“People don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”, Kobe Bryant. My hero is Kobe Bryant, Bryant has excelled in his twenty year career through his determination and ability to overcome everything put in front of him. During his career, Bryant worked day in and day out to become the star that he is today. From being drafted out of Lower Merion High School in 1996 as a seventeen year old, Kobe Bryant has became known as a Hardworking, Versatile, and Well Respected athletes and role models in today's modern world.
When you think of Kobe Bryant you think of hard work. The gym was Bryant’s home in a way he would spend countless hours from when he was a teenager at Lower Merion High School to being a thirty-eight year old veteran in the NBA.
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Over the twenty year span of his career Bryant has accumulated $680 million in salaries and endorsements alone. Bryant has had many endorsement deals most notably with Nike. The most recent occurrence he has took place in was during his final game of his career he confronted the Los Angeles Lakers fans one more time ending with saying “Mamba Out” then moments later he had shirts released with the phrase “Mambo Out” printed on them. Following his retirement, Bryant partnered with entrepreneur Jeff Stibel creating a new $100 million dollar venture capital fund that was focused on technology, media, and data companies. The company name is Bryant Stibel, Bryant and his partner have already invested in companies such as RingDNA, Scopely, The Players Tribune, LegalZoom, and Juciero. Bryant also considers himself to be able to ‘spot’ good entrepreneurs with a high work …show more content…
Going into the NBA at the age of seventeen, he had allot to prove to himself and the league. What defined Bryant was his ability to keep on going and never be satisfied with himself. Over his twenty year career, Bryant has won five NBA Championships and one Most Valuable Player Award depicting the effort he has put into his profession. Bryant’s final game was chaotic and memorable, before the game started they played a video reminiscing on the illustrious career and moments from earlier points in his career with many of the game’s greats such as Lebron James, Paul Pierce, and Shaquille O’Neal commenting on what Bryant has done for them in their career and what he has done for the game. The nickname “Black Mamba” explains Bryant perfectly and the other pros have agreed too, with them defining it as an instinct to take over and to push others to the best of their
It’s one of the greatest debates right now in modern time sports. Who is the greatest basketball player ever? Is it His Airness, or is it King James? The debate on whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the greatest basketball player ever is a prevalent topic in sports news daily. Many people believe that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player to be currently playing and also the greatest player to ever have played in the NBA. My theory, however, is that rather than LeBron James, the greatest basketball player to ever have played the game is Michael Jordan. Although I agree with the claim that LeBron James is the best current player in the NBA, I believe that he is nowhere near being considered better than Michael Jordan.
Although many youngsters fail in the NBA, there are a few high school players who have had, or do have a successful career in the NBA. Some of these are, Moses Malone, Kobe Bryant, Tracey McGrady, and this year’s most valu...
Michael Jordan, what comes to your mind when you hear that name? Michael had played for the bulls and had gotten 6 championship rings with the team. Well, is it just me or does that sound like a lot of time in the game of basketball? In 1982 he took a big step up from highschool to college, where he wanted to pursue the basketball dream. He went to college at North Carolina where he played NCAA basketball for just one year before he was drafted in 1984.
Dreams come and go every night, but some dreams tend to stay for a lifetime. I have always dreamt to become a professional athlete in some way or another. Growing up I have always looked up to many different athletes. Whether it was Ladanian Tomlinson on the football field or Kobe Bryant on the basketball court I have always had some athlete that I wanted to be like someday.
This rich NBA great was not always the wealthy man everyone knows; through hard-work, he achieved status. Earvin Johnson grew up in a large and poor family. “With so many kids to take care of, my parents didn’t have enough money left over for luxuries” (Johnson 6). Johnsons’ parents believed in the value of hard-work, and stapled this into his mind at a young age. With this idea in mind, Johnson picked up a basketball. Basketball was always a great love of his, and he always wanted to make it to the next level. With the preaching of this value by his parents, he worked hard and became very good. After years of practicing and coming up through a troubled childhood, Magic was presented a great opportunity. Since he was so good at basketball, all the major colleges wanted him to play for them, “I finally narrowed down the field to two choices… the University of Michigan and Michigan State” (Johnson 51). It was a decision that would change his life, and after many hard days of going back and forth, he decided to attend Michigan State University.
Rhoden is hypocritical for pawning off the “one-on-one” idea of not being a team player, but then shuns Jordan for clearly choosing that route. It is true Jordan could have created change, but he put his personal goals and ambitions first. Rhoden details the way that Jordan put himself first in order to keep his image and brand separate from the racial politics of the time period. This may be controversial, and he may not like it, but the fact of the matter is, Jordan’s life challenges Rhoden’s fundamental argument. Superior black athletes go one-on-one on and off the court.
