TOKYO (AFP) - Globe-trotting US basketball coach Joe Bryant insists that his superstar son Kobe should be named the NBA Most Valuable Player this season, despite an unprecedentedly long list of contenders.
The senior Bryant, who has led the Tokyo Apache to the final play-offs this weekend in the inaugural season of Japan's first-ever professional basket league, admits "there are great candidates out there."
He cited last year's winner Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, Detriot Pistons' Chancey Billups and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But he believes Kobe deserves his first MVP honour for scoring a stunning 81 points -- the second most in the NBA's history -- in the Los Angeles Lakers' 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors in January.
"As a coach, I would say it this way. If they don't give him the MVP, they've got to create another award that's for the best player of the NBA (National Basketball Association).
"You have to give the title to Kobe. It's a slap in the face if you don't," said the 51-year-old, who played eight seasons in the NBA himself before spending nine more as player and/or coach in Italy, Germany, France and Israel.
Only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points, for Philadelphia against New York in 1962, now tops the 27-year-old Lakers guard who was also the leading scorer of the 2005-2006 season, averaging 35.4 points per game.
Joe attributed his only son's on-court excellence, often slammed by critics as selfish and detrimental to team work, to "just the will."
"He's like a basketball nerd and he's very serious about the game. He comes early and stays late. A lot of players resent that," he said.
Kobe, named after Japan's famous beef which Joe came across in Philadelphia where he played for the 76ers three decades ago, almost didn't become a basketball player.
Joe revealed his son really wanted to become a football player and loved Juventus when the family lived in Italy for eight years from when he was six.
"We used to go to the playground and, of course, (Kobe) wanted to shoot the basket. But all the kids wanted to play soccer," Joe said. "So he had to play soccer with Italian kids. He used to be a good goalie."
After coaching independent and women's clubs at home, Joe signed last year with one of the six teams in the bj-league which was launched to emulate the success of the 12-year-old football J-League.
"We really don't know how well this league will do," he said. "But I've never lost the focus of the reason why I'm here -- just to make the Japanese players better."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060426/sp_afp/basketnbajpnkobe_060426082117
The senior Bryant, who has led the Tokyo Apache to the final play-offs this weekend in the inaugural season of Japan's first-ever professional basket league, admits "there are great candidates out there."
He cited last year's winner Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, Detriot Pistons' Chancey Billups and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But he believes Kobe deserves his first MVP honour for scoring a stunning 81 points -- the second most in the NBA's history -- in the Los Angeles Lakers' 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors in January.
"As a coach, I would say it this way. If they don't give him the MVP, they've got to create another award that's for the best player of the NBA (National Basketball Association).
"You have to give the title to Kobe. It's a slap in the face if you don't," said the 51-year-old, who played eight seasons in the NBA himself before spending nine more as player and/or coach in Italy, Germany, France and Israel.
Only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points, for Philadelphia against New York in 1962, now tops the 27-year-old Lakers guard who was also the leading scorer of the 2005-2006 season, averaging 35.4 points per game.
Joe attributed his only son's on-court excellence, often slammed by critics as selfish and detrimental to team work, to "just the will."
"He's like a basketball nerd and he's very serious about the game. He comes early and stays late. A lot of players resent that," he said.
Kobe, named after Japan's famous beef which Joe came across in Philadelphia where he played for the 76ers three decades ago, almost didn't become a basketball player.
Joe revealed his son really wanted to become a football player and loved Juventus when the family lived in Italy for eight years from when he was six.
"We used to go to the playground and, of course, (Kobe) wanted to shoot the basket. But all the kids wanted to play soccer," Joe said. "So he had to play soccer with Italian kids. He used to be a good goalie."
After coaching independent and women's clubs at home, Joe signed last year with one of the six teams in the bj-league which was launched to emulate the success of the 12-year-old football J-League.
"We really don't know how well this league will do," he said. "But I've never lost the focus of the reason why I'm here -- just to make the Japanese players better."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060426/sp_afp/basketnbajpnkobe_060426082117
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