The Kobe pendulum written by Chris Wallace

Kobe Bean Bryant drove right as he saw the double-team coming, heaved an 18-footer as the clock wound down to 1.9 seconds and drained it, as he generally has this season to "save" his team from defeat and a 4-game losing streak against the Toronto Raptors on March 9th. It was the 7th time in 10 tries this season where Bryant has won a game or given his Los Angeles Lakers the lead in the final 30 seconds of a game this season, far superior than that of other NBA stars this year and quite honestly the standard for one of the game's greatest players. Sounds great right? Not so fast.

For years, Kobe has been labeled as aloof, selfish, arrogant, angered, challenging but yet a champion. And for even more years, fans and media have wondered aloud whether Kobe would "figure out" how to be a better teammate, a better leader or would his career just blow up in flames due to his selfish nature. Seven times this year, Kobe has provided his team a win or a lead with a bucket and seven times, the same question has been asked? Is Kobe's greatness and will to win stunting the growth or snatching away opportunities for his team by his domination of the ball too much at the end of ball games, despite it often times resulting in wins for his team? Well what we've learned is that on "The Kobe Pendulum," you get exactly what you get and that's what makes the guy who he is.

It's been 14 years since this guy jumped from high school as a skinny, lanky, cocky teenager to hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy last June as an accomplished champion and MVP. But for whatever reason, the appreciation for what this guy has accomplished throughout his career has gone largely unmentioned and some criticism has come largely unwarranted, even in his greatest moments. Sure Kobe endured the rath of the fans, media and others alike for his admission to committing adultery in 2004, the subsequent departures of Shaquille O'Neal and Phil Jackson and the way with which he chose to go about his basketball business. Sure Kobe has, primarily in the past, made you wonder whether you were watching the Los Angeles Lakers or the Los Angeles Kobes. Sure Kobe has failed to deliver when called upon, missing the playoffs after the 2004-2005 season, getting defeated in two NBA Finals, blowing a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns in 2006 and flaming out of the playoffs several other times. And even more devastating was the book written by his past-turned former-turned-current head coach Phil Jackson, who claimed Bryant to be "uncoachable" and was the figure most willing to trade Bryant during a time with which Kobe needed him most. But when you think you've pinned this man down or figured him out, he comes back stronger and with a vengence that has only been matched historically by that of Michael Jordan.

Fair or not, the comparisons are there and the mere fact that after 14 years, his career is still being paralleled to that of Jordan magnifies Kobe's greatness even that much more....or at least it should. He's out-lived the McGrady comparisons, the Vince Carter comparisons, the D-Wade comparisons. And quite frankly, he's holding his own in the LeBron comparisons. At age 31, Kobe has accomplished things that only the shrewdess of NBA players could ever dream of: a 4-time champion, 6 finals appearances, more than 25,000 points, an 81-point game, a streak which saw Kobe score 50 or more points in 4 consectuive games, a streak which saw Kobe score 40 or more points in 9 straight games, 27 times of scoring 40 or more points in a season, 62 points in 3 quarters against a Dirk-led Mavs team, a record 61 points at MSG, a league MVP award, a finals MVP award, a 3-time all-star game MVP, a 12-time all-star, a 10-time all-NBA defensive team selection, an 11-time all-nba team selection and an Olympic gold medal. What more can you really say?

The laundry lists of accomplishments aside, Kobe's career has come full circle...so much so that fans and media STILL try and find flaws in this man's personal and professional doings. So much so that a 50-point game by Kobe is no longer a "whoa" but instead a "ho hum." So much so that Kobe hitting a game-winner spurs comments such as "He dominated the ball anyways or we knew he was going to make that shot." So much so that Lebron's apparent jealously of Kobe went widely unnoticed and widely un-aired on any major sports network though it was widely known amongst his team USA teammates that there was clearly an air of jealousy (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090205). So much so that Kobe takes no prisoners when he's on HIS stage, HIS job for 48 minutes of pure competition and then gets chastized for not "smiling enough" or "goofing off" with teammates and opponents. That last bit of chatter even prompted the logo, Jerry West, to utter a few words from an ESPN article in 2009: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&page=westtake-090613

