boutons
12-17-2004, 05:41 PM
The Collapse of Kobe
December 17, 2004
By HOWARD BECK
Kobe Bryant got everything he wanted. Isn't that what
everyone said last summer? Wasn't that the premise when the
Los Angeles Lakers gave Bryant, their star guard, a $136
million contract and banished his two greatest tormentors,
Shaquille O'Neal and Phil Jackson?
Hollywood was supposed to become an all-Kobe, all-the-time
paradise, with Bryant the dominant figure, on and off the
court. After eight years of sharing the stage with O'Neal,
the superstar center, and five bumpy seasons of playing
under Jackson, the superstar coach, Bryant was, finally,
indisputably, the center of the Lakers' universe.
Somehow, paradise turned to paradise lost.
And on
Wednesday night, Bryant was squirming uncomfortably in his
chair, hooked up via satellite, as the ESPN anchor John
Saunders confronted him, bluntly, about his "fall from
grace." The choice of words by Saunders was a harsh but
accurate summation of Bryant's past 17 months.
He has been accused of sexual assault. He has publicly
admitted to adultery. He has lost millions of dollars in
endorsements. His personal life has been dissected
publicly. His popularity has plummeted. And he has been
blamed, some say unfairly, for the breakup of the Lakers,
the league's reigning dynasty, with three championships
since 2000. So there was Bryant, on national television,
fiddling with an earpiece and trying for the first time to
make amends to a disenchanted public.
"I can't sit up here and say I'm not at fault at all for
anything that took place," Bryant said, in a rare mea
culpa. "I mean, if I could go back and do some things
differently, I would. The Shaq thing, the Phil thing, and
all of that. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I
can only learn from what took place in the past and just
try to move on and just try to do the best job I can and
just try and help us win ballgames."
"I've seen," Bryant said, his voice growing tight, "a lot
of dark days."
The Lakers, the N.B.A'.s most venerated franchise, and
Bryant, formerly its most glorified icon, remain the
league's most compelling drama. It's just that in the past
few months, the soap-opera subplots are no longer offset by
spectacular basketball.
The Lakers were 12-9 going into last night's game with
Sacramento, third in the Pacific Division and eighth in the
Western Conference, just barely in the playoff picture.
Bryant, the league's pre-eminent shooting guard, is
struggling to prop up a team constructed largely of role
players. He is averaging 27.1 points a game and on pace for
career highs in assists (6.8 a game) and rebounds (7.6),
but is shooting a career-low 39.7 percent from the field.
Worse, Bryant is again at the center of controversy.
Bryant recently accused Karl Malone, a future Hall of
Famer, and a former teammate and friend, of flirting with
Bryant's wife, Vanessa. The rift between Bryant and Malone
sprang into view over the last week, dragging Bryant and
the franchise down another notch.
"This thing is out of control here," a longtime Lakers
official bemoaned. "It's a disaster."
Critics and supporters of Bryant believe that his wife,
Vanessa, is the source of many of his troubles.
By Bryant's admission, it was his marriage to Vanessa that
caused the estrangement from his parents, Joe and Pamela
Bryant.
Over time, Bryant's inner circle collapsed. He also became
cut off from his two sisters and dumped his agent, Arn
Tellem, who had represented Bryant since he came out of
high school in 1996.
Now, Bryant's inner circle is a two-person committee:
Vanessa Bryant and his agent, Rob Pelinka. As Bryant's
relationships with others, including Jackson, eroded, there
was no voice of reason to guide him, long-time Lakers staff
members said.
The team's troubles had been brewing for years, with Bryant
alternately feuding with O'Neal and Jackson, even as the
triumvirate combined to make the Lakers perennial
championship contenders.
It all melted down last spring, when the Lakers lost to the
Detroit Pistons, 4 games to 1, in the N.B.A. finals. The
Lakers had five presumed Hall of Famers - Bryant, O'Neal,
Malone and the point guard Gary Payton, all guided by
Jackson - but they were no match for the more unified
Pistons.
A month later, the dynasty was smashed into bits. O'Neal,
believing correctly that the Lakers' owner, Jerry Buss, was
determined to rebuild around Bryant, demanded a trade. The
Lakers sent O'Neal to the Miami Heat.
