![]() The following year, Kevin Durant revealed his free-agency decision there. In 2015, Kobe Bryant announced his retirement by publishing a poem in the Tribune. But Jeter’s peers began to understand the allure of speaking on their own terms, and in their own voice. Most imagined that the site would be little more than a place for tight-lipped players to issue elegant press statements. The site, he explained, would give athletes a chance to speak directly to fans, who deserved “more than ‘no comments’ or ‘I don’t knows.’ ” Naturally, these were just the types of answers that he was known for.Īt first, it was a bit funny, the notion of Jeter hounding athletes for their delinquent essays. As a player, Jeter had always been a polite but almost pathologically reserved presence, offering the media pro-forma pleasantries, deflecting deeper inquiries into his personal life. That journey continues.In October, 2014, three days after Derek Jeter played the last game of his Hall of Fame career with the New York Yankees, he launched the Players’ Tribune, a Web site for athletes to tell their side of the story. He also coached his daughter, Gigi’s basketball team, writing in an Instagram post after a September 2019 tournament, “The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. In 2018, he won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film Dear Basketball, a hand-drawn, self-narrated ode to the sport he loved. He used his unrivaled basketball perspective to break down the NBA’s next generation of stars in ESPN’s Kobe Bryant Presents Detail. Thank you for that moment because Shareef loved that moment… He loves you for that and I love you for that moment.”Īfter Bryant retired following the 2015-16 NBA season-during which he had an unprecedented farewell tour, with many of basketball’s living legends showing up to support the guard during his final games-he enjoyed a successful and lucrative second act, mostly in media. “I’m going to give you an apology but we’re not going to be doing all that crying like Magic and Isiah. “I was an a- to this guy, so I owe you an apology,” O’Neal said. Although, in 2018, the former MVP center offered a sentimental apology, referencing when he gave the 2009 All-Star Game MVP trophy to his son, Shareef. ![]() He could just get any shot he wanted.”īryant’s intensity led to several feuds with teammates, notably his league-rippling disagreements with his co-star on the early-aughts Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal. It’s all what led Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr to say in 2017, “Kobe is the closest thing to Michael. Over the course of his career, Bryant won two more NBA titles, two Finals MVP awards, and 18 NBA All-Star Game selections-and was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2008. Within the next three years, Bryant and the Lakers would dethrone the Chicago Bulls as the league’s reigning dynasty, winning three consecutive NBA Finals from 2000 to 2002. And Bryant wasted no time going after the champion. In other words: The association needed a new star. When Bryant came into the league in 1996 as a 13th-overall pick, Jordan’s days as the undisputed king of the NBA were numbered. Then once I came back to the States, I realized I wasn't going to be 6-9, I started studying Michael exclusively… Seriously, I don't think people really understand the amount of impact that he's had on me as a player and as a leader." Bryant once told ESPN about Jordan, who started as a blueprint for the aspiring baller, and later became an invaluable mentor: "Because as a kid growing up in Italy, all I had was video, so I studied everything… I studied every player. ![]() He grew up idolizing none other than Michael Jordan, the six-time NBA champion who captured the imagination of Bryant’s generation of future stars. Bryant joined the Lower Merion High School basketball squad, and led them to four straight state championship appearances-becoming such a promising prospect that he decided to enter the NBA draft right after graduation. Bryant grew up with his two older sisters, Shaya and Sharia, playing soccer, basketball, and learning Italian before moving back to Philadelphia in 1991. His father, Joe Bryant, was an NBA player, and once his days in the league ran out, he joined the Italian League, moving his family with him. His wife, Vanessa Bryant, and their three other children were not on board.īryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1978. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were two of nine passengers who died in the crash in Calabasas, California. Kobe Bryant's Legendary Basketball Careerīryant, five-time NBA champion and former star guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |