SN Archive (2008): Forget 'the next Michael Jordan', this is Kobe Bryant's time

SN Archive (2008): Forget 'the next Michael Jordan', this is Kobe Bryant's time originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

This article, 'Best in Show' by Stan McNeal, originally appeared in the May 19, 2008 issue of The Sporting News as the featured story for the Kobe Bryant 'Rare Heir' cover.

Forget “the next Michael Jordan.” This is Kobe Bryants time.

The way this season has played out, the first-time MVP is close to putting a new twist on an old question. How about this: Who's going to be the next Kobe?

Seriously. Let's say the Lakers roll through the rest of the playoffs like they breezed through the first three weeks and Bryant wins championship No. 4. When center Andrew Bynum returns next season, the Lakers will be even better. Factor in the team's youth — point guard Derek Fisher is the only 30-something player in the Lakers' top 12 — and Bryant could have his sixth championship long before he's 35, Jordan's age when he completed his second three-peat.

In a world where only championships matter, Bryant has a shot to not only catch but surpass Jordan. “Kobe is putting himself in position to have a similar career,” Bucks general manager John Hammond says. “All that separates them are three rings.”

Sure, scoff at that “all” part. It's a big word considering Bryant has been stuck on three titles for going on six years and his team began the week tied, 2-2, with the Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals.

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Indeed, fortunes in the NBA change quicker than a Chris Paul crossover.

This time a year ago, the Lakers were no closer to winning a title than Bryant was to being nominated as teammate of the year. His season already was over, and instead of spending his time collecting his first MVP trophy and practicing with his teammates, he was calling his owner an idiot and ranting in a parking lot. He reported to training camp still disgruntled and desiring a trade.

It takes pressure sometimes to make a diamond.

• Kobe Bryant

So anyone who doesn't believe such discontent could resurface again doesn't understand the power of winning. But Bryant does.

As unprofessional and unseemly as his rips at owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak were last offseason, his objective was clear: 'They needed to improve the team if he was going to be part of it. “If they want to win right now, I'm all for it. That's all I said the whole time,” he says. “If you want to wait five years, let me know. My legs aren't as young as they used to be.”

Say this for Bryants summer of sulking: It worked. At least he believes it did.

“It takes pressure sometimes to make a diamond,” he says when asked if his demands led to more urgency from the front office. Kupchak pulled off a gem of a trade on February 1 when he heisted Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies. The deal came early in a 7-2 trip that transformed the Lakers' season. They left L.A. thinking they could play with any team; they returned knowing they could. “The way we played during that stretch fueled a great sense of optimism in Kobe,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson says.

The Lakers became the front-runners in the close Western Conference race, which led to the most gratifying regular-season stretch of Bryant's career.

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This was when he emerged as the leading MVP candidate. This was when all the talk about trusting his teammates peaked. This was when the Lakers finished the season with a 28-9 record. This was when Bryant became full of happy talk. About his love of L.A. and his wish to remain a Laker for life (he can opt out of his contract in 2009): “I love the weather, I love my '63 drop- top Impala, I love the (Interstate) 405, and I love my guys.”

About hanging around his teammates: “Yes,” he says, this has been his most fun season. “It started in training camp. We all just clicked. We're all brothers. We get along extremely well. There's not a huge age difference, so, as a result, everyone can relate to one another.” And about the offseason of controversy: “I learned a lesson — you have to be able to separate business from the love of the game. There were a lot of decisions made business-wise that I wasn't happy with, and I took a lot of blame over the years. But you have to be able to separate that from the love you have for the game.”

Credit Bryant's revised attitude with growing up — he will turn 30 this summer — or for wising up and realizing that playing elsewhere might not be much fun after all. The main reason for his state of satisfaction, however, is simple: The Lakers are winning. When Buss told reporters at Bryant's MVP press conference, “In the last six to eight months ... he's really changed,” he could have added “... because we won the West.”

The Lakers started a bit better than expected— 9-6—as their young 7-footer, Bynum, began delivering on the potential that Kupchak saw when he drafted him 10th in 2005. Bynum was improving nightly until he suffered a season-ending knee injury on January 13, a setback that dimmed the Lakers' hopes of contending until, oh, the Gasol trade.

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Bryant knew from watching Gasol on the Spanish national team that the 7-footer would be an ideal fit in the Lakers' triangle offense, which rewards good passing and intelligent play. Gasol, admittedly uninspired during his final year in Memphis, clicked immediately with the Lakers and they won 22 of the first 27 games in which he played. (In one of the losses, Gasol played only 2:33 before spraining an ankle.)

The more the team has won, the tighter it has become. (Bryant hasn't turned all warm and fuzzy, though—when Luke Walton fumbled the ball in a key possession against the Jazz, Kobe's stare was as icy as it was immediate.)

The Lakers often dine together at home and on the road. The entire team showed up to support Bryant at his MVP press conference. As much as they have meshed, though, to hear Bryant tell Gasol, “I love you, man,” at the press conference seemed awkward in a 'Did he really mean that?' way.

On the court, though, there is no more of the kind of awkwardness that used to come when Bryant had the ball and refused to give it up. His regular-season scoring was down 3.3 points from last seasons 31.6 average, and he was OK with that. Lamar Odom deserves credit for bringing the team together during the preseason, but there's another reason for Bryant's newfound trust in his team. “They're better teammates,” says Sam Cassell, who spent much of his season on L.A's other team before signing with the Celtics.

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The good vibes from all the winning is helping Bryant regain his footing as one of the league's most marketable stars. Instead of coming across as selfish and spoiled, he is becoming an elder statesman, still uber-competitive but caring as well. He's no longer so defensive with the media. He laughed and joked throughout his MVP press conference. He regularly does news conferences in L.A. with either or both of his young daughters in his lap.

As recently as March, Bryant's Q rating was barely better than Ron Artests, but No. 24 jersey sales were second in the league to Kevin Garnett's No. 5. He has a long way to go to star in as many commercials as Dwyane Wade, but Nike, Vitaminwater and Sony all are stepping up their involvement with him.

Marketing expert Steve Rifkin, a former Nike consultant, says Bryant's improved marketing position has little to do with people forgiving (or forgetting) about the rape charge brought against him nearly five years ago. “He's grown up. Remember, this was someone who was thrust into the spotlight at 17,” Rifkin says. “Right now, I'd rather market him than Wade.”

See? It's all about the power of winning. The Heat led the league in losses. The Lakers led the West in wins.

But what happens when the Lakers stumble? What happens if they don't make it to June and Bynum's knee keeps him out into next season? All this chummy stuff would be over in a hurry, right? “Yeah, but I don't think they're going to struggle,” Cassell says. “Getting Gasol was a big help. It really calmed him down. Now he knows he has a chance every year.”

Cassell has a point. With a deep young bench, excellent second and third options in Gasol and Odom, a Hall of Fame coach and the MVP, the Lakers are loaded for a long run at the top of the league. “We have some attractive pieces,” Bryant admits with a smile.

None of them more so than the man with a chance to become more than the next Mike.