On the Court With... Kobe Bryant
Copyright © 2001 by Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc.
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is a registered trademark of Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-316-09405-4
Contents
Chapter One: 1978-1983
Jellybean Goes to Italy
Chapter Two: 1984-1991
His Father’s Son
Chapter Three: 1992
Back to America
Chapter Four: 1993-1995
The Ace of the Aces
Chapter Five: 1995-1996
Senior Season
Chapter Seven: 1996
Decisions, Decisions
Chapter Eight: 1996-1997
Showboat or Showtime?
Chapter Nine: 1997-1998
One Step at a Time
Chapter Ten: 1998-1999
The Lost Season
Chapter Eleven: 1999-2000
Triangle Turnaround
Chapter Twelve: 2000-2002
“Back to Back to Back”
Chapter Thirteen: 2002-2005
10,000 and Beyond
Chapter Fourteen: 2005-2006
81 and “The Shot”
Chapter Fifteen: 2006-2007
Chasing the Championship
Chapter Sixteen: 2007-2008
MVP?
Chapter Seventeen: 2008
Playoff Dreams—or Nightmares?
THE #1 SPORTS SERIES FOR KIDS: MATT CHRISTOPHER
®
CHAPTER ONE1978-1983Jellybean Goes to Italy
If you look in the 1983-1984 edition of the
Official National Basketball Association Register,
you can find the complete career statistics of Joe “Jellybean” Bryant.
Nothing in the record of the six-foot-nine-and-one-half-inch, 215-pound center-forward really stands out. It states that he
graduated from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia and attended LaSalle College for three years, averaging just over
20 points per game in two seasons of basketball. In 1976 he left school and was selected in the first round of the NBA draft.
From 1976 to 1983, Jellybean, who earned his nickname after some young fans gave him jellybeans following a game, played with
the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets. He had a solid career in the NBA, averaging eight points
a game and earning a reputation as a fine passer and
a defensive specialist. But Bryant wasn’t quite big enough to play center full-time and didn’t shoot quite well enough to
play forward. He was wonderfully athletic, but in some ways was ahead of his time, for his flashy style of play wasn’t much
appreciated in the NBA two decades ago. He was a role player who left the spotlight to teammates like future Hall-of-Famers
Elvin Hayes and Julius Erving. None of his teams ever won an NBA championship, and Bryant never made an All-Star team.
Yet none of that begins to measure Joe Bryant’s contribution to the NBA. For in the long run, Joe Bryant may have left a greater
legacy to the NBA than many of its better-known stars.
That’s because Joe Bryant is the father of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, one of the youngest and brightest stars in
the NBA, a player who joined the NBA directly out of high school. The son’s career has already eclipsed that of the father.
Kobe Bryant has already been an All-Star, won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and won an NBA championship. His story began when
his father’s NBA career came to an end.
After the 1982-83 NBA season, Joe Bryant’s career was at a crossroads. After eight seasons in the NBA, including three years
as a starter for the Houston Rockets,
Bryant had become a second-string player. He had settled into a backup role on the Rockets, who had finished with a record
of 14-68, the worst in the league.
That finish gave them the right to select seven-foot four-inch center Ralph Sampson, the best player in college basketball,
in the NBA draft. That may have been good news for Rocket fans, but it wasn’t very good news for Joe Bryant. Now that they
had Sampson, the Rockets didn’t really need Bryant. So, at the end of the season, the Rockets released him.
No other team in the NBA expressed much interest in signing the veteran, preferring to stock their rosters with younger and
cheaper players. At age twenty-eight, it appeared as if Joe’s career as a professional basketball player had come to an end.
The popular Bryant probably could have gone into business in Houston, but he and his wife, Pam, also a Philadelphia native,
decided to return home.
Bryant quickly discovered that he missed the game of basketball. But he didn’t want to coach or anything like that. He still
wanted to play.
Fortunately, Bryant was a good friend of a man named Sonny Hill. Hill ran a well-known summer league in Philadelphia and had
contacts throughout the basketball world. He told Bryant about a unique opportunity
to keep playing the game he loved.
Although basketball had been invented in the United States, the game had spread all over the globe and was probably the world’s
second most popular sport, after soccer. Several European countries even supported their own professional leagues.
Like all pro sports leagues, they were always on the lookout for talent. And the United States was still the home of the best
basketball players in the world. Representatives of the Italian professional league had contacted Hill and told him they were
in the market for some talented American players. They paid well and played a much shorter, easier schedule than the NBA,
usually with only one game a week. Hill told Bryant he should consider playing in Italy. When Bryant said he was interested,
Hill put him in touch with the Italians.
Bryant was precisely the kind of player the Italians wanted. His NBA background, size, and skills were guaranteed to make
him a star in the Italian league. Moreover, his effervescent personality was certain to make him a crowd favorite. Bryant
was intrigued, and not just because it meant he could keep playing basketball.
When Joe had played in the NBA, he’d spent a lot
of time on the road. He sometimes went a week or more without seeing his family. Joe and Pam were the parents of three young
children. Their oldest daughter, Sharia, was seven years old, sister Shaya was six, and Kobe, named after a special type of
steak and born on August 23, 1978, was five. While Bryant still held out some hope of returning to the NBA, he worried about
the effect such continued absences would have on his family.
The more Joe and Pam discussed the possibility of moving to Italy, the better it sounded. The money was good and the lighter
schedule meant he’d be able to spend a great deal of time with his family. In addition, they thought that living in Italy
and traveling around Europe would be a wonderful opportunity for their children to experience a different culture. They decided
to accept the offer and move to Italy.
Kobe Bryant’s basketball education was ready to begin.
CHAPTER TWO1984-1991His Father’s Son
The Bryants packed up their belongings and moved to Rieti, Italy, in 1984. While Joe Bryant was learning the ins and outs
of Italian basketball and Pam Bryant was finding her way around a new city, Sharia, Shaya, and Kobe, who had just turned six,
started attending an Italian school.
Surprisingly, the Bryants’ three children had a relatively easy time adjusting to their new culture. Children are adept at
learning new languages. Although they didn’t understand a word of Italian when they began school, as Kobe later explained,
“My two sisters and I got together after school to teach each other the words we had learned. I was able to speak Italian
pretty well within a few months.”
Joe Bryant experienced a similarly quick transition to basketball Italian-style. On his Italian team, he was the “go-to” guy,
the player who was supposed to score points and entertain the fans. He thrived in the some
what less-competitive league. Few players could match his blend of size and quickness. He averaged over 30 points per game
and wowed the crowd with dunks, long jumpers, and no-look passes. In a matter of weeks, he became one of the league’s best-known
and most popular stars. The fans even made up songs about him claiming he was a better player than NBA stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
