Kobe Bryant has left us with only 41 years old, in Los Angeles- California by Mariana DAngelo / Pabl

. My deepest condolences for his family, friends and fans around the Globe. Kobe Bryant was a Sun, and this week the World is eclipsed by his early departure ... Kobe Bryant RIP. by Mariana DAngelo I want to share an article written by ALBERTO LEÓN of RTVE of Spain: Kobe Bryant, Jordan's heir who returned the glory to the Lakers. Kobe Bryant, was the heir of Jordan who returned the glory to the Lakers #Global #TheGlobalNewsToday theglobalnewstoday.com

#KobeBryant has gone down in #history as one of the best basketball players of all time and as part of a privileged category in the #NBA, that of the #basketball #players who played their entire career on the same team: #DirkNowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) , #JohnStockton (Utah Jazz), #TimDuncan (San Antonio #Spurs) and some more.

Bryant, who died this Sunday at age 41 in a helicopter crash, did so throughout his career with the purple and gold colors of Los Angeles Lakers, one of the largest NBA teams to which he returned his lost splendor with five titles in the twenty seasons he wore his shirt.

For a good part of his career he was compared to Michael Jordan, of whom many consider him to be the natural successor. It is possible that this step was a little high for the Philadelphia escort, although the winning character of both was a key factor in the face of his sporting successes. That and being able to count on both cases with the address of Phil Jackson, the only technician who made them win rings - six to Jordan and five to Bryant.

To his five NBA titles and his two Olympic golds with the US basketball team (Beijing 2008 and London 2012, both against Spain), Bryant added an endless list of individual achievements: twice the top scorer of the NBA (2006 and 2007) ; an MVP of the regular season (2008) and twice MVP of the finals (2009 and 2010); 18 times selected for the All-Star, of which he is the highest historical scorer, and four elections as the most valuable player of the All-Star game; 11 times included in the best quintet of the season; nine times in the best defensive quintet; Fourth historic scorer of the NBA ... In addition, in 2006 he scored 81 points in a single game - in front of the José Manuel Calderón Raptors - a figure only surpassed by the 100 points achieved in 1962 by the mythical Wilt Chamberlain.

THE #LIFE OF KOBE BRYANT, IN PICTURES The former Lakers player has died in a helicopter crash Blessed by Jerry West Kobe's arrival in the NBA came in 1996 with just 18 years old and without going through the university league, as was customary at that time in the United States. Although he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the draft with the number 13, the general manager of the Lakers, the mythical Jerry West, had taken his eyes back and reached an agreement with the North Carolina team for an exchange in the that the Serbian Vlade Divac was involved. West knew he had a jewel in his hands and he wasn't wrong.

Although in its first season it was difficult for him to enter the team, soon everyone guessed that the somewhat ungainly young man had a special talent to score, penetrate the basket and crush, a candy for any basketball fan in a time when Myths of the 80s - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird - began to say goodbye.

Their numbers grew in their second campaign, even as a substitute in a team that was already Shaquille O'Neal, with whom he would form one of the most successful societies in the history of the NBA.

The lost splendor returns

But it was the arrival on the bench of Phil Jackson, who had just achieved his sixth ring with the Michael Jordan Bulls, which completely returned to the Lakers the brightness lost after more than a decade without titles. This stage with the 'Zen Master' resulted in three consecutive rings (2001, 2002 and 2003) although with the feeling that Bryant was always one step below O'Neal in the importance for the team's triumphs.

In addition, at that time Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual abuse of a waitress at a spa where he went to recover from an injury in Eagle, Colorado, the great mole of his career.

According to the athlete, the relationship was consented, something the girl denied. Kobe, who saw his marriage and advertising contracts endangered, ended up apologizing publicly: "I thought we both agreed, now I understand that she didn't want that to happen and that she doesn't see it as I do."

The matter was settled with an out-of-court settlement with financial compensation; The alleged victim finally decided not to testify at the trial and the prosecution dropped the charges.

The relationship between the two roosters in the corral was frankly deteriorated and, after the failure of the defeat in the 2004 final against Detroit Pistons, Shaquille O'Neal headed for #Miami, an exit that also coincided with the progress of the team of #PhilJackson

It was the moment of truth for Kobe Bryant, who had to prove if he was really capable of winning titles alone. Soon it was shown that no and the Lakers entered a dark stage, in which they chained a season without qualifying for play-offs and two with losses in the first round.

#PauGasol arrives Although Phil Jackson returned to the bench, it was clear that something else was needed, a factor that had a Spanish name: Pau Gasol. His team, the Grizzlies, agreed to transfer the pivot of Sant Boi to the Lakers in February 2008 - in a highly criticized operation at the time and for which Marc Gasol ended up in Memphis - and its impact on the California franchise was immediate: The Los Angeles Lakers reached the final, although they ended up falling 4-2 to their arch nemesis, the Boston Celtics.

But the following season the Bryant-Gasol society - very well surrounded by players like Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher or Andrew Bynum - showed its potential, making the Lakers the best set of the regular season and achieving the 15th title in history of the franchise after passing over Orlando Magic.

A success that was surpassed the following year, when they repeated ring imposing, this time, Boston Celtics, in a final that required seventh game and is considered one of the most exciting in history.

Pau Gasol had become the ideal companion of Kobe, with whom he maintained a great friendship: the Spaniard contributed a lot in the team, but did not overshadow King Bryant, who managed to be the MVP of the two finals, an award that, in his years with O'Neal as a partner, he always fell on the side of the pivot.

However, when everything seemed to indicate that the Lakers would continue to dominate in the following years, there was a new departure from Phil Jackson, replaced by Mike Brown and inaugurating a period in which the sporting results were bad.

