Kobe Bryant announces retirement with “Dear Basketball”

This one might not be so cordial, Celtics fans are still bitter over Bryant’s 6-for-24 performance in Game 7 of the 2009 NBA Finals – a game the Lakers won.

The decision was not totally unexpected as the 37-year-old Lakers guard has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons and had recently said he was considering retirement.

“With 17 NBA All-Star selections, an NBA MVP, five NBA championships with the Lakers, two Olympic gold medals and relentless work ethic, Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in the history of our game”.

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Bryant is a 17-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, and 12-time member of the All-Defensive team.

With Shaquille O’Neal, who had joined the Lakers in the same year as Bryant, and coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers managed to win three titles between 2000 and 2002.

“I thought he probably had at least had another year in him”, Scott said.

In the letter, titled “Dear Basketball”, Bryant ends months of speculation by writing that he has nothing left to give.

“You can put a team around a guy to help a guy, especially late in his career”, Wade told The Associated Press. He’s won five championships, so no one feels bad for him from that standpoint. “He’s the best player in my era”.

Bryant made a fourth NBA Finals appearance in 2004 despite his preseason arrest for sexual assault and subsequent legal proceedings that sometimes required him to fly from Colorado to Los Angeles on game days. I don’t know what he’s thinking as far as playing well or getting back somewhere near to the level that he’s accustomed to getting. “One of the best to ever do it”. I can go all the way back to when he was this young guy out there just shooting in the dark at the Forum before the lights came on, before practice was 2-3 hours away, to this point where he’s still at the practice facility 2-3 hours before everybody else getting shots up.