H-N-I-C  (Head NBA’er In Charge)

Curly Morris

 

 

Let’s get straight to it…Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA…period. He is the best player, on the most glamorous team in the NBA if not the most glamorous team in all of professional sports. He is coached by the best coach in the league, who, by the way, has won three titles with Kobe on his squad. He was the only unanimous choice by NBA general managers last year to start at his position (even Shaq had two GM’s pick Yao Ming ahead of him). He never played a single day in college, and by the way, he’s only twenty-seven years old. Now, by the time I’m done with this piece More people will hate me than love me, but since when is that news? You can talk all you want about Duncan’s fundamentals, Shaq’s power, T-Mac’s athleticism, whatever, Kobe is the heir apparent to the throne, the Air apparent; Get it? On top of that, in today’s gangsta friendly league, a league where cornrows, baggy shorts, tattoos, and players with rap albums, run rampant, Kobe also reigns as the biggest gangsta of them all. Let the story be told:

 

            Kobe was one of the earliest high school phenoms to crack the league before the baby boom years the NBA feasted on until this summers’ new collective bargaining agreement, which put a stop to drafting high school players straight to the league. After Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby were drafted out of high school in 1975, it was twenty years before another player was given that same opportunity. Shawn Kemp and Lloyd Daniels enrolled, but never actually played, in college although they attended practice at some point. In 1995 the Minnesota Timberwolves rolled the dice with their number five pick on Kevin Garnett. With Pandora’s Box having been re-opened by the T-Wolves the hunt was on. The weird dynamic of the early entries at the time was that it was the high school kids who’d pretty much forced their way onto the scene, looking to expedite the getting paid process that the last collective bargaining agreement seemed to inhibit by way of the rookie salary cap. Before Garnett, players had usually gone to college for a year, maybe two, without ever having any intentions on playing for four years. Players used the NCAA experience as merely a forum to showcase their talents for the league and jockey for position in June’s draft. Even still, whenever a professional team took the time to even consider a player making the jump from the high school ranks to the pros, it usually was a low post player with the size to be a shot blocker or rebounder, the thought process being that you can’t teach size, so if you can get a big man, get him, even if it takes him three years to play. Not very many people looked at guards to be quite ready to play at the professional ranks if for no other reason than the speed of the league was much faster than the collegiate game, let alone the high-school ranks. There were very few college All-Americans playing the skill positions  that could make the league, to even consider a high-school player coming straight to the NBA as a two-guard; In the Jordan era? The idea was really ludicrous, until Kobe Bryant came along.

 

The Player

 

            When the dust settled after the 1996 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers had Nick Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Eddie Jones, Sedale Threat, the aforementioned Lloyd Daniels, and up-and-comer Cedric Ceballos on their squad. Ceballos had averaged over twenty points per game on a team that lost to the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. Those same Rockets had manhandled Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic in the NBA finals the year before, and were en route to disposing of the New York Knicks and center Patrick Ewing that year. To get Kobe on their squad the Lakers had to deal the last effective remnant of their championship years, center Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that then Laker GM Jerry West orchestrated. Now, like most people, the only thing I had seen on Kobe Bryant was the same clip of some high-school game where he dribbled with his right hand around a bunch of smaller white players who looked like they were waiting for autographs instead of playing defense. On the availability of limited information about the kid, I wondered seriously if West wasn’t really reaching to regain some sort of Magic Johnson type of vibe in Tinseltown. When the season began, however, it was easy to see that the kid did indeed belong in the league, although there would be some air balls in the playoffs, and some seriously flawed offensive decision making to endure for Lakers fans. Kobe averaged almost eight points per game in fifteen minutes per, and was second on the team in steals. The next season his minutes doubled as did his points per game total, and he was the third leading scorer on the team behind O’Neal and Eddie Jones. It was already evident at that time however, that any other guard who was going to remain on the Lakers roster, would be playing behind the kid who had cloned Jordan’s game by the next season. So, by the time Kobe should’ve been a junior in college he was the starting shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, gangsta.

            Already, the comparisons to Jordan were evident, as Kobe’s game was so mirrored after His Airness that it was surreal to watch. Plus, Kobe had something that Jordan never had in his career with the Bulls, a bona fide center in Shaquille O’Neal. Del Harris, Bill Bertka, and Kurt Rambis, all deferred to management as Kobe began imposing his will and persona on the team. Clashes with Shaq began early as Kobe, rightfully so, envisioned himself as the second coming, and felt that he, not Shaq, should be the focus of the offense. As trouble began brewing in Hollywood, Mr. Basketball, Jerry West bought in a personality guru named Phil Jackson and hired him to be the Lakers head coach, what happened next was merely an NBA Championship, that’s what, gansta.

