Kobe Bryant Just Wanted to Win

by Eric Fulton
Perhaps no sports figure in the last 20 years has grabbed our attention more than Kobe Bryant. Whether you cheer for or against him, he didn’t care what you thought about him or his game. He cared about just one thing: winning. Bryant was the one guy everyone didn’t like to play with or against, but everyone respected because he was an incredible player.

It is hard to believe Bryant has played 20 years in the NBA, which is remarkable. It is even harder to believe he has done it with one team. It is special because no one else in the league has done it. Tim Duncan will likely be the next one to do it with San Antonio next year. I know it has been a hard time the last couple of years for Bryant with the Lakers being in the lottery for the No. 1 draft pick instead of competing in the playoffs. The great thing is we, as sports fans, get one more look at an all-time great playing his final game in the shadows of Hollywood tonight when the Lakers finish the season at home against the Utah Jazz at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2. 

Bryant was drafted 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft. Shortly after, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Vlade Divac, one of the most lopsided trades in league history. Obviously if the Hornets kept Bryant it would definitely have altered the history of the NBA for the next two decades. The Lakers were rebuilding after the Magic Johnson era came to an end. Then general manager Jerry West pulled perhaps the best trade in the mid/late ’90s by acquiring a young Bryant, who was drafted out of high school, a trend that would continue to go on for the next decade for those who wanted to skip college and go straight to the pros.

Bryant was thriving but struggling early in his career. He and the Lakers knew they needed to add another that would make it unstoppable. That’s when Shaquille O’Neal came into the picture and the dynamic duo became a powerful force. Shaq and Kobe, combined with an already legendary coach in Phil Jackson, would form an outstanding trio in the early 2000s helping the Lakers win three straight NBA championships.

Unfortunately, the honeymoon would not last long. Kobe and Shaq did not get along and the duo would end their time together with O’Neal heading to Miami to help another great talent Dwayne Wade win a championship of his own. Meanwhile, Bryant was creating things on his own. Remember that memorable Sunday in the 2006 season in which he scored an incredible 81 points? No, it was not the all-time scoring record for points in one game, but for most of us who never saw Wilt Chamberlain score 100, this was our moment to witness greatness.

Later in his career, Kobe would win two more titles with a different cast of players like Pau Gasol, Ron Artest and Lamar Odom. But he would outlast them all in a Lakers uniform. Even the experiment of having Dwight Howard joining the Lakers was a huge failure. Howard was never like Shaq in the way in which he wanted to win. Kobe always wanted to win. He went to extreme lengths to do it. I am positive it rubbed a ton of people the wrong way, but sometimes you do whatever is necessary to make sure you are one of the best ever. That’s what Kobe Bryant is -- truly one of the best players of all time. He has the resume to prove it:

• Five-time World Champion
• No. 3 all-time in scoring
• 2008 NBA MVP
• Two-time NBA Finals MVP
• 18 NBA All-Star appearances
• 11 NBA All-First Team appearances
• Nine NBA All-Defensive First Team appearances
• Two times Scoring Champion

It is one of the best careers not only in basketball history, but in sports history as well. There are other great players in the NBA right now (LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant just to name a few), however, most of those don’t have the resume Bryant does (at least not yet anyway). But perhaps the unique thing about Bryant’s aura is he does not care whether you love or hate him. He wanted to win plain and simple. The basketball world will never be the same after Bryant plays his final game. I really hope, as does everyone else, that he puts on one final performance. It would be awesome just to shoot the game winning shot one more time. That would be the ultimate story-book ending for Bryant. Believe me when I say this -- he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

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