Kobe Bryant – Basketball superstar and Global icon

The news of retired basketball superstar Kobe Bryant killed alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna during a helicopter crash has shocked the planet. Bryant was poised to receive the grail of basketball – entering the distinguished Hall of Fame later this year. Instead, the planet will mourn the tragic and premature death of a once-in-a-generation basketball achiever, a five-time National Basketball Association (NBA) championship winner, a former NBA most precious Player, 11-time All NBA first-teamer, 18-time All Star, 9-time All NBA Defensive Team member and owner of other accomplishments.

For of these accolades, Bryant, who wanted to be called the “Black Mamba”, are going to be known for being the closest to basketball’s best-ever player – Michael Jordan. Bryant was Jordanesque (both were 6’6’’ tall and listed at 220 pounds for giant parts of their career) in most aspects of his game – he could score in the paint, rattle the edges with dunks, shoot the three from the perimeter, hit contested shots with a defender’s hand in his face, take over during clutch moments and play the closer, rev up his defensive intensity when needed and suppress opponent wing players; all of which contributed to his winning five championships with the sole team he played for – the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also Jordanesque in his maniacal intensity, whether it had been in turning up for practice and goading his teammates to enhance, using the NBA off-season to feature newer aspects to his repertoire, performing on his fitness so as to compete and play gruelling minutes game after game and in his dedication to win it all.

Bryant came up just short within the Jordan comparison on one key metric – efficiency. His devotion to doing-it-all led him to require outrageous shots and complaints about hogging the ball and despite his humongous success, he didn’t really scale the Jordan peak. That accolade might be soon owned by current day Laker great LeBron James, but Bryant’s stardom and recognition was as high as the other NBA superstar’s and can remain so. Bryant’s legacy firmly establishes him among the highest dozen NBA players ever, with some situating him closer to the highest 6 – a spectacular feat for a player who joined the league right after finishing high school and remaining with the Lakers all his career.