Most players that enter the NBA draft early are 19 or 20 years-old. They are going to end up playing against 25-year-olds that are stronger, faster, and that have had more experience than they have. Along with more experience, they will not be as physically fit because one or two years of college will not do it, and high school will not do it. For example, Lebron James. He is considered one of the best to have played the game, and he went straight out of high school. Imagine if he had gone to college, he would be so much better. So if they leave after the freshman or sophomore year, they will be about five or six years behind and that will make it harder to get a spot on the bench. If they do not make it to the bench, then they will be in the D league for 2 or 3 years to help develop their skills. “The D-League uses a tiered compensation system that's based on experience. Players with ample NBA
The following case is a review of Juwan Howard, a star basketball player playing for the Washington Bullets. The case study details the ins and outs of the high stakes world of professional basketball and the deals and huge money that is the main focus of owners, agents, players, the players union, managers, and the NBA league every year during draft and free agency.
Michael Jordan once said “I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win”. This have help people of all ages get through their burdens and do something they love instead of doing some negative. For many people basketball has become more than a game, it’s the way of life. The American game of basketball has traveled now, it’s played by more than 250 million people worldwide.
In todays world everything is about winning. People will do anything to win. To get a win we have to be the best and to fight with competition. Everybody knows what it takes to be the best, to beceome a champion. Determination and hard work are keys to success. Especially in basketball becoming a champion is long and hard. National Basketball Association league is full of good teams, coaches and players. Every of them wants to get a ring, which is most important thing in NBA. One man found a key to success. He won eleven championships with Bulls and Lakers. But how did he that?
It was not until the year 2002 that the NBA was able to find someone to match Jordan’s dazzling acrobatic style of play. His name is Lebron James. Lebron, who plays shooting guard and small forward, stands at an athletic six-eight. James, however, never played in the NCAA. He was drafted straight out of high school in the 2003-04 season, by the Cleveland Cavaliers. James is already on the road to success by achieving co-rookie of the year, and he appeared in the Olympics. James is expected to be a champion, but he may not have what it takes to become a real champion such as Michael Jordan was. Before Jordan or James can be categorized as a champion, they have to be able to handle pressure, fame, and maintain a positive relationship with their team. When comparing Jordan and James’ clutch capabilities, or their ab...
“The odds of a high school basketball player making it to the “next level” to play college basketball (DI, II, or III) is slim. In fact, only 3.4% of high school players go on to play college basketball. Taking it even further, only 1.2% of college basketball players go on to get drafted in the NBA” (Winters, 2016). There are two types of players in the game. There are the kids who play basketball because they are athletic, and all they are seeking to gain is the recognition and awards. They want to be known. Those players are self-centered, they do not play for the team, and generally don’t play because they love the game. These are the types of players who don’t usually go on to play at the next level. On the other hand, there are the players that absolutely dedicate their life to the game of basketball just because they love the game. That is what coaches are looking for in a player, and that is the kind of player I am striving to be.
The NBA is well known for the number of amazing professional athletes it has had over the years. Some of the most gifted and talented individuals come through the NBA and one of the better-known superstars is none other than Kobe Bryant. For years people have wondered what makes Bryant so successful. The main contributors that lead to Kobe Bryant’s success is his hard work and dedication, his mindset, his natural ability’s and talent, and the people that have helped him throughout his life. Kobe Bryant was very successful in the NBA because of the amount of hard work he has put in, the people in his life, his relentless determination and his god given natural abilities.
First, we will celebrate LeBron James’s accomplishments in the NBA. There are over 400 players in the NBA. These players are on the battlefield, fighting day after day because they all know only one can become the Most Valuable Player. LeBron James rose above all, claiming the MVP award, not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 times. Not only is LeBron James an MVP, but he is also a 13-time All-Star player. LeBron James garnered enough votes from the fans, the players, and the media to become an All-Star like a presidential candidate getting enough votes from the voters to become the President.
The "G.O.A.T.", is coming used term in the sports world meaning, The Greatest of All Time. In the National Basketball Association, when you mention the term, the "G.O.A.T., everyone assumes of one name and one name only, Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan was an innovator of the basketball work and influenced many different people and players that inputted & mimicked Jordan’s style of play and implicated it into their own game. In today's generation, there are several players that many average day people would consider these players on the road to becoming a Jordan type of player, potential or maybe even greater; players that may be able on road to sharing a Michael Jordan type of legacy includes Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.