Keep Ya Head up, Kobe

Kobe Bryant looked into the picture of Michael Jordan that zoomed into life in the film room. “The master,” he nodded, succinctly, as his eyes squinted in concentration, perhaps rerunning some of those unreal highlights of His Airness across his mind, “he perfected the game.” Michael Jordan’s legacy is complete, a legacy so surreal that it borders blasphemy to suggest that someone may one day match it. But here, at the bottom of the mountain facing that daunting task of another championship, we find Kobe Bryant, unconquerable spirit and unrelenting will, pouring his heart out on the hardwood, day in, day out, through all of its ups and downs.

Just remember, it is us, the fans, and not Kobe himself, who are forcing the unfair and premature comparisons. Kobe Bryant is a student of the game and honors its history. He knows very well the pantheon of greats and his own basketball mortality, and how insignificant one person is compared to the rich history of the game. This is evident through his interviews and talks – that once cocky and arrogant teenager has been humbled by life, humbled by the game he loves. The guy actually blushed when someone mentioned his name alongside Laker great Elgin Baylor and finds Jordan comparisons both untenable and disrespectable.

Honest humility is a most attractive virtue. Kobe Bryant’s humility in the face of his undying will to win is evident in his interviews, his demeanor, and his interactions with peers and fans. Don’t listen to the media or his numerous detractors, who would tell you otherwise, that Kobe is faking it. True, in the past he was highly unlikeable. But the media has missed out on the latter part of the story –  his transformation - because it isn’t a cash generator. The public loves an enemy. If you have followed the guy since the Colorado incident, it is beyond obvious that he has transformed. The last time I heard, his family is doing wonderful. Forgiveness and redemption are freely given to those who desire it. Kobe Bryant has found his purpose and is living it out – not to steal the spotlight from the Jordans and the Lebrons, but just to honor his God-given basketball abilities as best as he can.

He knows what separates Jordan from him – the mitts, those million dollar hands, as Phil Jackson put it, that allowed Jordan to dominate near the basket were not part of God’s basketball gift for Kobe. As a result, Kobe’s game is forced more to the outside, and he has adjusted, becoming one of the game’s best shooters and ball handlers, and generally acknowledged by peers as the best player in the world today, and probably the best perimeter player ever.

But, as everyone from Tex Winter to Shaquille O’neal knows, the game is most efficient played inside-out. Every championship in the past 10 years has gone through Shaq or Duncan, and before that, through Hakeem, Kareem, Wilt, and Russell. Jordan was an anomaly because he was able to dominate the low post. Kobe is content to maximize his own gifts, and to perfect the game with his own, unique set of physical abilities. But he knows he will need to depend on a low post presence, and he has been blessed with one for most of his career, from Shaq to Bynum to Gasol. Funny how the pieces fall into shape, isn’t it?

Yet hands alone are not the entire story. Because winning defines the bulk of one’s legacy, sheer luck of the draw plays a huge role. As Tracy Mcgrady pointed out, basketball is not tennis – it is a team sport.

Michael Jordan was blessed with a dominant team during his prime years – a team that won 55 games without him in 1994 and went to the conference semifinals. He was also blessed with injury-free teammates for most of his career. He doesn’t know what it is like to suddenly lose teammate Karl Malone, the same Karl Malone who had limited Garnett and Duncan, to a career ending knee injury right before facing the Pistons in the 2004 Finals. This is a blessing that has eluded Kobe Bryant, who is playing with torn ligaments in his shooting hand, an injury that exacerbates his average hands, and who's team has lost Bynum for 45 games and Gasol for this current critical stretch. Yet his Lakers are a mere one game out of 1^st place in the West, the most dominant conference in recent memory. But ultimately, unless he wins a championship, Kobe Bryant will be viewed a failure.

There are times when I look at a superstar on a losing team, and I want to tell him, “Keep ya head up. It's not on you”

When Jordan drove to the rack and drew a three-point play on Charles Barkley in the 1993 Finals, and Barkley fell on his knees, realizing his championship dreams were over, I wanted to tell him, “Keep ya head up. It’s not on you. It’s Michael we’re talking about.”

When Nash got bounced from the playoffs, bloody nose and all, I wanted to tell him, “It’s not on you. The Spurs are the better team, and there is nothing you could have done. Keep ya head up.”

When Tracy Mcgrady held that press conference after falling in 7 games, I wanted to tell him, “It’s not on you. Keep ya head up.” The kid has arguably the second best career post-season averages, after Jordan, yet has not sniffed the second round.

Some moments are more personal and painful. When the Lakers were getting crushed in Detroit in 2004, when the Pistons were just pouring it on late in game 5, the clincher, when Shaq was sitting on the sidelines, listless, his aching body racked by age and no longer able to carry a franchise, and Fisher was crying besides him, there was Kobe Bryant, busting his ass on defense, hustling for every loose ball even though the outcome was decided, an extravagant display of energy and heart – all the way until the final buzzer sounded.

It was at that dark moment that I realized Kobe Bryant is no Michael Jordan – Michael would have busted the Pistons on the low block while Kobe Bryant continued to fire away from the perimeter. But I looked at that passion, that hustle, and I knew that Kobe Bryant left every ounce of his heart and physical ability on that hardwood. He could walk out of that building with his head held high – and Larry Brown recognized that in a brief post-game hug.

I see more of the same going down for the final third of Kobe Bryant’s career – a career marked by near misses. Remember Robert Horry’s missed three against the Spurs in 2002? He hits it, and the Lakers move on and win the championship. Instead, the Lakers went fishing. Horry would go on to hit the exact shot to propel the Spurs to the 2005 title. Two identical shots – one make, one miss, two titles won for San Antonio, and the middle third of Kobe Bryant's career is defined - one without a Finals MVP and one secondary to Shaq.  

Kobe Bryant is old by NBA standards – pushing 30. Time is definitely not on his side. Time is pushing its case, and the onrush of physical decay and breakdown is waxing greater. The vicissitudes of chance and luck may swing in his favor once more, as it did during the 3-peat. Or, they may not. Either way, keep ya head up, Kobe. It’s not on you.

I was having this discussion with a few old time buddies of mine the other day, on a lazy afternoon when the same old basketball talk pushes beyond the realm of sports and into our daily lives. It was then that I summarized my views of Kobe Bryant as follows:

It's not about being the most popular. It's not about having the best public perception. It's not about boasting about your legacy in comparison with others. It's not about yourself. Rather, it's about honoring your profession, pushing yourself to the limit, and garnering the respect from your peers who have fought alongside you, or against you, who have no agenda. Therein lasts the unaging glory. Whether Kobe Bryant will reach that promised land ever again is irrelevant to sway the truth that Kobe Bryant has mastered his craft and taken it to new heights, and that his passion and love for his professional calling inspires his fans to do the same for theirs.