Archive for the 'Kobe Bryant' Category

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Bryant Describes LAL’s Opening Practice

Published by Mike Trudell on October 2, 2012 6:24 pm in Kobe Bryant and Training Camp.

Story lines at the first day of Lakers practice are so plentiful that one could find something interesting to discuss about all 20 guys on the roster, not to mention the coaching staff.

But of course, everything in L.A. starts with Kobe Bryant, who took a good nine minutes of questions from assembled reporters on Monday afternoon, covering how Dwight Howard (back) looked, what the first day receiving passes from Steve Nash felt like, how he may see his minutes limited and more:

We took some notes while Kobe was talking:

- At the end of each practice, Mike Brown has the players shoot free throws to determine whether they’ll have to run sprints or not, and on the first day, he asked for a volunteer. Steve Nash stepped up, with Bryant in support: “Nash, Nash Nash … I’ll take that 92 percent* free throw shooter every day.” Kobe was pleased when Nash swished three straight, as Brown’s video assistants and personal assistant ran a sprint instead.
*Kobe was kind to his new teammate, giving the career 90.4 percent shooter some extra points.

- Bryant weighed in on how Dwight Howard looked: “He was able to go through all the drills offensively and the schemes we want to do, working through the Princeton Offense, so it was very productive.” True. A bit more on Howard: he competed in the full practice, doing everything including 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 contact drills, and could be seen dunking while running those Princeton sets at the end of practice. The only thing he didn’t do was 5-on-5 full contact scrimmage, which isn’t on his program just yet. Howard looked great, and had this to say after practice: “Hopefully I’ll be back for some preseason games. I think we’re going to need it for chemistry and all that stuff. But like I said, I’m not going to rush it.” Bryant qualified a bit by saying L.A.’s training staff wouldn’t put Howard in a position in which he’d have to “test the limits of his back.”

- Kobe’s not concerned about learning the new system. He cited the first year Phil Jackson came in and instituted the triangle offense, which wasn’t difficult thanks to the high IQ of the players on that team. Bryant thinks the current squad has that same capability, and he himself has seen every possible NBA offense through his 16 years. I asked him about his meeting with Mike Brown and Eddie Jordan about the offense a few weeks back: “I’m pretty familiar with the (Princeton Offense), we played against it for multiple years with Sacramento. There are some similarities to what we ran with the Triangle Offense, and I think it was good to sit down and map out the advantages of the offense, the advantages of having a system vs. having a conventional approach.”

- Bryant’s main takeaway from practice No. 1: “There’s a lot of talent out here. It’s exciting.”

- Kobe said he did not have any knee procedure this summer: “I was a little busy.”

- The Olympics essentially put Kobe “in game shape right from the beginning.” He argued that it’s beneficial coming into training camp because you don’t have to put in the strenuous effort to really get back into shape in training camp. There’s a lot of evidence to that nature in recent years, as the returning players from the Olympics and World Championships have generally had excellent NBA seasons.

- Kobe and Nash, with their doctorates in basketball, don’t really have to talk much on the floor. A look will suffice: “Most of the time I don’t have to say anything. He’s already seeing what I’m seeing.” That should pay off especially in crunch time.

- Mike Brown suggested in his media session that he’d like to limit Kobe’s minutes this season after he averaged 38.5 last year, which is simply too many. Kobe’s thought: “That’s always a goal for everybody, for every team, to have your players rest as much as possible in the (regular season) to be as fresh as possible come postseason. So we’ll see … I’m ready either way.”

Being an NBA Strength Coach

Published by Mike Trudell on September 28, 2012 1:30 pm in Darius Morris, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace and Training Camp.

Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco is about to embark upon his second full season with the team, with his ultimate goal not only to get L.A.’s players as strong as possible without losing functionality on the court, but also to keep them healthy.

As head athletic trainer Gary Vitti likes to point out, DiFrancesco is uniquely qualified to do both since he owns a degree in physical therapy on top of his strength and conditioning background. He’s also no amateur in regards to nutrition.

DiFrancesco took some time to discuss his approach to his craft, the balance between building muscle while not pushing too far, why Kobe Bryant is who he is, the incredible care Metta World Peace takes with his body, what it’s like shopping for groceries with an NBA rookie and more:

MT: How would you define your approach to being an NBA strength and conditioning coach?
DiFrancesco: My overall approach is to try and keep everything as simple as possible. In our industry, there is a lot of crazy, YouTube training going on. An exercise becomes popular because it looks cool, and it spreads on social media and trainers decide to try it with their athletes. But for me, I need to know why I’m doing every single thing I’m doing. There is always a risk/reward. Anything you do in the weight room poses a risk of an injury if you do it wrong, if it’s too much or too heavy, but can also benefit an athlete if done correctly. If I can’t immediately find an answer for why I’m doing a certain exercise, I won’t do it. Fundamentally, with my background in physical therapy, I’m always looking at basic movement patterns. Can they do a basic squat? Can they do a basic single-leg dead lift patter? That gives me a road map with every player I’ll work with, and I’m not going to do anything extreme until I really figure out the movement patterns.

MT: You hear stories about athletes squatting absurd amounts of weight, only to injure themselves in the process. Where’s the balance?
DiFrancesco: That’s back to the risk/reward. Do we blow out a guy’s (back) because he wanted to squat 400 pounds? Congrats, but you won’t be able to do half of that for the rest of your life. We’d have to take a huge risk to get there, and an injury could result. Typically there aren’t bad exercises, there is just bad application of exercises. Especially at the NBA level, I cannot afford to injure players on my end. If a guy gets really sore on a given day and all he did was lift and shoot, then that could mean I (pushed too hard). What I do or don’t do can either protect the players or make them more susceptible to an unnecessary contact injury. I’m very cognizant of players improving performance wise and physically, but just not at the expense of an injury.

MT: Anybody watching these players glide and explode up and down the floor can see that they’re among the world’s most impressive physical specimens; but what is it like to specifically train an NBA athlete versus a football player, for example? Aren’t they doing different things in the weight room?
DiFrancesco: NBA athletes are really, really good at making their body do amazing things … within the scope of basketball. That’s what they love to do, what they crave doing. They want to play, on the court. Football players are very different, because they play only once a week. They do what the sport requires to build themselves up from a strength standpoint. Now, NBA players are of course genetic freaks, but doing basic level functional patterns is not typically as easy for them. They struggle with that at times. When you can clean that piece up for a player, it only enhances their already off the charts athletic ability. In other words, someone may have a great vertical and great speed, but what would happen if we added really clean movement patterns to that and got a guy stronger? Well, your career gets extended and you perform at a higher level. The levers of basketball players are a lot longer, and strength training isn’t as ingrained in professional basketball players as it would be in football players. Especially if some of our guys only went to one year of college and just started lifting there, that’s hardly any experience practicing such a skill, which takes time to develop like anything else.

MT: We know how manically Kobe Bryant has attended to his physique and fitness over his 16-year career. Is this an ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ situation for you?
DiFrancesco: With a situation like Kobe’s, I never came in saying I want to get my hands on him and mix things up and put my stamp on it. The stamps are already there, and we all know the results. I don’t need to mess with something that’s being done so well at such a high level. That being said, at certain times that allow for my expertise to assist in what’s already there in his foundation, I enjoy that opportunity. Just from having been around him, a word that comes to mind regarding his approach to taking care of his body is ‘obsessive.’ I think it’s important that using the word obsessive doesn’t need to have a negative connotation. Most people that are exceptionally great at what they do for a long period of time are obsessed with what they do, and to me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. He understands as well or better than anybody what it takes to fine tune, to maintain or improve the function of his body and he’s constantly obsessed with that. He knows more than anybody that his weapon is his body and he maintains and cares for that weapon fanatically. That’s why he does what he does.

MT: Darius Morris has been a constant presence in your weight room since last training camp, and he’s gotten quite noticeably stronger and bigger. What’s been the key?
DiFrancesco: Darius bought in. He said, ‘You tell me what you want and I’ll do it.’ For example, contacted me at 8 a.m. on the day of Game 5 at (Oklahoma City) last year in the playoffs. He knew he most likely wasn’t going to play in the game, and it would have been easy to take the attitude of, ‘The offseason is coming soon, I don’t need to lift today.’ Instead, there we were getting an early work out in.

