Age Against the Machine

“You forget about this guy’s being a 23-year-old man ... in a position in his life that not too many guys in this NBA have been in.”

--Phil Jackson

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Growing up is very hard to do (continued): Controversy came looking for Kobe Bryant again, as it seems to about every two weeks.

Never before has there been an NBA star who tried so hard to do the right thing, accomplished as much as fast, while, at the same time, bringing so much down on himself.

At 23, he’s a six-year veteran with two NBA titles, an All-Star MVP award and a dunking title, and has started every All-Star game since his rookie season. He makes $12.4 million a year and almost as much in endorsements.

Not that he’s totally unaffected, but he’s still as nice as nice can be, one of the Lakers who’ll smile and say hello if you pass him in the hotel.

Kids everywhere identify with him, which explains his marketing clout, but within the league he isn’t as popular. Shaquille O’Neal, who may or may not say hello, is adored by peers because when he’s not running them over, he’s unpretentious, outgoing and fun-loving. If he beats his chest, they understand: He’s Shaq. It ain’t bragging if it’s fact, or faq.

But a lot of NBA people and, of course, Philadelphians see Bryant as a me-first player, although he’s changed dramatically this season.

There’s a backlash from his commercial exposure and, who knows, those spots showing him riding a motorcycle into Staples and swaggering off in black leather might not go over that well. The word “arrogant” comes up, although we’re still waiting for the first NBA superstar who was known for his humility.

There’s talk that he has changed this season ... and in fact, he has.

He arrived in the NBA as a child, if a precocious one. Away from the game, he was totally a creature of his family. He lived with them in Pacific Palisades for his first two seasons, like “Ozzie and Harriet.” There were Dad, Mom, Ricky and, instead of an older brother, two older sisters. Ricky might have been a rock star but at home, he was just Ricky.

Bryant had been regimented, not in the Todd Marinovich sense, at a parent’s direction, but in the Kobe sense, at his own. He couldn’t do enough. He played high school ball, summer ball, pickup ball, studied videotape, practiced with the 76ers, lifted weights with a personal trainer. Teenage rebellion never came up; he couldn’t squeeze it in.

Because his father was a former NBA player, everyone thought Kobe was a little Joe. Kobe might have inherited his dad’s talent and flair but Joe, nicknamed Jellybean, was carefree and fun-loving. Kobe was more like his mom, Pam, low-key but determined.

Or as Del Harris, who had to break in the greatest prospect the NBA had ever seen but not the most clued-in, while trying to win a title, later said:

“I can’t imagine anyone calling Kobe ‘Jellybean.’”

At 17, Bryant decided to trade the rest of his teen years for a career. It would be a long time before he would begin to acknowledge--or perhaps even consider--how irreplaceable those years were.

He was a professional from the beginning, working diligently at his craft. No one had seen anything like him, a bulletproof super-child, wholly unto himself. Former assistant Larry Drew told friends about angry team meetings, when Bryant’s teammates would go off on him, one after another, and, by way of reply, Kobe would go out on the floor and jack up 25 shots.

It took years to get him to accept them and vice versa. It wasn’t until last spring, near the end of a nightmare title defense, that they finally got over the hump.

Coincidentally or not, Bryant got married last spring after months of tug-of-war with his parents, who moved back to Philadelphia, underlining his new reality: He was now finally on his own.

So this season, when he started getting technicals, put the freeze on the media for a week and hit teammate Samaki Walker and opponent Reggie Miller, it isn’t hard to understand.

He’s working out late-teen things, in which one finds out, for himself, where he ends and the rest of the world begins.

It’s all the more difficult for someone so famous, although he always handled public scrutiny with ease.

What looked like maturity, however, was merely poise. He was always calm and his confidence never wavered, but there was always a kid in there, driving.

Having grown up pals with his father, he gravitated toward mentors, like Jerry West and veteran teammates Byron Scott and Derek Harper. The mentors doted on Bryant; one once told Kobe’s agent, Arn Tellem, he almost thought of Kobe as his son.

“We all do,” sighed Tellem.

Bryant has only recently begun acknowledging how hard it was to make the jump. Asked about LeBron James, the Ohio high school junior, Kobe, who keenly resented the criticism he got for going pro out of high school, noted:

“If a person says they want to come out after their junior year, I find myself being like most of the media guys covering me when I came out of high school....