Jackson, who at the midway point last season told Lakers
officials that he could no longer coach Bryant, was not
offered a new contract. Payton was traded to Boston, and
Malone underwent knee surgery that put his career in doubt,
and the Lakers had suddenly been stripped of their vaunted
star power. They also lost two valued leaders when Rick Fox
was traded (he later retired) and Derek Fisher signed with
the Golden State Warriors. The only one left was Bryant.
For several months last season, he boasted to teammates and
coaches that he would leave as a free agent, putting
everyone in the front office on edge.
When free agency came, Bryant spoke to five other teams and
entered into a serious courtship with the Los Angeles
Clippers.
Though tempted by the Clippers, Bryant finally re-signed
with the Lakers on July 15, a day after O'Neal was traded
to Miami. Every day since, Bryant has tried to live down
the notion that he was responsible for the team's breakup.
"I didn't chase anybody out," Bryant told ESPN.
That is
a decidedly gray area, however, and few people seem to
believe Bryant.
"My sense is that it's tough to be owner, coach, G.M. and
player," one Western Conference general manager said,
referring to Bryant. "He obviously is a great player. It's
not a healthy situation." Clearly, Buss chose to rebuild
around his younger star, the one with the dazzling moves
and the otherworldly dunks, the one who, at 26, was
entering his prime and was renowned for his dedication.
The only problem is, this Kobe Bryant was no longer the
media darling who graced magazine covers starting at age 18
and made corporate sponsors swoon with his smile and charm.
The battles with Jackson and especially O'Neal, who is
wildly popular among N.B.A. players, left Bryant with a bad
reputation in the league. The rape charge in the summer of
2003, though dropped this September, left Bryant tarnished
everywhere else.
His decline in popularity is starkly reflected in jersey
sales, according to data provided by SportScan INFO, which
compiles sales information from sporting good retailers
across the United States.
In 2002, three versions of Bryant's jersey placed among the
top 20 in sales, a combined total of 312,665 jerseys,
according to SportScan. In 2003, that figure plummeted to
89,831 before rebounding to 136,964 for the current year.
For the four-week holiday shopping period, Bryant had no
jerseys in the top 20.
"The fact that he doesn't have any jerseys right now in the
top 10 or even the top 20 is a real fall for Kobe Bryant, a
genuine fall," said Neil Schwartz, director of marketing
for the SportScan, which is based in West Palm Beach, Fla.
O'Neal and Jackson have criticized Bryant in recent
months. The Seattle SuperSonics star Ray Allen described
him as a selfish player. In a new song titled "These Are
Our Heroes," the rapper Nas mocks Bryant's sexual liaison
with a 19-year-old hotel concierge, the woman who later
accused him of rape.
"You can't do better than that? The hotel clerk who adjusts
the bathroom mat? Now you lose sponsorships that you
thought had your back," Nas raps, referring to the
abandonment of Bryant by McDonald's and Nutella, among
others.
The Lakers' sole concern is Bryant's ability to lift his
new teammates. Bryant has been hard on teammates in
practice, at times profanely calling out players for a lack
of effort or precision.
"I don't think anyone likes him," an agent with a client on
the Lakers' roster said. "He's a means to an end."
Long perceived as arrogant and aloof, and known to be
intensely stubborn, Bryant is trying too hard to become a
leader, a long-time Lakers official said.
"His heart is in the right place," the official said. Team
officials say Bryant has been a tireless cheerleader on the
court, and sometimes selfless to a fault.
"I don't know what else honestly we could ask from him or
what else he could do," another long-time staff member
said.
Yet the ill perceptions remain, that Bryant is a bad
teammate and a difficult personality. Some believe it will
hurt the franchise's ability to attract free agents. But
the general manager, Mitch Kupchak, said the team would
weather the storms.
"Time has a way of minimizing the media hype surrounding an
event," he said. "It just does. It may take six months, it
may take a year, but Kobe's going to do the right thing.