MT: Morris is clearly a gifted athlete; how has he developed since the first day of training camp last season?
DiFrancesco: Darius came into the league with pretty decent movement patterns, which saved me the time of cleaning much of that up, and let us get after it right away. Since he’s a point guard, we really focused on putting some additional lean mass on his already athletic frame. That can help at a position where you take a beating going into the paint, with that lean mass being bulletproof. So we got his weight up while adding in the right amount of protein to help him recover, and he really did a great job. I never had to follow up on him; he did everything I asked for.

MT: How much does nutrition come into play, using Morris as an example?
DiFrancesco: It’s generally a matter of being able to get away with not paying much attention to one’s diet thanks to being athletically gifted. But at some point, a player realizes that if he’s trying to put a puzzle together of being the best player he can be — and he takes care of his skill and lifting workouts — the other piece is nutritional. Many NBA players aren’t doing as well as they could there. Darius, this offseason, has started to realize that. He and I actually went grocery shopping the other day.

MT: Please, tell us more…
DiFrancesco: He showed me what he normally gets, and I tried to provide some better options.
For example, in the produce section, he said, ‘I don’t usually get much from here.’ I said, ‘OK, if these were in your fridge, what would you eat?’ We determined that he’d eat oranges, some mixed veggies laid out on a platter and pre-packaged salads. But he just hadn’t thought about having that stuff available. Moving on in the store, he said he likes honey mustard, so he showed me the kind he usually gets, but sugar was the first ingredient: high fructose corn syrup acts as sludge in the blood stream and makes everything less efficient. It’s never a malicious intent to eat badly, it’s just a habit, and it’s my job to show him the kind of mustard that’s more healthy.

MT: Still enjoying this. What else did he buy in the past to which you gave him a more healthy alternative?
DiFrancesco: He loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches*. Many of the ‘classic’ peanut butter like Jif or Skippy is nothing but saturated fat and high fructose corn syrup, and one of the last ingredients is peanuts. If you can instead get a whole wheat bread, a peanut butter like Justin’s (which has three ingredients, peanuts, salt, small amount of unprocessed sugar) and a better jelly, the PB&J can be much more healthy for you. So Jif to Justin’s is a simple change, but it makes a big difference.
*Editor’s Note: Show me an NBA player that doesn’t love PB&J and I’ll call you a liar. It’s definitely the most consumed item on the Lakers team plane every year.

MT: How about the things we drink? There’s Mountain Dew (my personal favorite) and other soda, Snapple and so on available on the team plane after every road game…
DiFrancesco: I’ll have a Diet Coke once in a while because I want the carbonation, but I try to keep it to water as often as possible. There’s no way for me to justify drinking calories. I want calories to make me feel full by eating them. It makes a big difference, especially in athletes, who don’t realize the impact that the nutrition piece has. It’s one thing that I can really bring to these guys to help them perform at their best, the knowledge when it comes to nutrition.

MT: Won’t Steve Nash help you push that nutrition mission, based on what we’ve heard about how great he takes care of himself?
DiFrancesco: Second hand, the information I have suggests that nobody gets that more than Steve Nash, so I’m really excited about it. Somebody that has that much credibility makes my job a lot easier when I’m trying to create good habits for Darius. It’s one thing coming from me, and another coming from a two-time MVP in this league.

MT: Apparently, nobody comes close to Metta World Peace in how to take care of one’s body?
DiFrancesco: He was extremely helpful for me last year because he does a great job with his nutrition and recovery habits. He takes that stuff very seriously, and younger guys in our locker room started to see that. (CLICK HERE for more on MWP’s fitness habits).

Bryant, USA win Gold over Gasol’s Spain

Published by Mike Trudell on August 12, 2012 8:44 am in Kobe Bryant, Off-Season and Pau Gasol.

We followed the gold medal game between Kobe Bryant’s Team USA and Pau Gasol’s Spain on Sunday morning from London, detailing how the two Lakers contributed to what was ultimately a hard-earned 107-100 gold medal victory for the Americans.

