Bryant’s early story, respectfully and honestly told in The Rise, will be fascinating for fans of the late star, but it also proves to be an extraordinary case study in what’s possible for young people when they have the right blend of talent, opportunity, direction, and focus ... a kind of time machine, permitting readers to see a teenaged Bryant play basketball when it wasn’t yet certain who he would become or what impact he would have. Sielski uses previously untouched tapes and transcripts from interviews with Bryant in the late ’90s and numerous new interviews with people who knew him, to tell a tale that is by turns a gripping sports story and a touching portrait of Bryant’s early life. Sielski has written a fitting tribute to a legend who was lost too soon.
Thanks to a deep connection to Philly’s scholastic basketball scene – high school and college alike – Sielski is uniquely suited to bring forth the story of Kobe Bryant before he was KOBE BRYANT ... documents Kobe’s, well … rise … with thorough reportage and insight gained only through a first-person understanding of the time and place in question ... Sielski also gained access to a series of taped interviews that Kobe gave while still in high school, offering a window onto the young man who had not yet achieved all the goals he had set, but remained utterly convinced that he would reach them ... There are scores of books out there about Kobe Bryant, running the gamut from fawning to fault-finding. What The Rise does so elegantly is tell a part of the story that hasn’t received quite so much attention. Everyone has to come from somewhere, even a hardwood deity like Kobe Bryant; Sielski has given us the chance to examine the beginnings of Kobe’s particular brand of basketball brilliance ... offers an interesting twist on the traditional sports bio. Sielski’s admiration for his subject – and indeed, the admiration projected by all of these people – is extremely present, but we never get a sense that Kobe is being unduly elevated. Young Kobe’s faults aren’t glossed over, but rather engaged with in the context of the time and place – specifically, a teenager whose ambition at times overwhelmed all other aspects of his life. Ultimately, what we get is an in-depth look at a kid who believed himself destined to greatness … and was willing to do whatever it took to achieve it.
Stories gleaned from those interviews are complemented by interviews with more than 100 other people in Kobe’s life at the time. The result is a compelling origin story of a time that really wasn’t so long ago, but through the lens of tragedy, feels like forever ... Kobe-ologists will devour this book, reveling in the anecdotes about his intensity and the engaging game recaps as he leads Lower Merion to a Pennsylvania state championship in 1996. But while Kobe is undoubtedly the star, the book also focuses on the impact Kobe’s rise had on everyone around him ... The book bogs down a bit when the focus turns away from Kobe’s exploits on the court. There’s too much about LaSalle’s employment of Joe in hopes that he’ll recruit his son to play for his alma mater. Readers will also gloss over the scenes with Sonny Vaccaro, the sports marketing executive who was consumed with landing Kobe as an Adidas client to get back at his former employer, Nike. In the end, they’re just moons in orbit around Kobe, proof that his gravitational pull was extraordinary, but not nearly as interesting as the phenom himself.