"We do the right things as an organization, and it will
outlast any quote-unquote hit we've taken the last couple
days."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/sports/basketball/17lakers.html?ex=1104323098&ei=1&en=e34e361bab5edd28
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
December 17, 2004
By HOWARD BECK
Kobe Bryant got everything he wanted. Isn't that what
everyone said last summer? Wasn't that the premise when the
Los Angeles Lakers gave Bryant, their star guard, a $136
million contract and banished his two greatest tormentors,
Shaquille O'Neal and Phil Jackson?
Hollywood was supposed to become an all-Kobe, all-the-time
paradise, with Bryant the dominant figure, on and off the
court. After eight years of sharing the stage with O'Neal,
the superstar center, and five bumpy seasons of playing
under Jackson, the superstar coach, Bryant was, finally,
indisputably, the center of the Lakers' universe.
Somehow, paradise turned to paradise lost.
And on
Wednesday night, Bryant was squirming uncomfortably in his
chair, hooked up via satellite, as the ESPN anchor John
Saunders confronted him, bluntly, about his "fall from
grace." The choice of words by Saunders was a harsh but
accurate summation of Bryant's past 17 months.
He has been accused of sexual assault. He has publicly
admitted to adultery. He has lost millions of dollars in
endorsements. His personal life has been dissected
publicly. His popularity has plummeted. And he has been
blamed, some say unfairly, for the breakup of the Lakers,
the league's reigning dynasty, with three championships
since 2000. So there was Bryant, on national television,
fiddling with an earpiece and trying for the first time to
make amends to a disenchanted public.
"I can't sit up here and say I'm not at fault at all for
anything that took place," Bryant said, in a rare mea
culpa. "I mean, if I could go back and do some things
differently, I would. The Shaq thing, the Phil thing, and
all of that. But there's nothing I can do about it now. I
can only learn from what took place in the past and just
try to move on and just try to do the best job I can and
just try and help us win ballgames."
"I've seen," Bryant said, his voice growing tight, "a lot
of dark days."
The Lakers, the N.B.A'.s most venerated franchise, and
Bryant, formerly its most glorified icon, remain the
league's most compelling drama. It's just that in the past
few months, the soap-opera subplots are no longer offset by
spectacular basketball.
The Lakers were 12-9 going into last night's game with
Sacramento, third in the Pacific Division and eighth in the
Western Conference, just barely in the playoff picture.
Bryant, the league's pre-eminent shooting guard, is
struggling to prop up a team constructed largely of role
players. He is averaging 27.1 points a game and on pace for
career highs in assists (6.8 a game) and rebounds (7.6),
but is shooting a career-low 39.7 percent from the field.
Worse, Bryant is again at the center of controversy.
Bryant recently accused Karl Malone, a future Hall of
Famer, and a former teammate and friend, of flirting with
Bryant's wife, Vanessa. The rift between Bryant and Malone
sprang into view over the last week, dragging Bryant and
the franchise down another notch.
"This thing is out of control here," a longtime Lakers
official bemoaned. "It's a disaster."
Critics and supporters of Bryant believe that his wife,
Vanessa, is the source of many of his troubles.
By Bryant's admission, it was his marriage to Vanessa that
caused the estrangement from his parents, Joe and Pamela
Bryant.
Over time, Bryant's inner circle collapsed. He also became
cut off from his two sisters and dumped his agent, Arn
Tellem, who had represented Bryant since he came out of
high school in 1996.
Now, Bryant's inner circle is a two-person committee:
Vanessa Bryant and his agent, Rob Pelinka. As Bryant's
relationships with others, including Jackson, eroded, there
was no voice of reason to guide him, long-time Lakers staff
members said.
The team's troubles had been brewing for years, with Bryant
alternately feuding with O'Neal and Jackson, even as the
triumvirate combined to make the Lakers perennial
championship contenders.
It all melted down last spring, when the Lakers lost to the
Detroit Pistons, 4 games to 1, in the N.B.A. finals. The
Lakers had five presumed Hall of Famers - Bryant, O'Neal,
Malone and the point guard Gary Payton, all guided by
Jackson - but they were no match for the more unified
Pistons.
A month later, the dynasty was smashed into bits. O'Neal,
believing correctly that the Lakers' owner, Jerry Buss, was
determined to rebuild around Bryant, demanded a trade. The
Lakers sent O'Neal to the Miami Heat.