FIRST QUARTER:
10:00 So key for Team USA in the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to go with six assists, Kobe Bryant opened this one with a pretty dish to a diving Tyson Chandler off pick and roll to get a layup. His LAL counterpart opened Spain’s effort with a slick, left-handed baseline hook over Chandler.

7:00 The triples started to fall for both teams, with Juan Carlos Navarro hitting twice for Spain (the second on a Gasol dish) and Kobe answering with two triples of his own to put the U.S. up 15-12. Bryant had been on fire from distance in the medal round*, nailing six in the second half of the quarters against Australia, and three in the semi’s against Argentina. As a team, the USA was at an impressive 45 percent from deep in the tourney.
*Hard not to notice his play improving as the games went on, helped perhaps by Lakers team physical therapist Dr. Judy Seto heading over to work with him in London.

0:00 Carmelo Anthony checked in for Team USA, going small with LeBron guarding Pau, and promptly scored eight points (two triples and a pull-up banker) to put the U.S. up 25-16 before Gasol could even touch the ball inside (resulting in two free throws when he finally did.) Gasol then flashed the high-low action we might see between him and Dwight Howard for the Lakers, this time with Serge Ibaka, allowing the OKC forward consecutive trips to the foul line before Gasol hit a pull-up J to keep Spain within seven.

SECOND QUARTER:
8:30: Gasol, yet to rest, opened the second with a driving finger roll lay up, scoring easily around Kevin Love, and his brother Marc got the Spaniards within a single point (37-36) moments later with a lofted turnaround J.

3:01 Spain hung tough throughout the second, playing a ton better than they did when the teams met prior to the tournament and Portugal’s Iberian peninsula neighbor played in general in the Olympics, almost playing possum for the Americans, down only four as Gasol swatted LeBron on one and and JCN scored on the other. Meanwhile, we saw a cut shot of Gasol’s girlfriend in the stands (just an FYI).

0:00 Bryant again rested for the final five minutes of the quarter – as has been typical with Coach Mike Krzyzewski giving the oldest U.S. player extra rest – as Rudy Fernandez drew a slew of fouls (tossing his body around a bit) and converted free throws to bring Spain within a point (59-58) at the break.

THIRD QUARTER:
7:52 Gasol continued to play excellent ball for his country, scoring three consecutive buckets – plus the foul on the first – with his running dunk then up-and-under around Love to put the Spaniards up 67-64. His brother Marc, meanwhile, was sitting with four fouls picked up in the first half in a choppy yet high-scoring game, with naturalized Spaniard Ibaka (from Congo but played professionally in Spain #loophole) in.

5:02 Memo to the USA coaching staff: Love can’t guard Gasol 1-on-1. For the fifth consecutive trip, Gasol either scored (this time an and-1) or drew a foul, his 13 points outscoring USA’s 11 in the quarter, giving Spain a 71-70 lead … only to be taken back by Kobe’s third triple.

0:00 Olympics hoops analyst Doug Collins has been calling Gasol the tournament’s best big man throughout, and he certainly proved it in the third, scoring 15 points to keep Spain within one (83-82) heading into a fourth quarter that would decide what color medal each nation would sport. Bryant picked his spots, with the Americans having much more balance as he, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe.

FOURTH QUARTER:
7:40 Having asked to guard Navarro, Bryant showed why in shutting the streaky Spaniard down after that early-game barrage, with Chris Paul (excellent in crunch time as usual) scoring five straight points to make it 90-84. The only thing that sat Gasol on the bench was an inadvertent hand to the face from LeBron, drawing blood that needed tending to on the sideline.

6:00 Time for two big fourth quarter plays from Kobe: 1) Remember when Rudy Fernandez fouled Bryant on a game-sealing three-pointer in China in 2008? Here he did so again, though Bryant missed only his second free throw of the tourney before hitting the second and third (15 points) to make it 95-86; 2) An offensive rebound off Melo’s missed three, which he stuck back in off glass to make it a 10-point lead.

