of Kobe Bryant and Gasol. What about 2020?
Kobe Bryant can't see the Lakers win another trophy.
He never heard the Lakers cheer again,
He stood at the free throw line and never heard the deafening "MVP" again.
I just hope the Lakers can silently send Kobe away with a championship trophy this season.
No matter when, No.8 and No.24 jerseys will be hung high above Staples Center, and history will never forget Mamba.