Jackson, who at the midway point last season told Lakers
officials that he could no longer coach Bryant, was not
offered a new contract. Payton was traded to Boston, and
Malone underwent knee surgery that put his career in doubt,
and the Lakers had suddenly been stripped of their vaunted
star power. They also lost two valued leaders when Rick Fox
was traded (he later retired) and Derek Fisher signed with
the Golden State Warriors. The only one left was Bryant.
For several months last season, he boasted to teammates and
coaches that he would leave as a free agent, putting
everyone in the front office on edge.
When free agency came, Bryant spoke to five other teams and
entered into a serious courtship with the Los Angeles
Clippers.
Though tempted by the Clippers, Bryant finally re-signed
with the Lakers on July 15, a day after O'Neal was traded
to Miami. Every day since, Bryant has tried to live down
the notion that he was responsible for the team's breakup.
"I didn't chase anybody out," Bryant told ESPN.
That is
a decidedly gray area, however, and few people seem to
believe Bryant.
"My sense is that it's tough to be owner, coach, G.M. and
player," one Western Conference general manager said,
referring to Bryant. "He obviously is a great player. It's
not a healthy situation." Clearly, Buss chose to rebuild
around his younger star, the one with the dazzling moves
and the otherworldly dunks, the one who, at 26, was
entering his prime and was renowned for his dedication.
The only problem is, this Kobe Bryant was no longer the
media darling who graced magazine covers starting at age 18
and made corporate sponsors swoon with his smile and charm.
The battles with Jackson and especially O'Neal, who is
wildly popular among N.B.A. players, left Bryant with a bad
reputation in the league. The rape charge in the summer of
2003, though dropped this September, left Bryant tarnished
everywhere else.
His decline in popularity is starkly reflected in jersey
sales, according to data provided by SportScan INFO, which
compiles sales information from sporting good retailers
across the United States.
In 2002, three versions of Bryant's jersey placed among the
top 20 in sales, a combined total of 312,665 jerseys,
according to SportScan. In 2003, that figure plummeted to
89,831 before rebounding to 136,964 for the current year.
For the four-week holiday shopping period, Bryant had no
jerseys in the top 20.
"The fact that he doesn't have any jerseys right now in the
top 10 or even the top 20 is a real fall for Kobe Bryant, a
genuine fall," said Neil Schwartz, director of marketing
for the SportScan, which is based in West Palm Beach, Fla.
O'Neal and Jackson have criticized Bryant in recent
months. The Seattle SuperSonics star Ray Allen described
him as a selfish player. In a new song titled "These Are
Our Heroes," the rapper Nas mocks Bryant's sexual liaison
with a 19-year-old hotel concierge, the woman who later
accused him of rape.
"You can't do better than that? The hotel clerk who adjusts
the bathroom mat? Now you lose sponsorships that you
thought had your back," Nas raps, referring to the
abandonment of Bryant by McDonald's and Nutella, among
others.
The Lakers' sole concern is Bryant's ability to lift his
new teammates. Bryant has been hard on teammates in
practice, at times profanely calling out players for a lack
of effort or precision.
"I don't think anyone likes him," an agent with a client on
the Lakers' roster said. "He's a means to an end."
Long perceived as arrogant and aloof, and known to be
intensely stubborn, Bryant is trying too hard to become a
leader, a long-time Lakers official said.
"His heart is in the right place," the official said. Team
officials say Bryant has been a tireless cheerleader on the
court, and sometimes selfless to a fault.
"I don't know what else honestly we could ask from him or
what else he could do," another long-time staff member
said.
Yet the ill perceptions remain, that Bryant is a bad
teammate and a difficult personality. Some believe it will
hurt the franchise's ability to attract free agents. But
the general manager, Mitch Kupchak, said the team would
weather the storms.
"Time has a way of minimizing the media hype surrounding an
event," he said. "It just does. It may take six months, it
may take a year, but Kobe's going to do the right thing.
"We do the right things as an organization, and it will
outlast any quote-unquote hit we've taken the last couple
days."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/sports/basketball/17lakers.html?ex=1104323098&ei=1&en=e34e361bab5edd28
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company