When You’re Kobe Bryant, There’s No Time for Slumps

Kobe Bryant really wasn’t in a slump, he confided the other day.

Well, confided is the wrong word since he said it to everyone, assuring them it was OK, noting he’d been through it as a junior at Upper Merion High when the Bulldogs lost in the state tournament. They didn’t zing him on “SportsCenter” for that one, but a disappointment is a disappointment.

But then he’s 19, what is he supposed to know?

He thought if people asked him if he was in a slump, it was up to him to decide. He called it his “so-called slump,” explaining, graciously as always, it was really an adjustment to the defenses focusing on him, with maybe a hint of fatigue and perhaps a shot or two that didn’t go down.

Of course, there was the all-star hype, the MTV and “Meet the Press” appearances, the veterans’ backlash. After the break, he conceded he was tired, saying he’d have to find a way to fight through it. That night, he went on with Jay Leno.

Not that all that got to him.

“It didn’t,” he says. “Honestly, it didn’t.”

What was it, coincidence?

“Maybe. I don’t know. I think it was just a matter of teams adjusting to my style of play.”

Score one for them, then. Bryant averaged 22 points for eight games before the all-star break, and 12 for the month after and his shooting fell 10 percentage points. If that wasn’t a slump, let’s hope he never has one.

“I think he knows,” a Laker official said. “He just doesn’t want to talk about it publicly.”

One regards this golden child with as much wonder as hope that he is allowed to grow up and realize his potential. It would be nice if someone, anyone, remembered he’s only 19, but that’s not how it’s working out.

Two weeks ago, with Bryant, uh, adjusting, an NBA official came through town. Anything but sheepish about the all-star farce, the official marveled at how he comes off. This is a marketing-driven league that doesn’t merely yearn for a successor to Michael Jordan, however embryonic, it drools.

Since the break, Bryant has been cited in a New York Times business story on Adidas’ inroads on Nike and appeared on ESPN the Magazine’s first cover. Sports Illustrated has done three photo shoots for a projected cover piece (Bryant with his sisters, with Magic Johnson, on the beach at Santa Monica). Rolling Stone has an upcoming piece and then there’s a Barbara Walters interview. First Anwar Sadat, now Kobe.

Bryant is a lock to be added to this summer’s Dream Team for the World Championships in Athens. The Lakers plan to re-sign him at whatever, perhaps even $10 million a year, which will only multiply expectations.

At the same time, he is the Lakers’ to nurture. This is not some mere prospect, as far as basketball goes, this is a national treasure.

When Jerry West first laid eyes on him, he called it the greatest workout he’d ever seen. The Clippers’ Bill Fitch, who has nothing invested in Bryant and nothing to gain by hyping him, says his workout for them was the best he has ever seen.

“He did things in our workout that nobody had done,” Fitch said. “He was doing the [George] Mikan drill where you rebound and react and jump and keep going. He did it the hard way, he didn’t even give himself a step. He just kept going right up and kept going up. It was amazing, his body control.”

Unfortunately, nurturing isn’t a primal instinct in a competitive system. At the behest of his agent, Arn Tellem, Bryant now limits sit-down interviews to one a week (it was one a day before the break), but there are other currents. Jerry Buss reportedly dotes on him and squeezes for him to play. Del Harris, who has to pick up the tab for Bryant’s mistakes, takes it slowly but has his moments too, as when he turned last season’s last game over to him, four airballs’ worth.

Despite rare athleticism and a remarkable skill level, Bryant doesn’t have his game down. He shoots off balance almost as often as on. At his age, in a different era, Jordan was a North Carolina sophomore who wasn’t even supposed to take defenders off the dribble and learned to keep the ball moving.

The spectacular is no problem for Bryant, it’s the stock moves he has to master, so he has something to fall back on in slumps, or whatevers.

That and keeping his head on straight in a world as bent on exploiting him as he is on conquering it.

