"If you don't want to be the best player, why do you want to be a career? Before I entered the NBA, I kept asking myself, I don't want to be the best player now, I don't want to be the best player in a certain game, I want to be the greatest player in the history of this sport. "
198 1 In the autumn, a 3-year-old boy was wearing the jersey of the San Diego Clippers (Los Angeles Clippers) and patting a small basketball in his parents' bedroom. There is a game between Clippers and Rockets on TV. He watches TV pictures from time to time because his father is playing on the court on behalf of the Clippers. The child imitates his father's every move. He learned to dribble under his legs and watched him fly to the basket. Although these are only the actions he imagined, he did them seriously and enjoyed them. When the father came back, the child looked up and said happily,' Dad, I want to play NBA in the future! Father hugged him gently: "Yes, you want to be the greatest player." "
This is Kobe's earliest NBA dream.
There is an American proverb: "If you want to be a professional player, you must find the right parents." Kobe is lucky, and his family is the most suitable environment for training professional players. Kobe's father, Joe Bryant, is a talented basketball player. Joe is from Philadelphia. 1972, Joe helped the Johns bartram high school team in Philadelphia win the Philadelphia Regional High School League, and then entered the local Lhasa University. In high school, Joe met Pam Cox, and Joe fell in love with the little girl at first sight. Strangely, their first date was on the basketball court. At that time, Pam's brother played for another university team in Philadelphia, and Joe courted Pam when he played against the university team in Lhasa. Jin Qiao married Pam soon after he entered the university. He showed excellent skills in NCAA league, and his height of 2.06 meters made him have the physical conditions to participate in professional league. Only three years after graduating from college, Joe took part in the NBA draft. In the NBA in the 1970s, few players took part in the draft before graduating from college. Participants need not only extraordinary skills, but also proof of financial difficulties. Joe and Pam's first child is about to be born, and he meets these two criteria. In the 1975 draft, Joe was selected as the first-round rookie by the Golden State Warriors, but he didn't want to play in the far west, and the salary offered by the Warriors was not high. Joe had a tough negotiation with the Warriors and asked them to transfer him back to Philadelphia. His efforts paid off. Before the start of the season, Joe signed a five-year contract with 76 people in his hometown for nearly $65,438+0,000, which was astronomical at that time.
Joe was a rare basketball genius at that time, but he didn't succeed at first. He loves acting and has a special liking for dribbling and shooting, but he should go to the penalty area to play power forward. Del Harris, Kobe Bryant's first coach in the Lakers, coached his father in the early 1980s. He thinks Joe's style is beyond that era: "Joe can make any move, and his passing skills are second only to' Magic' in the league, but he was born to eat in the restricted area instead of playing point guard." Joe on the sidelines likes to express himself. It was a crazy disco era, and Joe often appeared on the sidelines in a dance costume, wearing big sunglasses and smoking a cigar for interviews. Jerry West, deputy general manager of the Lakers, once said of Joe: "He doesn't like doing dirty work and doesn't pay attention to technical details. No matter how talented you are, you can't walk any further. He was born to perform, not to win. " Joe played in the NBA for eight years, playing for the 76ers, Clippers and Rockets. 1977, he and 76 ers entered the finals under the leadership of Dr. J, but lost to the pioneers led by Wharton. Joe's best season was 1980-8 1, averaging1.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. By the spring of 1984, Joe's NBA career was over. Although he is only 30 years old and healthy, no team is willing to accept his pure performance basketball style. Joe doesn't want to retire. He loves basketball, and he has three children to support. His agent told him that playing in Europe can also make money, so Joe and Pam took their three children on a distant trip to Europe. The three children are Charlias, 8, Charlias, 7, and Kobe, 6.
Kobe Bryant 1978 was born on August 23rd, when his father was still playing for the Philadelphia 76ers. His strange name can reflect his parents' hobbies. Kobe is the name of a Japanese steak. Bryant and his wife enjoy life very much and often go to restaurants to eat. This steak from Kobe, Japan, is the main course on their plate, so even their beloved son was named steak. Kobe has been holding a basketball in his hand since he was able to walk. From the age of two, he watched his father play ball on TV, imitating every movement. In his father's eyes, Kobe is the most unique basketball angel. "He can live well without others to play with him, because he can have all kinds of enemies in his mind, and then he will try his best to break through their defenses." In Italy, Kobe's hobby became the greatest pleasure of his childhood, because Italy had no children to play basketball with him.
Football is the first sport in Italy. All the children are keen on football. Kobe often practices alone on the basketball court. But when other children came to the court, Kobe had to give way-they came to play football. "If there are only one or two children, I can drive them away because I am taller than them. But if a group of people come, I have to go away or be a goalkeeper. " Although the fun of basketball is endless, living in a completely unfamiliar environment, young Kobe encounters challenges unimaginable to his peers. "I went to primary school from Italy. No one in the class speaks English, and I don't know Italian at all. In the first few months in Italy, I just sat in the classroom and watched the teacher's pointer swing. " After the first year, all three children spoke Italian fluently, and Joe also succeeded in the Italian league. He brought rare creativity to the rigorous European basketball. The Bryant family lived in Italy for eight years and changed to four cities, but they were very popular everywhere. "In Italy, family comes first, people trust each other, and when they see you in the street, they will say' hello' kindly, which is very different from the impression in the United States." Of course, the biggest influence on Kobe Bryant is the Italian leisurely lifestyle. In the NBA, players play away half the time, and training usually takes place in the morning; But in Italy, there is only one game a week, and it is basically afternoon training, which gives Kobe the opportunity to get in touch with professional basketball.
My father knows that Kobe's greatest pleasure is basketball, so he takes his son to the gym every time he trains. When his father's team warms up at one end of the court, little Kobe will shoot at the other end. When the team started formal training, Kobe followed his father to make various preparations on the sidelines. The strict and scientific training methods of professional players left a deep impression on Kobe's mind. By imitating his father, he confirmed all kinds of actions and tactics from watching training and games on the spot, and his basketball consciousness far surpassed that of his peers.
Joe Bryant was very successful in Italy. He got a broad space to play basketball creativity. In the eyes of Italian fans, Joe is an artist on the basketball court. He can score 25 points and 30 points every night, and his flight in the air is refreshing for Italians. The fans adapted Italian folk songs to praise Joe's skills. When the song echoed on the court, Kobe was excited, and he experienced another kind of fun of basketball: a kind of recognition, a kind of fun to win the respect and love of fans.
"The most precious thing my father taught me is my love for basketball and my love for fans. He told me not to let pressure and people's expectations of you ruin the fun you experience from basketball. He told me to fully show my feelings in the competition and boldly do what I want to do. Basketball is an art, and playing is a process of finding happiness. "
Less than 10 years old, little Kobe began to practice one-on-one with his father. Father's training is not to ask Kobe to succeed in the NBA in the future, but to let Kobe find the fun in basketball and know how to find the fun in life. In the free sunshine of Italy, Kobe's technology has thrived, and his peers are no longer his opponents. Kobe often watches NBA games from the other side of the ocean, and the bedroom is covered with posters of Jordan, Bird and "Magician". In his eyes, these giants are not so far away. He has begun to realize their love for basketball from basketball. He thinks that the magic they play on the court can be done by themselves. Of course, all this can only be confirmed by returning to the United States.