2:40 Yet with LeBron on the bench in foul trouble, the U.S. then turned it over on back-to-back trips (Kobe then Anthony), giving Spain a chance to get within four when Gasol’s leaner in the paint rimmed out. Instead, LeBron’s driving dunk (Spain didn’t know whether to switch a pick) and pull-up three put the U.S. back up 11, sealing the deal.

0:00 The United States of America are Olympic gold medalists in basketball again. The final: 107-100. Bryant was taken out alongside James and Durant in the final minute to a rousing cheer. He could be seen getting emotional in his final Olympic experience, sharing hugs first with his USA teammates, then with Gasol, the two congratulating one another on a terrific game … and who knows, maybe sharing a knowing glance that they’d soon be playing alongside Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.

Bryant finished with 17 points on 5 of 10 shooting (3 of 7 from three) with two boards, two assists and a steal, while Gasol carried his country with 24 points (9 of 17 field goals), eight boards and five assists plus a steal while playing nearly the entire game.

So it’s silver for Pau, and gold for Kobe for the second straight Olympics in a spirited game between the two best basketball playing nations.

Team USA Blows Out Nigeria

Published by Mike Trudell on August 2, 2012 4:14 pm in Kobe Bryant and Off-Season.

Just three minutes into Thursday’s Olympic group play game between Team USA and Nigeria, Kobe Bryant had already hit a three, a pull-up J and two free throws for seven points in a 13-0 run from which the Americans didn’t come close to looking back, ultimately setting scoring records with a 156-73 win.

The most the Dream Team had ever scored was 127, the U.S. record was 133 and the Olympic record 138. See ya.

By the 4:20 mark, Kobe had added a turnaround jumper, a contested three-pointer and a breakaway two-handed reverse flush to score 14 points in a 25-10 start before taking a seat on the bench. He was well on pace to hit his season high from the NBA season, 48 against Phoenix, but of course wouldn’t get the minutes.

His teammates, particularly Carmelo Anthony — who finished with a U.S. Olympic record 37 points behind 10 of 12 shooting from three — picked up from where Kobe left off. The Knicks wing pushed a ridiculous first quarter scoring total to 49 points as the Americans nailed 11 triples. That is not a typo.

Bryant played five more minutes in the second quarter, totaling just 11 in the game as the team continues to save his legs, adding another bucket to finish with 16 points plus three boards and two assists. He helped Coach Krzyzewski’s team take a 78-45 lead into halftime.

Team USA’s bench, albeit full of NBA All-Stars, played even better defense in the second half, holding Nigeria to 17 and 11 points in the third and fourth quarters.

Bryant played the role of head cheerleader in the second half, just as he did in the team’s previous win against Tunisia, ahead of Saturday and Monday games against Lithuania and Argentina.

The Americans finished with an absurd 59 of 83 from the field (71.1 percent) and 29 of 46 from three (63 percent), holding Nigerian to 41.2 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from three. Team USA assisted on 38 field goals, swiped 12 steals and forced 24 turnovers while committing just seven.

Group A leader Team USA matched the 3-0 records of Spain and Russia in Group B, and boy did they do it in style.

Kobe Gets Night (Mostly) Off vs. Tunisia

Published by Mike Trudell on July 31, 2012 3:14 pm in Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.

In Kobe Bryant’s 16-year NBA career, he’s played a remarkable total of 51,018 minutes — 42,377 in the regular season and 8,641 in the playoffs.

Only 16 players in league history have been on the court for more regular season minutes, and only one – the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – has played more playoff minutes.

With that said, no one among the Lakers brass is going to complain that Bryant needed to play only about seven minutes in Team USA’s 110-63 victory over Tunisia.

In such limited run, Bryant made 2 of 4 shots for four points with a board. He was taken out with the rest of the starters at the five minute mark of the first, with the U.S. actually trailing 13-12, then played only a few second quarter minutes before fouls seven seconds apart gave him three*.
*Players are allowed only five fouls in international hoops.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski liked the second unit’s superior energy on the evening, and rewarded that group — Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony — by starting them in the third quarter, producing a huge run (39-14 total) to blow the game wide open. The U.S. shot 68 percent after halftime, and let its younger players like Love, Anthony Davis and James Harden close it out.

