Six Years That Defined Kobe Bryant

“We are all human...we are good and we are bad. We are angels and we are devils.”- Ramona Shelburne quoting Kobe Bryant on “Around The Horn”, original airdate January 27, 2020

I lead off with that quote, but there's another quote from another TV show I love that could also fit my thoughts about the life that has just passed of Kobe Bryant, someone who is arguably without peer not just on a basketball court where he made his money but in the wider pop culture universe where he truly made his name:

“Sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes to neatly sum up what's happened that day. Sometimes the day just...ends.”- Aaron Hotchner in the Criminal Minds episode “...And Back”, Season Four, Episode 26, original airdate May 20, 2009

Like a lot of people today, as I write this a mere 24 hours after Bryant's helicopter crashed on a foggy day in the mountains of Calabasas, California, just a stone's throw from Los Angeles, there's a lot to process about the death of Bryant and a lot that still needs to be processed. There is, of course, also the deaths of eight other people from that same crash- Bryant's daughter, Gianna, her basketball academy teammates Alyssa Altobeli and Payton Chester, Alyssa's parents Keri and John Altobeli (himself a coaching legend at Orange Coast College), Payton's mother Sarah Chester, Christina Mauser, a basketball assistant coach and the pilot, Ara Zobayan- that seem to get glossed over in the reporting of Bryant's death, even though their deaths will leave just as much an impact to their friends and families that Bryant's death left to the wider world, where, in some twisted way, we all felt we knew Kobe Bryant personally even though we really didn't.

A death like this, especially one so sudden and undeniably too soon, is hard to wrap your head around. Our gut check reaction when we first heard the news- as was the case for me- was to double check and then triple check, because our mind doesn't want to believe the story to be true. Kobe Bryant may have ended his National Basketball Association career just three years ago but, at 41 years old, he still had the rest of his life ahead of him- there was no way it could have ended so quickly.

...but it did, and the next step, as it always is when it comes to death, is to reflect on the life of the one whose just ended. As I sit here today, myself very close to Bryant's age meaning I have experienced most of his life in real time, I too have reflected on Bryant's life but I keep coming back to the same conclusion- it's complicated.

For most- as seemed to be the case on ESPN's cadre of loudmouth “talking heads” shows- that story begins and ends with Bryant's career on the basketball court. For some, like the woman who accused Bryant of sexual assault after a 2003 encounter at a Colorado spa- the story begins and ends quite differently. There were a few brave souls, like Dan LeBatard and Ramona Shelburne, who acknowledged this other side to Bryant's story, as well as acknowledging Bryant's many other shortcomings- including his arrogance, his feud with longtime teammate Shaquille O'Neal and the assertion of his coach, the legendary Phil Jackson, that Bryant was “uncoachable”.

It's that other side of Bryant's story that informs my opinion of his ultimate legacy. Sure, everyone has their flaws, and everyone has skeletons in their closet, and I'm sure everyone that looks back on their lives would say that their own life story isn't all rosy or all gloomy. However, when it comes to the world of celebrity, more often than not it is either their triumphs or their infamy that defines their fame- very rarely does a celebrity become known for the good and the bad in their lives.

For some, like Michael Jackson and Chris Benoit, the bad eventually came to overtake the good in their lives, leaving a figure whose tragic ending began before their tragic demise.

For Bryant, he got a chance at redemption in his story, a chance to rise back again like few do after their lives seemingly fell apart. His life pretty much literally went like a typical Hollywood script- a character would make a name for themselves at the start of the movie, they'd face a challenge that threatens to tarnish their legacy by the end of the first act, with the rest of the movie spent repairing their legacy where they ride off into the sunset in triumph with an even greater name than when they started.

Let me take this concept even further for the prospective script writers who now so eagerly want to tell Bryant's tale- you don't even need to focus on all of Bryant's 41 years to tell the gist of Bryant's tale. Because six years are all that are critical to tell Bryant's tale, and it begins in the summer of 2003.

On June 30, 2003, Bryant checked into a hotel in Edwards, Colorado, home of a U.S. Air Force base and a little over 100 miles east of Denver. Bryant was there to get surgery on his knee, which was scheduled for July 2. While he was there, Bryant, then 27, met a 19-year-old woman who worked at the hotel and the two of them had an encounter the night before his surgery.