            Whenever I hear someone say, Kobe never won a championship without Shaq, I cannot, no matter how hard I try, not respond that Shaq has never won a championship without Kobe either. Phil Jackson, on the other hand, has won titles without either of them, and that is why his return to the Lakers speaks volumes about where Phil thinks the future of the league is, but more on that later. The difference in the NBA championship many years comes down to coaching. Good coaching brings good execution, and good execution wins games. In the famed triangle offense, Phil Jackson managed to win six titles with such household names as Stacy King, Bill Cartwright, Bill Wennington, Luc Longley, John Salley, and Scott Williams playing center. Yet it still took Jordan seven years in the league and two with Phil Jackson to win a title, Kobe; four and one respectively, gangsta.

            Kobe Bryant wanted to be Jordan early on. In fact most kids on playgrounds worldwide who group up watching the Chicago Bulls dominate the NBA landscape for nearly a decade wanted to be Jordan. Remember the commercial, I want to be like Mike? I mean sheesh, even Bugs Bunny wanted to be like Mike. Kobe, was like Mike, exactly like him, his offensive moves, his defensive posture, his tongue wagging, armband, jump shot, on camera demeanor, endorsements, etc… Kobe even had to put up with the initial “hater-rade” that Jordan had to endure when he first came into the league. People felt like Kobe wanted to shoot too much, the same knock people through on Allen Iverson when he came into the league. The truth of the matter is that Kobe had accomplished something that scientists worldwide had not even begun to scratch the surface of, wireless cloning.  To say that Kobe’s game is patterned after Michael Jordan is a supreme understatement. For all intensive purposes not only is Kobe Bryant as good as Michael Jordan, I’ll go out on a limb and say the most blasphemous thing that any basketball fan could ever utter, Kobe is better than Jordan. Jordan couldn’t even make his high school’s varsity team until his junior year. By Kobe’s junior year, the NBA already knew who he was, and the league had already made the decision to draft him after he graduated, gangsta. As I stated earlier at the age of twenty seven Kobe already has three world championships to his credit. Jordan won his first championship at the age of twenty-eight. Although Jordan did not have Shaquille O’Neal on his team, he did have Scottie Pippen another player who was voted among the NBA’s top fifty players of all time. When Michael Jordan came into the league there were plenty of fans who felt that he could never measure up to Julius Erving, the legendary star of the defunct American Basketball Association who jumped to the NBA after the leagues merged and promptly became a household name overnight due to his high flying acrobatic playing style. Many basketball fans felt that Jordan shot the ball too much and relied on his dunking ability to score thereby making him a less complete player. A lot of Jordan’s peers in the league envied the attention and endorsements that were thrown Jordan’s way when he first entered the league. Jordan completely changed the economics of sports as we know it and for that he received an icy reception as, in most areas of society people are resistant to change. Flash to 1996 and some kid from a private school in Philadelphia named Kobe Bryant who looked like a wannabe Michael Jordan gets drafted in the first round by the legendary basketball guru Jerry West. The kid immediately comes into the league and starts jacking shots from all over the court, tries to dunk on anyone who cared to challenge him, and did not reserve his aggressive play to the regular season, but rather finds himself taking crucial shots in the playoffs, shots that are usually designed for veteran players to take, gangsta.

 

The Scandal

 

            When Michael Jordan’s father, James Jordan, was murdered in 1993, there were speculations, unfounded of course, that the elder Jordan’s death may have somehow been connected to Jordan’s insatiable appetite for gambling. The controversial tint behind that story quickly dissipated. Michael had already distinguished himself from his peers by both his obviously superior basketball talent as well as his marketing potential. There was no way that the powers that be in professional hoops were about to let the “cash cow” that was Michael Jordan get away for anything less than a murder, or rape conviction. Jump ahead to December 2003, and Mr. Bryant has been charged with the sexual assault of a nineteen year old female hotel employee in Colorado, a white female hotel employee. For most professional athletes, excuse me, black professional athletes, this would be tantamount to some jail time or at the very least, an expulsion or long term suspension from their respective league. What was different about Kobe as compared to say O.J. Simpson, and Mike Tyson, was that almost from the outset, there were many people who felt that Kobe was innocent even though he admitted to having sex with the woman. In the history of race relations the acquittal of O.J. Simpson and the dropping of all charges levied against Kobe Bryant have to rate as two of the more unlikely outcomes of unlikely circumstances that could even be fathomed by anyone anywhere. Mike Tyson on the other hand was accused of raping a black woman and served three years in prison. Not only did all charges against Kobe get dropped, but while he was on trial in Colorado, the Colorado representatives of the NBA, the Denver Nuggets, were trying to convince Kobe to come play basketball for them. So essentially, as the State of Colorado was giving the woman who had accused Kobe of rape 100 thousand dollars for being the victim of a sexual assault, a state supported professional sports franchise was offering the man accused of assaulting her over 100 million dollars in salary, gangsta.

