Sport

Huge break for Kobe Star player gets second shot at life

ASSOCIATED PRESS:

ON THE DAY he announced that he was jumping from high school straight to the pros, Kobe Bryant already seemed too practiced, too blessed, too ready for someone so young.

The expensive shades perched on his head, the tailored jacket, the coyness playing to the cameras that day -- all those things hinted at a maturity learned more than lived. That's no longer the case.

Whatever happened in that hotel room 14 months ago, Bryant has spent every day since facing the very real possibility of doing hard time. That should make anybody grow up in a hurry -- even someone with so much poise and talent. Still only 26, his life and career ahead of him now that rape charges have been thrown out in Colorado, Bryant gets a second chance.

The old Kobe might have felt more bullet-proof than ever and picked up life where he left off. Will there be a new Kobe, one who understands that responsibilities come with his considerable gifts?

Leadership qualities

For once, it will be about more than basketball since playing great, by itself, won't prove a thing. Bryant already demonstrated last season he can handle that kind of pressure. He averaged 31 points in games he played after a private jet whisked him from a Colorado courtroom to the Staples Center court. But the people who covered his back then are gone. The Lakers belong to Bryant now, in a way they didn't last season, when fan support was almost unconditional. When owner Jerry Buss ran off Phil Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal and pushed all his chips to the centre of the table, he was gambling that Bryant would come back a changed man.

What he had in mind was not a better jump shot, but someone with the leadership qualities Bryant always parroted, but never really practiced. "There will be a period where people keep a close eye on him to see if he messes up," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wrote back in an e-mail Thursday, "for maybe a year at the most. Then it will become a footnote that people refer to when they want to criticize Kobe or the NBA."

Cuban, you'll remember, was criticized in the media and scolded by commissioner David Stern for saying a year ago that Bryant's trial would be great business for the NBA. Turns out he did his homework. "I went back and tried to find examples in the entertainment business where it hurt," he said back then. "I couldn't."

Boxer Mike Tyson left jail a bigger drawing card than he went in, despite warnings from promoter Lou Duva that little had changed. "Why would anyone expect Mike to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."

Tabloid coverage

Four years ago, linebacker Ray Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice after originally being charged with murder. Today, he does commercials and speaks to the NFL's rookie-orientation program about how to stay out of trouble.

And Cuban thinks Bryant is already farther along in the public rehabilitation process than either of them ­ no matter whether Bryant behaves differently or not.

"Fans will act differently because there won't be continuous tabloid coverage of him," Cuban said. "As far as a more public role, I'm not sure. I know the LA media will thrust it on him. It really depends on how the team does."

Until now, "how the team does" has always been a personal exercise for Bryant. When teammates got on him for taking too many shots, he responded by not shooting at all. That way, when the Lakers lost, it was their fault. When Jackson called him out as immature, Bryant responded with snide statements that removed most of the doubt.

He always modeled himself after Michael Jordan, but he never grasped the bigger picture. Instead of acting like the sheriff -- Jordan made it his duty to keep everybody else in line -- Bryant fixated on the gunslinger. He thought he could play or, worse yet, talk his way out of any jam.

Teamwork was always something the other guys on his team were supposed to worry about. That won't be enough, especially now.

Responsibility

Whether Bryant got that message remains to be seen. He's still got his freedom, most of the crowd on his side, and a seven-year, $136 million contract besides. Maybe he left that much and more on the table in endorsements, but it's still enough money to insulate him from taking any further risks. His skills are undiminished, too, and on any night Bryant chooses, he can erase any doubts about who's the best player on the floor.

In short, Bryant can go on doing pretty much as he pleases, shrugging off responsibility and leaving everybody else to explain their own contribution. It worked so far, and the only thing that will have changed by the time the season opens in a few months is that the memory will be even dimmer.

"It falls into the category of short-attention-span theatre," Cuban said. But maybe Bryant is finally willing to undertake that long, tough slog to become the player he promised to be on that spring afternoon in 1996, the once-in-a-generation talent who grows up understanding that his legacy rests not just on being the best, but on making everybody else around him better.