Coach K will call Kobe’s number eventually, though one wouldn’t expect a heavy workload for the No. 10 shirt in Thursday’s contest against Nigeria either.

GASOL STRONG FOR SPAIN, AGAIN:
Pau Gasol backed up a 21-point, 11-board debut with 20 more points plus four boards in only 18 minutes in an 82-70 victory over Australia, moving Spain to 2-0 in Group B.

The Spanish captain made 8 of 13 shots, including his second triple of the Olympics, plus two assists and a block. The focal point of Spain’s offense, Gasol has been the only Spaniard to hit the 20-point mark in either of their two victories.

Kobe Helps Team USA Beat Argentina

Published by Mike Trudell on July 22, 2012 2:08 pm in Kobe Bryant and Off-Season.

The eldest member of Team USA pulled out some of his old tricks in an 86-80 win over Argentina, as Kobe Bryant scored 18 points to help the Americans in an exhibition tune up for the Olympics from Barcelona, Spain.

The fifth leading scorer in NBA history wasted no time filling up the cup after he’d taken only three shots in Thursday’s blowout win over Great Britain, this time scoring 10 points in the first few minutes with a pair of threes and a layup and then dunk at the rim.

In a 19-3 USA barrage to open the contest, Kevin Durant — the player who narrowly edged Bryant for the league’s 2011-12 scoring title — had the other nine points, on three triples, one of the assists coming from a between-the-legs Bryant dime. Oklahoma City’s star finished with a game-high 27 points.

With NBA vets like Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola, however, Argentina wouldn’t give up, rallying from 20 down in the third quarter to cut the lead to as few as four down the stretch.

Bryant came out with 4:58 left in the fourth with the USA up 78-68, but Coach Mike Krzyzewski called his number again after an Argentina triple cut the lead to seven, which preceded a Ginobili and-1 (missed free throw) that made it 78-74.

But Durant and Chris Paul hit back-to-back triples to put the game on ice, bringing the USA exhibition record to 4-0 ahead of a showdown with Spain in the team’s final warm up game ahead of the London Games.

Kobe, Team USA Cruise past Great Britain

Published by Mike Trudell on July 19, 2012 12:24 pm in Kobe Bryant and Off-Season.

Kobe Bryant and Team USA coasted to a blowout 118-78 win over Great Britain in Manchester, England, on Thursday evening across the pond in the most recent tune up for the upcoming London Olympics.

With buckets so easy to come by for the uber-athletic Team USA, Bryant had to do little of what he does best (you know … scoring), instead focusing on moving the ball with some extra passes and locking down on the defensive end.

Likely to the pleasure of Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and coach Mike Brown, Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski kept his oldest Olympian’s minutes down, saving Kobe’s legs for the games that count.

During the 18 minutes he was on the floor, Bryant took only three shots towards his five points (3 of 4 free throws) plus three assists and five boards with two steals. His personal highlight came on a pretty turnaround J in the first quarter after a ball fake sent a doubling defender the wrong way.

Bryant found Brooklyn’s Deron Williams for two of his five triples, and it was D-Will that blew the game wide open with a 14-point scoring barrage in the first four minutes of the third quarter, putting Team USA up by 30.

The Americans shot 60 percent from the field, dunking here, there and everywhere (the Beatles are from Liverpool, not Manchester, but who’s counting), and forced 26 Great Britain turnovers with great ball pressure on defense.

Up next for Kobe and Co. is a Sunday contest against Argentina, a matchup expected to be more closely contested than what we saw on Thursday.

Bryant has Most Popular Jersey Internationally

Published by Ty Nowell on June 21, 2012 7:42 am in Kobe Bryant.

NEW YORK, June 20, 2012 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) today released its first-ever overall international top selling jerseys list and five-time NBA Champion Kobe Bryant has the most popular NBA jersey internationally. The top 15 list was based on sales at adidas locations outside the United States during the 2011-12 NBA season.

Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Miami’s LeBron James, Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Orlando’s Dwight Howard, round out the top five. The list features three players in the NBA Finals: James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant. International stars such as Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol from Spain, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki from Germany, San Antonio’s Tony Parker from France, and Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio from Spain made the top 15.