What happened that night is not in dispute- Bryant and the woman had sex, and it was rough. Bryant believed the sex was consensual, but the woman did not, as she filed a police complaint over the issue. The resulting investigation by police yielded enough for them to issue an arrest warrant, which occurred on July 4. Twelve days later, Bryant was formally charged, with Bryant holding a press conference right afterward.

At that press conference, Bryant- who had been married to his wife Vanessa for seven and a half years- admitted to adultery but insisted that the sexual encounter that he had was consensual. Vanessa publicly stayed by Kobe's side and claimed to have forgiven him, though it was revealed that Kobe bought her a $4 million ring and, behind the scenes, the relationship was damaged (Kobe and Vanessa Bryant would file for divorce in 2011). On the basketball court, Kobe Bryant avoided punishment by the NBA, though he'd still miss some games in order to attend court in order to answer to the charges. In September 2004, the prosecution announced they were dropping the charges against Bryant because his accuser withdrew her co-operation. Bryant and his accuser later settled a civil case outside of court, with Bryant issuing a statement saying he apologized to the accuser and understood that she didn't feel about the incident the same way he did.

Before I continue, I think it's important to understand the many dynamics that go into a sexual assault case. I could go on a rant about the many issues of the criminal justice system as a whole and how activists make a mockery of the truth about it, but that's another article altogether.

What's important to understand about criminal proceedings is twofold. One, there's tons of emotions going through the minds of both parties, and the slow pace of the criminal trial exacerbates those emotions. Two, the standard for conviction at a criminal trial is essentially proving that the crime 100% happened and since a conviction of sexual assault relies on consent, the case often breaks down into “he said/she said” because (as is the case with Bryant's situation) there are no witnesses. This makes sexual assault difficult to prove, especially when the accuser stops co-operating.

So understand all that when thinking about Bryant's trial. I'm not going to get into the specifics of the trial nor am I going to weigh in on whether justice was served- you can read that on many different places on the Internet. What I can offer only is speculation, and I think the woman at the centre of the scandal preferred closure and not having to relive that night instead of pursuing a conviction that may not have happened, while Bryant likely went the rest of his life with the deepest of regrets about the entire incident.

It didn't affect Bryant's play on the court, at least at first. In the 1999-2000 season, Bryant emerged as a superstar for the first time, forming a partnership with veteran superstar Shaquille O'Neal that led the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight NBA championships. The 2002-03 season saw the Lakers lose to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, but in 2003-04, the Lakers got back to the NBA Finals where they won Game 1 against the Detroit Pistons, seemingly setting them up for a fourth title in five years.

Instead, the Pistons won the next four games, which earned them the NBA title. The Pistons' victory was seen at the time as the triumph of the team over the individual, as the Pistons had no superstars but had more overall quality and chemistry than the Lakers did. In the summer of 2004, the Lakers decided on an overhaul, letting Phil Jackson go as their coach and trading O'Neal- whom the Lakers felt was “too old”- for depth players. They hoped that with Bryant as the centrepiece of a deeper squad- essentially copying the Pistons' method of success- it would lead the Lakers back to glory.

The next season, by all accounts, was a disaster. Bryant was his usual dominant self, but the players tasked with providing him support proved incapable of doing so, and Jackson's replacement- Rudy Tomjonavich- resigned in mid-season citing exhaustion. Earlier in the season, Jackson published a book where he described Bryant as “uncoachable”, apparently going so far as telling Lakers management that he would not come back to Los Angeles if it meant coaching Bryant. Worse, with O'Neal no longer his teammate, it came to light that during the 2003-04 season Bryant, with his overconfident attitude, rubbed his veteran teammates the wrong way, especially O'Neal. Throughout the 2004-05 season and the rest of the 2005 calendar year, O'Neal and Bryant would occasionally trade public barbs at each other as their animosity boiled over.

With the season a mess, it was hardly a surprise that the 2004-05 Lakers missed the playoffs. In the summer of 2005, Jackson agreed to return to the team, which Bryant publicly praised. The following season, Bryant set Laker scoring records, getting 81 points against the Toronto Raptors- the second highest personal point total in NBA history- as well as having a night where he outscored the Dallas Mavericks 62-61 over three quarters. He and Shaq seemed to “bury the hatchet” with a handshake and a hug before a Christmas Day game where the Lakers played Shaq's new team, the Miami Heat. At season's end, Bryant finished fourth in voting for the Most Valuable Player in the NBA, and the Lakers got back into the playoffs.

