I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 159 The Beginning of the Legend

(Back to Philly, Kobe's home, so talk more about his childhood.)
On June 1996, 6, there was a place called Philadelphia 26 kilometers southwest of New York City. An unremarkable boy walked into people's field of vision from here: wearing a gray suit and deliberately putting his sunglasses on Above his head, he announced that he was going to bring his talents to the NBA.

This year's NBA draft has become a session in history with a large number of talents, and many talented superstars have emerged, and many of them have become the top players in the league: Iverson, Nash, Ray Allen , O'Neal, Marbury, Camby, Peja, Big Z, "Old Fish" Fisher and so on.

When the draft began, the boy was still underage, and even the contract needed to be signed by his parents to take effect, although he was the first guard player in history to participate in the NBA draft directly from high school, although he had singled out before the draft Destroyed the 1995 prospect Jerry Stackhouse, but no one can foresee the future, let alone hand over the future of the team to a high school player...

Therefore, the boy finally ranked 13th and was selected by the Hornets, which is very reasonable and reasonable.

However, the Hornets' chief scout at the time, Bill Branch, told the boys that they had agreed to trade the pick with the Lakers the day before the draft.The Lakers didn't tell the Hornets the rookie they chose until the first 5 minutes of the draft.Because before the draft, the boy tried out in Los Angeles and played against former Lakers Larry Drew and Michael Cooper.Jerry West, the general manager of the Lakers at the time, said, "This boy has surpassed these players."

On July 1996, 7, West traded the Lakers' starting center Vlade Divac to the Hornets for the boy.

So the boy flew to Los Angeles without wearing a Hornets jersey for a day.

The boy was only 17 years old at the time of the draft, and his parents had to sign with the Lakers along with him.It wasn't until the start of the new season that the 18-year-old boy signed the contract independently.

This boy's name is Kobe Bryant, and he will become the second shooting guard in history, the man closest to God, and Chu Xiao's teammate...

In fact, what many people don't know is that on the plane to Los Angeles, Kobe was still thinking about Philadelphia. In addition to playing for the Lakers, the team he most hoped to sign him at the beginning was the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, after all, it is a bit unrealistic, because the 76ers won the No. 76 pick of the year. At that time, the team already had a very capable and experienced shooting guard-Stackhouse, and they needed a player like O'Neal who could A center with a dominant performance, but there was no such an outstanding center in the draft that year, so the [-]ers used the No. [-] pick to win an extremely good point guard-Allen Iverson.

Iverson did not disappoint the city, and he became Philadelphia's eternal "answer" in the future.

In fact, in addition to Iverson as the first choice, the 76ers also considered Marbury and Kobe, because Kobe's hometown is in Philadelphia, and the team knew him well, but it really needed a big enough player to choose him at that time. Courage is not just a matter of Kobe's potential, but also the cynicism from other teams and so on.

Originally, a man was affectionate and a concubine was intentional. Maybe everything was an arrangement of fate. Kobe finally went to the Lakers and started his legendary life. Philadelphia had its own "answer", but lost the real "son of Philadelphia".

Since then, the relationship between Kobe and his hometown has only been cut and messed up.

A little further back in time, on August 1978, 8, Bryant was born in the West Philadelphia area of ​​Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just west of City Line Avenue, which cuts off the area from one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country, where life is considered It is regarded as a kind of original sin, and measured by Chinese standards, it means that his family status is-poor peasants.

Fortunately, his father, Joe Bryant, is an NBA player who once played for the 76ers, the Clippers and the Rockets, which made their family conditions not bad. Kobe was the youngest boy in the family. There are two older sisters, and the family lives happily.

As for the name Kobe, it comes from a dish in the restaurant.At the time, Bryant's parents were dining at a high-end Italian restaurant in Philadelphia, and they had a particularly good Kobe steak.Kobe is called "KOBE" in English translation.Therefore, Joe Bryant decided to call his son Kobe Bryant.

When Kobe was 6 years old, his father, Joe Sr., at the age of 28, found that he had no place in the NBA, so he left the NBA and moved the family to Italy to continue his professional basketball career.He has played for 4 teams, participated in 247 games in the Apennines, averaging 29.7 points per game.

It is precisely because in Italy, Old Joe regained his old skills, and once scored 30+ points in each game. For him, scoring was already a matter of getting something out of his bag, and he even showed off his skills sometimes, which immediately conquered the local fans.Italian league fans even think he is better than Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Old Joe liked to play with Kobe Bryant when he was 3 years old. After coming to Italy, in addition to letting his son learn Italian and Spanish, he often took him to participate in various games, and Kobe’s grandfather would also send him NBA games. Therefore, playing basketball and studying the game videos of Jordan, Magician and others became Kobe's only spiritual sustenance in a foreign country.Later, he also learned to play football, and his favorite team is AC Milan.If he stays in Italy, he will try to become a professional football player.

However, Kobe's favorite is basketball, and his skills have long surpassed his peers.

