Kobe Bryant can most easily be described by one word: Volume.
Calling someone a volume shooter carries negative connotations, but for Bryant, who announced Sunday that this would be his final season, his ability to simply do more — of everything — than anyone around him defined him in a way that his various awards and titles failed to.
Playing his entire career for the storied Los Angeles Lakers, Bryant essentially rewrote the team’s record books. He did not win as many championships as George Mikan or as many Most Valuable Player awards as Magic Johnson.
But Bryant played in more games for the Lakers than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He had more win shares than Jerry West. He played more minutes than Elgin Baylor. He took more shots than James Worthy and Shaquille O’Neal — combined. He is in the team’s top-five in career rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, free throws, 3-pointers, personal fouls and turnovers.
In a league that has rapidly become obsessed with efficiency, Bryant was never scared of being inefficient, provided his team came out with a win. And his accolades added up in the same way his statistics did. He made 17 All-Star teams, was named All-NBA first team 11 times, and first-team All-Defense nine times. And most important to him, he won five championships and was named finals MVP twice.
Bryant once distilled his strategy in a way that made many cringe, but also helped explain his greatest successes and his worst failures. It was in a Sports Illustrated article about a Bryant documentary and the director, Gotham Chopra, recalled telling Bryant that Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets had shot 0 for 9 from the field in a game.
“I would go 0 for 30 before I would go 0 for 9; 0 for 9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game,” Chopra recalled Bryant saying.
A man of his word, Bryant has missed more shots than any player in league history. His 13,919 missed field goal attempts through Sunday have surpassed John Havlicek’s previous record of 13,418. As long as he stays healthy, he will surely miss his 14,000th shot soon. (Bryant ranks third all-time behind Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone in shots taken.)
But to Bryant, the five championships his teams won justified every one of those misses, and his confidence in his own ability led to what could be considered the greatest individual performance in basketball history. Wilt Chamberlain may have scored 100 points while being fed the ball inside repeatedly in a blowout win, but Bryant, playing from the outside, scored 81 points on 28-of-46 shooting in a game against the Toronto Raptors that was close until the fourth quarter.
It was the second-most points ever scored in an NBA game, and considering the context of the game, the pace of the era, and the position Bryant played, it would be hard to argue that it was not as impressive — if not more impressive — than Chamberlain’s historic night.
Bryant often seemed obsessed with Michael Jordan, and while he fell just short of his hero in most regards, the numbers are skewed by Bryant’s slow start and pronounced decline mostly due to injuries. In their primes, the two players were each the best scorer in the league and in the argument for being the best wing defender. They could rebound, block shots and pass better than anyone was willing to admit.
Most career evaluation tools favor big men over guards, but Bryant’s legacy appears secure as the game’s second-greatest shooting guard and one of the 20 or so most accomplished players overall.
For the ultracompetitive Bryant, being second-best would likely qualify as failure. That mindset could explain why he has played the last three seasons despite injuries and ineffectiveness taking away nearly all of his greatness.
Just as he would rather go 0-for-30 than 0-for-9, he was willing to trade some points off his career field-goal percentage, and endure some abuse about tarnishing his legacy, rather than admit that he never matched Jordan.
Explaining his career to future generations might be tricky, but one thing will always be clear: There was a lot to Bryant, both on and off the court. And when he is done with the NBA, the volume will be turned down in more ways than one.
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