Goodbye in style

In 2013 Bryant suffered a serious injury that took him eight months off the court, which together with the departure of Pau Gasol's team to Chicago ended up dismantling an aging squad and with few options to be among the candidates. After suffering a new injury in 2015, Kobe announced that the next season would be the last of his career.

He then began a 'farewell tour' throughout the 2015-2016 campaign in which he received the tribute and recognition of fans of all NBA courts.

On February 14, 2016 he played his last All-Star Party - the eighteenth, 15 of them as a starter - and on April 13 of the same year the 'Black Mamba', as he was nicknamed, played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles his Last game as a professional, scoring 60 points against Utah Jazz which he left without qualification for the play-offs.

The two numbers with which he played in his career, 8 and 24, hang from the ceiling of the angel pavilion, which led the city of Los Angeles to proclaim August 24 (24/8) as Kobe Bryant's day .

His tragic death, together with his category as a basketball player, elevates Kobe Bryant to the pantheon of the great myths of the NBA, without whose mention will be, from now on, impossible to understand this sport.

Source BBC / RTVE Spain/ The Guardian UK by, Mariana DAngelo CEO & Founder #LosAngeles #California The Global News Today By, #MarianaDAngelo #Periodico #America #Newspaper by, Mariana DAngelo Mariana DAngelo Editorial Group LLC /#USA #TheGlobalNewsToday #Sport #WorldSport #Deporte #Dead #Accident #Global #USA #US #USNow #USANow #Country #Black #Star #Hero

US investigators are working to determine the causes of the helicopter crash that killed basketball star Kobe Bryant in California on Sunday.

All nine people on board the helicopter died, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

Investigators are expected to focus on the weather conditions, which were foggy, and on any mechanical failures that may have occurred.

Bryant was considered to be one of the greatest players in the game's history.

He was a five-time NBA champion for his only team, the Los Angeles Lakers, and a double Olympic gold medallist. He retired in April 2016.

Tributes from fans, fellow basketball players and other public figures have been pouring in from around the world.

Early on Monday morning, fans could be seen congregating at a makeshift memorial for the player in front of the Lakers' stadium at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. ‎

Italy has said a minute's silence would be observed at all basketball games "in every category for the entire week". Bryant spent part of his childhood in the country as his father played in the Italian basketball league.

What will investigators focus on? Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are gathering in the area to launch separate crash investigations, reports say.

The federal agency has a team of about 20 people in LA and will work with the FAA, the helicopters' manufacturer and the company that made its engine, the Washington Post reports.

Investigators began searching through the wreckage on Monday.

The FBI is helping the NTSB's staff document the scene, which is standard procedure, it added.

The aircraft - a Sikorsky S-76B - went down in a remote field in the city of Calabasas on Sunday morning at 10:00 (18:00 GMT), west of the city of Los Angeles.

Conditions were foggy when the flight took off, and local police had grounded their helicopters due to the poor weather.

But air traffic controllers on Sunday gave the helicopter's pilot special clearance to fly in less than optimal weather, CNN reports.

Pilots can experience "spatial disorientation" when they fly in cloudy conditions, due to the lack of visual input, Thomas Anthony, director of the USC Aviation Safety and Security Programme, told the BBC.

"That's why it's necessary to use the [flight] instruments, which give you an artificial horizon."

However, he added that it was "never one thing that causes an aircraft accident", and investigators would need to look into "what things came together to result in this tragic mishap".

The S-76 is a "well evolved, sophisticated aircraft that is used widely around the world", he said, adding that it had two jet engines, which gave it capability even if one stopped working.

Why was Kobe Bryant travelling by helicopter? Bryant had been on his way to coach his daughter's basketball team in a local youth tournament.

He was known for taking his helicopter to beat traffic in Los Angeles.

"Los Angeles is notorious" for traffic jams, says Professor Michael Manville, traffic lead at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.

He says this is due to the lack of road pricing- as well as the fact that LA has "the urbanisation and economy of a city, but the zoning and layout of a suburb" - which means residents cannot avoid driving, but the volume of traffic on roads is high.

According to research firm Inrix, drivers in Los Angeles lost an average of 128 hours to congestion in 2018.

The journey, from Bryant's home near Newport Beach to Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, would take just over an hour without traffic - but can take more than three hours when congestion is bad.

Who else was in the helicopter? Coroners have not officially named the victims.

Family members and colleagues however said John Altobelli, coach of the Orange Coast College baseball team, was among the passengers, along with his wife Keri and their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa - who played with Bryant's daughter, Gianna.

Christina Mauser, a basketball coach at Gianna's school, was also on board, her husband wrote on Facebook.

US media have cited family tributes being paid to another victim, Sarah Chester, and her daughter Payton, who are said to have also been on board the helicopter; and Ara Zobayan has also been named as the pilot.

Why was Kobe Bryant so famous? A five-time NBA champion, Bryant played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers before his retirement in 2016.

His achievements include being the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He was also NBA scoring champion twice and a two-time Olympic champion.

He famously scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, the second-highest single-game total in NBA history.

He also won an Oscar for best short animated film in 2018 for Dear Basketball, a five-minute film based on a love letter to the sport he had written in 2015.

Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, have three other daughters, Natalia, Bianca and Capri.

Bryant was accused of sexual assault in 2003 by a 19-year-old woman working at a Colorado resort. He denied the allegation, saying the two had consensual sex. The case was dropped after the accuser refused to testify in court.

He later apologised, saying he recognised that "she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did". A subsequent civil suit was settled out of court.