The NBA also announced the top five selling jerseys in key regions: China, Europe and Latin America. In China, Bryant has the top selling jersey for the sixth straight season while Rose moves up to No. 2. Bryant had the top selling jersey in Europe and Latin America this season.

2011-12 Top Selling Jerseys Internationally
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
3. LeBron James, Miami Heat
4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
5. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
6. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
7. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics
8. Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
9. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
10. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
11. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
12. Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
13. Amar’e Stoudemire, New York Knicks
14. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs
15. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves

2011-12 Top Selling Jerseys in China
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
3. LeBron James, Miami Heat
4. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
5. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

2011-12 Top Selling Jerseys in Europe
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
3. LeBron James, Miami Heat
4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
5. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic

2011-12 Top Selling Jerseys in Latin America
1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. LeBron James, Miami Heat
3. Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
4. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
5. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat

Kobe Bryant Named to All-NBA First Team

Published by Mike Trudell on May 24, 2012 11:04 am in Andrew Bynum, Around the NBA and Kobe Bryant.

For the seventh consecutive season and 10th time in his storied NBA career, Kobe Bryant was named to the All-NBA First Team, and has now been on an All-NBA team in 14 of his 16 seasons.

Bryant, who finished percentage points below fellow First Teamer Kevin Durant for the NBA’s scoring lead with 27.9 points per game, in 2011-12 moved past Shaquille O’Neal for fifth on the league’s all-time scoring list and became the youngest player to 29,000 career points.

In 58 games of the lockout shortened season, Bryant added 5.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.19 steals to his 27.9 points per game in 38.5 minutes, shooting 43 percent from the field, 30.3 percent from three and 84.5 percent from the foul line.

Bryant trails only Karl Malone for all-time selections to the first team (11), and is now tied with legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy, Michael Jordan, Bob Pettit, and Jerry West. Bryant’s 14th overall All-NBA mention has him tied with Malone and Shaq for second all time behind only Abdul-Jabbar and his 15 selections to a team.

Bryant’s first appearance on an All-NBA team was in his third season, 1999, when he earned a third team nod, as he did in 2005. He was on the second team in 2000 and 2001, plus the 10 first team honors from 2002-12, minus 2005.

How does a player get chosen? Selected media members vote for two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, with Bryant having been named one of the NBA’s top two guards in 62.5 percent of his seasons, and a top six guard in 87.5 percent of his campaigns.

The 2011-12 season is the first time in three years that teammate Pau Gasol does not flank Bryant on one of the teams, but emerging center Andrew Bynum earned his first nod, making the All-NBA Second Team.

ALL NBA FIRST TEAM:
G: Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul
F: LeBron James, Kevin Durant
C: Dwight Howard

ALL NBA SECOND TEAM:
G: Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook
F: Kevin Love, Blake Griffin
C: Andrew Bynum

ALL NBA THIRD TEAM:
G: Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo
F: Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony
C: Tyson Chandler

Bryant Named to All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team

Published by Mike Trudell on May 23, 2012 10:18 am in Kobe Bryant.

For the 12th time in his 16 seasons, Kobe Bryant was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team, earning his third Second Team nod after six straight First Team appearances from 2006-2011.

Here are the two teams, as voted upon by the NBA’s 30 head coaches:

NBA All-Defensive First Team: Chris Paul, Tony Allen, LeBron James, Serge Ibaka, Dwight Howard

NBA All-Defensive Second Team: Rajon Rondo, Kobe Bryant, Luol Deng, Kevin Garnett, Tyson Chandler

Bryant was named to the First Team in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the Second in 2001, 2002 and this season.

He received 17 total points, with seven first team votes and three second team votes, getting the fourth guard spot. Andre Iguodala actually received more overall points with 19 (four first team votes), but was the fifth forward on the list.

Bryant was helped by the rim protection of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, and by Metta World Peace taking on the challenge of defending the opponent’s best perimeter player on most nights, though in the postseason Bryant did step up to take on many difficult assignments particularly late in games. He’d likely admit that his defense throughout a full game isn’t what it once was, when his legs were younger, but he clearly retains the full respect of the NBA’s head coaches.