"I love Kobe's passion," West continued. "People think he's not getting any joy out of this? This game is not about having fun. This is the ultimate competition. You can feel good about it afterward. "I didn't see Michael Jordan giggling and laughing all the time." "He's taken hits from everybody, OK?" West said of Bryant. "And I think it's grossly unfair because of the way he approaches the game. Kobe approaches the game the right way. Not smiling around and glad-handing guys on the other team. I watch some of these guys laughing and joking before the game or on the bench. If it's that damn funny … maybe that's a sign of weakness. "I have to laugh when I hear that [Bryant should smile more]. I think that's a facade myself. [Bryant is] that obsessed with winning. This guy is truly one of the greatest players we've ever seen. It would be hard to place a lot of players ahead of him."

West then added: "Any time you start talking about who the best is, you're always going to have controversy. But Kobe is upper, upper echelon. I'm not talking about the top 10 [of all time]. This franchise has had a lot of good players. Absolutely the greatest leader I've ever seen would be Magic Johnson, and he was also the greatest teammate, but as far as skill Kobe is No. 1 on the list. "When you're that great, sometimes people don't want to give you the credit. But when Kobe walks away from this game, he's going to leave huge footprints, just as Michael Jordan did.
"This is a once-every-25-years player. Appreciate him while he's here."

As Kobe continues to play at a high level and keep his team in contention for an NBA title, it's tough not to realize that this may be the last real run for one of the greatest ever....the last real time we'll have the opportunity to see a true heir to MJ....the last real cold-blooded assasin from a generation of "assasin-less" players. Kobe's early-to-mid career had us all sitting on our hands as he watched his "destructive" powers nearly derail a career and legacy and helped to pull apart a dynasty but it's his "constructive" powers that have helped build, maintain and sustain a legacy by which only few players can be measured. It's those same constructive powers that have allowed Kobe to use executive thinking and conclusive results-thinking to work like a maniac and pinpoint EXACTLY what he wants to do and how to do it on the basketball court. It's those constructive powers that have allowed Kobe's diminishing physical skills and injuries to be hidden beneath his ever-evolving mind to overwhelm his opponents and epitimize the mind-over-body sentiment.

Right elbow jumper...buckets..left elbow postup...swing pass in the right corner to an open teammate. Run the triangle and get the ball in the post...force the double-team to come and find a cutting Lamar Odom who swings a pass to an open Pau Gasol...hockey assist for Kobe. Get into the jersey of LeBron, Melo, D-Wade, Vince Carter and other great perimeter players to limit their ability to move freely...learned this from Gary Payton during the all-star weekend in 1997. Get the ball at the top of the key...dribble, dribble, drive right and stop on a dime at 18-feet-pump fake and get my man in the air...jump into him and force the possibility of a 3-point play or if he doesn't jump, spin back left and throw the ball off of the backboard to myself and make a layup. Right index finger broken-hurts like hell but my team needs me...ahhhh just got smacked on that finger again and it hurts even more but I HAVE to finish this game. Just tweaked my left ankle..there's no way I'm taking time off. Five seconds left in the game...get the ball on or near the elbow-it's harder to double-team from the elbow. I have my man on an island. It's me versus the clock-I don't even see the defender-I shoot it from the elbows in warmups, all day in practice and this is no different. No matter what, the defender is scared of me because if he jumps and touches me, I'll get the call...ball game over.

It's all in a day's work for the NBA's pre-eminent star..the NBA's most polarizing player..the NBA's driving force behind the league's worldwide popularity. Most importantly, Kobe Bean Bryant IS the NBA right now whether you like him, love him, despise him or absolutely hate him. Appreciation, by definition, means: "An understanding of the nature, meaning or quality of something. It also means admiration, an increase in price or value and an admiration for something. Enjoy him while he's here because when he's gone, he's GONE.