Then the wheels fell off. After winning three of their first four games of their first round series against the Phoenix Suns- leaving them one win away from advancing- the Lakers crashed out of the playoffs by proceeding to drop the next three games, despite dominant performances from Bryant. A season later, Bryant would get suspended by the league for the first time, being forced to sit out one game after elbowing the Spurs' Manu Ginobli. Bryant still had dominant scoring performances- including a stretch of four straight games with 50 or more points, the second NBA player to do so- and the Lakers made the playoffs again, but, again, they were eliminated by the Suns in the first round, this time in five games.

As the 2007-08 season began, questions began to surface about Bryant's ability to lead the Lakers, buoyed by preseason demands by Bryant to be traded after reports surfaced that Bryant was trying to manipulate Lakers management. Jackson eventually talked Bryant out of his trade demand, with cooler heads prevailing as the season began.

During the season, Bryant hurt his shooting hand but opted against surgery, allowing him to play in all 82 games. He also finally got a teammate that could adequately support him, as the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol. Riding a Western Conference leading 57-25 record, the reinforced Lakers tore through the Western playoffs, including a five-game series victory over their long time rivals, the Spurs, in the Western Finals.

However, Bryant and the Lakers had their difficulties in the 2008 NBA Finals, where they fell in six games to the Boston Celtics. The series' margin ultimately wound up being kind to the Lakers, as the Celtics built a 3-1 series lead only for the Lakers to survive with a Game 5 win, with Boston winning the title in Game 6 with a 39-point victory, the largest margin of victory in a NBA title clinching game. Though Bryant won his first MVP award in the 2007-08 season, his failure to lead the Lakers to the championship made some wonder if he ever could.

None echoed that sentiment louder than Bryant's erstwhile teammate, O'Neal. At a New York nightclub in the summer of 2008, O'Neal took the stage and laid down a freestyle rap, where he notably referred to Bryant's struggles against Boston by saying, “Kobe couldn't do it without me.” O'Neal's performance seemed to suggest that their feud was still simmering, even though publicly O'Neal and Bryant both laughed it off.

It did seem to be motivation for Bryant. In 2008-09, Bryant again had a dominant season, finishing second in MVP voting to LeBron James, the player who would pass Bryant in the all-time scoring list a day before Bryant's death. The Lakers steamrolled their way through the NBA season, improving their record by eight wins to 65-17 and barely breaking a sweat through the playoffs, their only challenge being the Houston Rockets who took the Lakers to seven games in the second round. In the NBA Finals, the Lakers easily handled the upstart Orlando Magic, winning four games to one.

In the process, Bryant won his first NBA Finals MVP, but, more importantly, he won his first title without the help of O'Neal. Some might argue that Bryant truly didn't reach the summit of his career until winning the Finals rematch with the Celtics a year later- where he again won the Finals MVP and surpassed O'Neal for the amount of titles he won (five to O'Neal's four)- but arguably the Bryant of 2009 had a lot more to prove. Winning the 2009 NBA title finally showed that Bryant could be the undisputed leader of the team and lead them to victory, which is what he ultimately needed to prove in order to really join the game's greats, like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

The rest of Bryant's career would eventually get overshadowed by James, who would establish himself among the all-time greats when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA Championship, the year that was, ironically, Bryant's last. Bryant was still a dominant player almost right up to the end of his career, which he capped off by scoring 60 points on the Utah Jazz where he outscored them 23-21 in the fourth quarter.

More importantly, though, after winning in 2009, Bryant finally seemed to have his life back in order. The feud with O'Neal dissipated, with both becoming good friends toward the end of Bryant's life. He reconciled with his wife and they grew their family. Bryant also buried his arrogance, becoming a much friendlier guy and a mentor to the younger players, as he now no longer had to stress about getting on top. Having essentially “achieved it all”, Bryant could finally bury the demons of his past and really become the beloved player he was in his later years.

It was those six years of hardship that set it all up, as Bryant learned that nothing was going to be easy and he had to earn it. Earn it he did, and seeing him do it was one of the more captivating journeys I have ever seen.

...and now that journey is finished, and what a story it told. Has Kobe Bryant really redeemed himself from the ghosts of his past, one marked by stretches of infidelity, sexual misconduct, arrogance and being a difficult teammate? I'll let you decide that, but there's no denying that the six year period from 2003-09 is the crucial part of his life in making that determination.

R.I.P. Kobe Bean Bryant. There truly will never be another one like you.

-DG