In 1986, Joe Sr. took his family on a trip to Rome, and Kobe took a group photo wearing a blue suit and leaning against the railing.

In 1989, when Old Joe participated in a charity match, he didn’t know how to get Kobe, who was only 11 years old, to play against professional players. Keep your eyes on the direction of the ball.

In 1990, Kobe defeated all his peers in the basketball training camp held by his father.

In 1991, after Joe Sr. retired, he moved his family back to Philadelphia. The 13-year-old Kobe ended his seven-year life in Italy and returned to Philadelphia to study and play at Lower Merion High School.The school is also the alma mater of "Ancient Beast" Chamberlain, who held the scoring record of 7 points for high school students in Pennsylvania at the time.

For his junior, Chamberlain once said, "If he hadn't grown up in Philadelphia, he wouldn't have achieved what he is now. He is the real 'son of Philadelphia'."

Kobe, who had just returned to his hometown, seemed a little dissatisfied. He even spoke with a strong Italian accent. His classmates regarded him as a dandy who grew up in Italy, and his proud and tough game attitude far exceeded The qualities expected of him from his birthplace would be looked down upon by disaffected people—who see Bryant as an extraterrestrial out of the ordinary.

Kobe doesn't care about these comments, he likes to wear sunglasses on top of his head, and takes singer Brandy to the ball... Life is as wonderful as a Hollywood blockbuster.

But how glamorous he is in front of others, he will be as hardworking behind the scenes.

Unlike other children who regard basketball as a hobby, Kobe regarded basketball as his life from the beginning.In the first year of high school, I persisted in morning running, skipping rope, and lifting weights every day, honing my basketball skills in a cruel way.However, the team's record is 4 wins and 20 losses!
After experiencing a failed freshman year in high school, Kobe tempered himself crazily in the summer, riding an hour every day to the university where his father was an assistant coach for training, from 9 am to 9 pm, rain or shine.

As a result, at the beginning of his sophomore year, his progress terrified everyone: he led Lower Merion High School to a 26-5 record and won the division championship in one fell swoop.

This year, the legend first appeared: in the first game of the playoffs, Lower Merion High School defeated Ridley High School, which had won the state championship six times, 76:70.The team's only tactic was to pass the ball to Bryant, who ended up scoring 6 points.

In Game 31, Ridley used two players to defend Bryant all over the court and slow down the game to prevent his quick rushes.But Bryant played from point guard to center and finally scored [-] points.

In the 1995-1996 season, Kobe was in his senior year. After 3 wins and 4 losses at the beginning of the season, Lower Merion High School started a crazy 27-game winning streak. In the state finals, Lower Merion High School won the state championship for the first time in 30 years by beating Erie Catholic High School 4-47.Bryant was also named Penn State Player of the Year.

高中四年，科比场均30.8分、12个板、6.5次助攻、4次抢断和3.8次助攻，一共拿到2883分，打破了之前由张伯伦保持的宾州高中生得分纪录2359分。

This year, it is a matter of time before the legend takes off. As the son of a local star of the Lower Merion High School team and the Philadelphia 76ers, Kobe is naturally the pride of Philadelphia and its surrounding areas.Although he is favored by Duke University, a famous basketball school, he is destined to belong to the bigger stage of the NBA.

And only my hometown Philadelphia, the 76ers, is in my heart!
When he was still in his senior year of high school, he had already started to frequently participate in the informal training of the Philadelphia 76ers. At that time, the NBA was not strict with professional players and non-professional management. Lucas gave Kobe the opportunity to train before and after the players' joint training, because he had witnessed Kobe blowing up almost all the rookies of the year in the solo rookie training before the 76 draft.

Lucas firmly believed that if he was the one drafting for the 76ers, he would definitely select Kobe on the team.

I remember that in 1994, when Lucas first joined the 76ers, he first heard of a local basketball genius when he took his daughter Tavia to school. "My wife (Debbie) told me she saw a high school kid who was a better player than me. I said 'you're crazy' and she said 'yeah, I'm crazy.'" Lucas can't help but smile as he recalls.

In the 1994-95 season, the 76ers had a poor record, and Lucas decided to watch the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Athletic Association Division I championship game between Lower Merion High School and Chester High School in Villanova.Before entering the gym, Lucas was taken aback by seeing his old NBA opponent, Joe Bryant. "I asked him 'what are you doing here' and he said 'I'm here to see my son, what about you'. I said I came to see a kid named Kobe. He said 'that's my son'." Lucas Hearing this, he burst out laughing.

The result of that game is no longer important, but Lucas was deeply impressed by Kobe's talent, fearlessness and arrogance.He can seamlessly switch from point guard to center in the game, and he is extremely calm in the face of the high-intensity full-court oppression of Chester High School.

After the game, Lucas invited Kobe to the 76ers to train with professional players.

He firmly believes that this high school student will be a new legend in Philadelphia after "Ancient Beast" Chamberlain.

(End of this chapter)