 

The Takeover

 

            Jordan’s Bulls won six titles and probably could have won more had the core of their team stayed together. When the Bulls’ championship run ended, many people blamed then Bulls GM Jerry Krause. It was Krause’s financial decision making, and stormy relationship with Jordan, who felt like Krause was taking too much credit for what Jordan had done, and Scottie Pippen, who felt insulted at how much money, or rather, how little money the Bulls wanted to pay him. The relationship between Phil Jackson and the Bulls’ management went sour fast after contract negotiations broke down between the Hall-of-Fame coach and management. Phil decided to exit, and that left Jordan to lead his teammates. Jordan’s stance was clear, no Phil, no Mike. Caught in the middle of this power struggle were all the other Bulls players who had become accustomed to winning championships. If we travel through time to the year 2004 an eerily similar scenario is beginning to unfold. The Los Angeles Lakers, who have won three championships with Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Phil Jackson, are now faced with some hard financial decisions to make. Both of their premier players as well as their coach have new contracts to negotiate. As always, a franchise as storied as the Lakers will always have their eyes toward the future, and as big of a presence as Shaquille O’Neal may have been, you must remember that before Shaq ever arrived in Hollywood the Lakers had already won eleven NBA Championships. By the way, they’ve also had the likes of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, George Mikan, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy, on their roster, all of whom were selected as members of the fifty greatest players in NBA history. So as big as Shaq may have been, Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers, a man who is intelligent enough to have received his PhD in chemistry at the age of twenty-four, decided that I the midst of all the turmoil and inner strife going on in the Lakers locker room, it was wiser to re-sign Kobe and let Shaq finish his career someplace else. In fact as well as not re-signing Shaq, Buss let perennial all-stars Gary Payton, Karl Malone beat it as well. Not even Phil Jackson was high enough on the Lakers priority list to interfere with Buss’ coddling of his young, just missed becoming a convicted felon, superstar. In a nutshell, the Lakers ran three Hall-of-Fame players and a Hall-of-Fame coach out of town, to ensure that Kobe Bryant could be happy and thrive, even though he admitted to adultery, and had to endure a trail for sexual assault on a nineteen year old white girl in the middle of a season. By the way, over the summer Nike, the sports apparel behemoth and home of brand Jordan, decided to give Kobe a new sneaker for his upcoming season, gangsta.

 

The Future

 

            Phil Jackson has coached his teams to nine NBA titles. That record ties him with legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach, for the most coaching titles ever. Because Phil is arguably the greatest coach in league history, when the Lakers left him a free agent, he could have his choice of teams to coach in the league, with the exception of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Jackson could have coached for the team he won an NBA title with as a player, the New York Knicks, or he could’ve coached the team that Shaquille O’Neal plays for now the Miami Heat, and he could’ve written a blank check to come aboard. So where did Jackson decide to resume his quest for the championship that would give him one up on his rival Auerbach? Why, Jackson decided to try to win with Kobe Bryant of course. Bryant, who had to give his approval before Jackson returned, has been even more Jordan-like in his demeanor since he ran all of his dead weight out of town. He brought back Jordan’s old coach. He has been visibly philanthropic and social far beyond his previous years. He and wife Vanessa, (who contrary to popular opinion did not use the whole sexual assault case as reason to get half of Kobe’s riches), have a second child on the way. Now that the Lakers are his team, he has even become likeable to his teammates. The haters still point to Kobe buying his wife a five million dollar ring to pacify his wife from the trial, and his supposed selling out of Shaq when he got interrogated by Colorado police. Firstly, any married man knows that if you upset your wife by getting caught knocking boots with a nineteen year old hotel employee, you’d better buy her something, or buy yourself a divorce lawyer. Never before has the expression “it’s cheaper to keep her” been more applicable. With about a hundred million dollars on the line, five million was the easy way out. As for Kobe squealing on Shaq, I say whatever. I know a bunch of guys who claim to be hardcore and thugs and all that, but when the district attorney was throwing prison terms at them, have sung like pre-crack Whitney Houston. Not Shaq, Kobe, Phil Jackson, and all the millionaire athletes who claim an affinity to the hood have any real sense of what it’s like to have to deal with the police on a day to day basis as many of their fans do. Kobe is a millionaire who was probably scared to death of the police, the publicity, and prison, so he said something stupid. Shaq said something stupid when he arrived in Miami claiming that the Heat were going to win three or four titles in the coming years, not without Kobe Bryant he won’t, gangsta.