“It’s being tired, wanting to sleep in. Running around, hanging out with your buddies, playing video games--you can’t do that. You have to watch film. You have to go to practice every day.... But I wanted to play against the best. So I was, like, I’m just going to do this and whatever comes my way, I’ll just deal with it, but this is my focus....

“I remember when I first came into the NBA, I used to ride around the UCLA campus, just looking. Checking out some of the students, imagining what it would have been like if I’d have gone to school.”

Bryant’s forgiving virtue is, he figures out the right thing ... eventually. He can’t go around swinging at people for practical, not to mention legal reasons, but after what he’s been through, this incident barely moves the needle.

A year ago at this time, Shaq still wanted Kobe traded and the possibility had occurred to Jackson too. Kobe was calling Michael Jordan for advice, which sounded like he wanted to play for Mike in Washington. Jackson knew about the calls because Jordan had told him.

They didn’t dare dream of an ending as happy as the one they got. They wouldn’t start their season-ending, 23-wins-in-24-games streak until April 3.

“We’ve all trusted Kobe’s instincts,” says Jackson. “He’s been pretty much a natural out here in this world of high visibility and public demeanor. He’s a great personality, he’s got a winning way about him and a winning smile.

“Last year, he went through a hard trial of injury, coach abuse a little bit, a parental situation where he and I locked our horns a few times.... And this season, we’ve had nothing but a lot of grins and a lot of good times around here.”

Once more, Bryant figured out the right thing, standing up manfully and apologizing to all concerned, with the notable exception of Miller.

Let the grins and good times roll. Who knows, maybe one of these days, they’ll even start playing well.

In the meantime, Kobe just learned more about what he can and can’t do. In this remarkable, still-just-23-year-old life, basketball is way the easy part.

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Faces and Figures

In news as surprising as it was incomprehensible, the New York Knicks rehired Coach Don Chaney, who is 13-28 with the team that went 10-9 under Jeff Van Gundy. This happened a day after an angry postgame meeting, when Madison Square Garden head (and son of the corporate CEO) James Dolan met with Chaney for 35 minutes after a 99-83 loss to San Antonio, during which fans filled the Garden with boos. Thinking he was about to be fired the next day, Chaney talked about how “draining” it had been, musing, “I was given an opportunity, that’s all I’m thankful for.”

Then Dolan announced Chaney would be back for one season, hinting they would now tear down and rebuild, but avoiding specifics. “We certainly recognize that the fans are interested in what we’re doing to improve the team,” Dolan said. “We’re certainly not happy with the record and we’re putting our energy into rebuilding the team. But another NBA owner, a guy named Ted Turner, said something that I really liked. He said, ‘Churchill didn’t fax Hitler the invasion plans.’ These guys [Knick officials] are going to give as much [information] as they can to encourage the fans, but the NBA is very competitive and they can’t tell you every move and still be effective running the team. So I think there has to be some grace period on this.” As if there’s one thing the newspaper guys won’t think of before they do.

Still engaging in mass delusion, New York papers covered General Manager Scott Layden’s scouting trip to China as if they thought he might get off the plane home with 7-foot-5 Yao Ming. The New York Daily News asked readers, “Would you rather the Knicks go on a run and make the playoffs or get a high pick in the draft?” Here’s a scoop: The Knicks won’t make a run at the playoffs, nor are they likely to get a top pick. Even if they’re tanking, or at least losing at an impressive pace, they’re still only eighth worst in the NBA and I wouldn’t look for the Warriors, Grizzlies, Bulls and Nuggets to win too many the rest of the way, either.

Kevin Kernan in the New York Post: “Each day it’s becoming clearer that having Scott Layden and Jim Dolan in charge of the Knicks is like putting Kenneth Lay in charge of Social Security.” How do you like your grace period so far, guys?

Is anyone really ready to challenge the Lakers, aside from the Lakers? “I’m not sure you can say we’re better [than the Mavericks] because we’ve been together longer,” said Sacramento’s Chris Webber before a recent game in Dallas. “They’re deep and we’re deep but until one of us wins the championship, we’re both just versatile.”

Toronto’s Vince Carter, who’s either still slowed by his thigh injury or semi-retired: “I’m not going to make excuses. If I’m going to go out on the court, I have to leave that behind.... We want to win so badly, we want to do so well that maybe I’m trying to do too much.” Either that or too little.

Maybe he’s not into hoops: When the Bulls visited the White House, Secretary of State Colin Powell asked 40-year-old, 5-10, 250-pound equipment manager John Ligmanowski what position he played. “Point guard,” replied Ligmanowski.