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Kobe Bryant spent much of Kobe Bryant's childhood in Italy, where Kobe Bryant's father played professional basketball. Consequently, Kobe Bryant speaks fluent Italian. Bryant entered the NBA at the age of eighteen after a spectacular high school career in the Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion.Kobe Bryant was originally selected 13th by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft, but they traded him on July 11, 1996 to the Los Angeles Lakers for center Vlade Divac. Though young and somewhat introverted, Kobe Bryant's immense talent made an immediate impression with Kobe Bryant's teammates on the practice court.
Kobe Bryant married Vanessa Laine on April 18, 2001 in Dana Point, California and their daughter Natalia Diamante was born on January 19, 2003. Kobe Bryant's parents initially disapproved of the marriage, because of Kobe Bryant's young age, but have reconciled with Bryant. In November 2005, after suffering from a miscarriage in the fall of 2005, the Bryants have announced that they are expecting another child in May 2006.
NBA Career
Kobe Bryant's career trajectory as an NBA player out of high school has been exceptional. By the age of 24, Kobe Bryant had already won many individual accolades, from inclusion in the All-NBA teams and a seven time selection as a NBA All-Star. Kobe Bryant, along with former teammate Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O'Neal , helped lead the Lakers as perennial championship contenders, resulting in three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The Los Angeles Lakers also ventured to the 2004 Finals against the Detroit Pistons, but lost the series four games to one. Following the loss to the Pistons, Kobe Bryant opted out of Kobe Bryant's contract to test the free agent market. After flirting with the idea of joining several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers' cross-town rivals the Los Angeles Clippers, Kobe Bryant signed a new seven-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers worth over $136 million on July 15, 2004.
Kobe Bryant's looks and accomplishments on and off the basketball court made him one of the most popular and marketable players. Kobe Bryant became a spokesperson for major corporations such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola. Kobe Bryant had an exclusive apparel and shoe deal with Adidas and Kobe Bryant is currently under a four-year $45 million advertising contract with Nike [1].
Much of Kobe Bryant's meteoric rise to NBA super stardom is attributed to Kobe Bryant's consummate work ethic. In each of Kobe Bryant's years in the league, Kobe showed improvement in all areas of Kobe Bryant's game, from shooting to strength to defense. On-court Kobe Bryant is a very composed and competitive player with impressive concentration, able to deliver the toughest and clutch shots at the times most needed. It is these attributes that have made him a premier player in the NBA.
In the summer of 2005, former Laker coach Phil Jackson returned to the team in hopes of revitalizing the franchise after a disappointing 2004-2005 season. Despite some skepticism, Jackson and Kobe Bryant claim to be getting along fine. Bryant also appears to be playing the best basketball of Kobe Bryant's career, as Kobe Bryant is averaging over 30 points per game in the young season under Jackson.
Controversy and trial
Kobe Bryant is, however, open to a lot of criticism spawning from what critics consider a collection of personality flaws. Detractors have branded Bryant a selfish, egotistic player who pads Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's own achievements at the expense of Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's team. These criticisms came under great discussion following sexual assault allegations stemming from Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's June 2003 encounter with Katelyn Faber in a Vail, Colorado hotel room. Consequently, Bryant's squeaky-clean image was tarnished considerably.
Although these charges were eventually dropped in the fall of 2004 (a civil suit followed but has since been settled as well), Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's tarnished image continued to swan dive. Furthering Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's blemished reputation was the public rift through the Laker core of O'Neal, coach Phil Jackson, and him. In well-documented episodes throughout their careers together on the Los Angeles Lakers, mainly over leadership of the team, O'Neal and Bryant have feuded in dramatic fashion. The 2000-era Los Angeles Lakers were built around the dominant center in O'Neal but Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant seemed to tire of Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's formal role as "second fiddle" on the team. The two (Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant and O'Neal) would often launch jarring verbal attacks at each other, beginning with O'Neal's allegations of Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant as a greedy ball-hog and Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's maligning of O'Neal as "fat."
Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant also clashed with coach Jackson. While offensively efficient in Jackson's "triangle offense," Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant had a personal distaste for Jackson's brand of ball and subsequently called it "boring." In games, Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant would often disregard the set offense completely to experiment with Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's own one-on-one moves, incensing the normally calm Jackson. Bryant managed to test Jackson's patience enough that the "Zen Master" demanded a Bryant trade, although Laker management rejected the request. When Jackson's coaching contract ran out following the 2003-04 season and the Los Angeles Lakers failed to produce a championship despite sporting hall-of-fame caliber players in Karl Malone and Gary Payton, in addition to O'Neal and Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant, and Jackson was not invited back to coach the team. Many Los Angeles Los Angeles Lakers fans attributed Jackson's departure directly to Bryant, whom Laker owner Dr. Jerry Buss championed. Buss also seemed determined to facilitate O'Neal's departure from L.A.. Bryant was a free agent and O'Neal had two more years of record-breakingly high pay left on Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's contract.
For these reasons, many basketball fans have blamed Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant for the break-up of the Los Angeles Lakers' dynasty after a one-sided 2004 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons. Los Angeles Lakers Shaquille O'Neal was hastily traded to the Miami Heat, resulting in a complete overhaul of the Laker roster, with Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant as its centerpiece. Bryant re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the veteran maximum salary after a surprisingly long flirtation with the Los Angeles Lakers' perennially disappointing suitemates, the Los Angeles Clippers. Bryant's first chance at the helm of a team would be a very rocky one, however. With Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's reputation already badly damaged from the proceedings in Colorado, Bryant was closely scrutinized and criticized in the 2004-05 NBA season. The first salvo came from Phil Jackson in the hastily published The Last Season: A Team in Search of its Soul. The book detailed the sordid events of the Los Angeles Lakers' tumultuous 2003-04 season and hurled numerous harsh criticisms of Bryant. Along with other unsavory adjectives, Jackson called Bryant "uncoachable." Then, midway through the season, Rudy Tomjanovich suddenly resigned as Los Angeles Lakers coach, citing the recurrence of health problems and exhaustion (although many speculated that Tomjanovich, a two-time NBA champion coach, had despaired of getting Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant's offense to work with the Los Angeles Lakers' depleted and bickering personnel). Without "Rudy T," stewardship of the remainder of the Los Angeles Lakers' season fell to career assistant coach Frank Hamblen.
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