![]() This was the job and life he chose: to relentlessly grind away at the challenges of the sport, night after night, game after game, until finally, all these years and shots later, he came up against the limits of time and age. He would grind his way there, implacably. The answer Bryant found to that question long ago-how was he going to get to the top-was the answer he had known all along. He has helped lead the Lakers to five NBA titles, made 17 appearances on the All-Star team, and become a player who other players idolize. 3 on the league's list all-time scoring list, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. He has passed his idol, Michael Jordan, to sit at No. Bryant now looks back at the numbers he racked up in 20 seasons and declares he has "a seat at the table" with the game's greatest. "I don't know how I'm going to get there. ![]() "I just want to be the man," he told me, reaffirming his goal of making himself into the NBA's top player. Minutes later, he would leave our relaxed, thoughtful locker room conversation behind and put on an energetic performance to win the Slam Dunk Contest, a performance that both hinted at and further stoked his burning ambition. "With me, it's simple," Bryant told me, "because there's a lot I want to accomplish in my life." He talked of the difficulties, the expectations, the hazards of the many temptations in Los Angeles for a player who was just 18 years old.īryant talked about how deeply Magic Johnson's HIV announcement had affected him at age 13, about how he would avoid the corruption that Johnson would later admit had him sleeping with 300 to 500 people every year. We discussed his situation as the poster child for a generation of new talent coming into the league, much of it very young. Later that year, I sat alone with Bryant in a locker room in Cleveland he was waiting to compete in the Slam Dunk Championship at the NBA's 50th Anniversary Party and eager to pass the empty time he spent waiting to go on stage. Let's not forget that Shaq left, he wasn't ejected.Read More: The Tragic And Totally Gripping Spectacle That Is End-Stage Kobe Bryant Not to go too far off topic, but Shaq hasn't won Jack since he left the Lakers, and didn't win anything his last two years in LA, so deferring to the big dog obviously doesn't guarantee an NBA title. Even T-mac and Iverson will have a feast if they have the luxury of having the most dominant player taking the blunt of the entire defense. If you have a player like that, you don't have to build a relationship, his presence alone will open the entire floor for Kobe. ![]() It was different with Shaq and Kobe because Shaq was the most dominant player in the NBA that time Kobe came. That is quite a time not mentioning the decipline they must share to play as one. Jordan waited for 5 years (I think) before he had Pippen, and it took him another 3 years to developed a successful chemistry with him. Kobe wants to be the undisputed leader of LAL, but Magic and Shaq forgot to tell him that if you lose, you will also shoulder the responsibility and blame by yourself. And once it arrives, 32 teams will be killing each other to get that dou. That is why you can't blame the fans pointing fingers at Kobe, because he dismantle a successful tandem that will only come once every 20 years. But then with Shaq, Kobe will not have that historic night this year, well maybe after Shaq retires as a LAL. LAL would have been the number 1 team in the West and they would have faced DET last year for a little payback. Now Wade is a superstar and MIA is the 2nd best team in the East. But nnnoooooo, he wants to make things difficult for him. Leave the big guy alone and ride him to as many titles they can grab together. Honestly, this is what Magic has been trying to get into Kobe's thick head.
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