As an 18-year-old rookie, he never played the role of a little brother on the team, but instead carried an attitude of "I'm definitely going to be the boss, it's just a matter of time," which gradually made him even less likable.
Moreover, as a black player, Kobe was not black at all. His upbringing and family environment dictated that he and most black players who grew up poor, with absent fathers and many siblings, were from two different worlds.
In terms of "not being black," he was even more obvious than Michael Jordan. Jordan was born to a middle-class family and could be considered part of a traditional black cultural household.
Kobe was different; he grew up in Italy, and besides basketball, he also liked playing soccer. He was proficient in Italian and spoke multiple languages, his habits were more like a European, vastly different from North American blacks.