NCAA TOURNAMENT UPDATE: WINNERS AND LOSERS

Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut--Pros hadn’t given this 5-foot-10 freshman a moment’s thought because he’s so young, not to mention runty, but he put on an eye-popping show, running his team with flair, shooting, even finishing against bigger players. If he had Mike Bibby’s body, he’d be a lottery pick. If he had Jason Kidd’s, he might go No. 1 in this draft.

Michael Doleac, Utah--Now might be the second-best center behind Michael Olowokandi of Pacific. “People are talking about him,” says a general manager. “He’s looked tougher than we thought.”

Andre Miller, Utah--Probably a second-round pick until last week. Says a general manager: “If you had told me he’d be the best player on the floor with the Arizona guys, I’d have said, never happen. But it happened.”

Bryce Drew, Valparaiso--Some saw possible first-rounder. Now some see possible Jeff Hornacek.

DeMarco Johnson, North Carolina Charlotte--Marginal size for a pro power forward but showed a lot.

Kenny Thomas, New Mexico--Had a history of laying eggs in the tournament and just hatched another the size of a pterodactyl. “It means quite a bit to me,” says a general manager.

Miles Simon, Arizona--Pros were skeptical before and this spring didn’t live up to last spring.

Michael Dickerson, Arizona--Pros were waiting to fall in love, but he whiffed against Utah’s triangle-and-two, which guarded Bibby and Simon and let him roam free.

J.R. Henderson, UCLA--Went up. “People wonder what position he is, but he is a player,” said a general manager. As before, has to look good on pre-draft circuit to be a first-round pick.

Toby Bailey, UCLA--His big moments didn’t make a lasting impression. “He’s going to have moments,” says a general manager. “The big question is, is it just going to be moments?” Pre-draft circuit will tell, but he goes off as a first-round dark horse.

FACES AND FIGURES

Sources say Portland’s Paul Allen and Boston’s Paul Gaston were the two dissenting votes on reopening collective bargaining. The Lakers’ Jerry Buss, considered a dove, went with the majority. . . . Film at 11! The Bulls have 11 more games and a maximum of 26 in the playoffs. Sounds like at least 25 breathless bulletins reporting Jordan is coming back, leaving, coming back, etc. He recently hinted about returning without Phil Jackson, then after the usual spate of 120-point headlines, said he hadn’t changed his mind. Then the once-staid New York Times quoted three Bulls as saying he’d come back without Jackson but only with Scottie Pippen, which Jordan denied. . . . Making his position clear (as mud), once and for all, Jordan told ESPN the Magazine: “You want the odds on me coming back. OK, 70-30. Which way? Whichever way you want.” Comment: At least someone’s enjoying this. . . . Keith Van Horn’s agent, David Falk, who, like an elephant, never forgets, got into a screaming argument with New Jersey Net General Manager John Nash. They once had a bitter negotiation over Juwan Howard that cost Nash his job as Washington Bullet general manager. . . . First Penny Hardaway says he’ll need $20 million a year to stay, then begs to stay after they try to trade him. Now he declares himself out for the season--with six weeks left--with a calf injury? Wrote the Orlando Sentinel’s Brian Schmitz: “Penny’s calf and his relationship with the Magic and the city of Orlando can be diagnosed in one word--strained.”

Denver Nugget boss Charlie Lyons, on hiring Dan Issel, whom he turned down the last time the general manager job came open: “He knows the game, he knows the league. He knows the town and he was very compelling on why he wanted to do this: He wants to win. Period.” Actual reason: Nobody else would take the job. . . . Not that it means he’s in trouble but: On his old radio talk show, Issel referred to Tony Battie as “El Busto.” . . . Donyell Marshall asked Golden State Warrior publicists to promote his most-improved candidacy. Unhappy at their effort, he hired an outside public relations firm. . . . Charles Barkley, asked why the Houston Rockets are viewed as a dangerous first-round opponent: “We’re dangerous because we never know which team is going to show up.”