Joe Bryant

Joseph Washington "Jellybean" Bryant (October 19, 1954 – July 15, 2024) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also played for several teams in Italy and one in France. Bryant was the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks from 2005 to 2007<ref name="WNBAWNBAJB1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and returned to that position for the remainder of the 2011 WNBA season. Bryant also coached in Japan and Thailand. His son, basketball player Kobe Bryant, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (1975–1979)

After starring at La Salle University, he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors but traded to his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers, where he played for four seasons.<ref name=People/> In his second season, on the 1976–77 76ers, he played alongside NBA all-stars Julius Erving, Doug Collins, and George McGinnis. The team reached the 1977 NBA Finals, eventually losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, 4 games to 2.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

San Diego Clippers (1979–1982)

Before the 1979–1980 season, the Sixers traded Bryant to the San Diego Clippers,<ref name=CBS/><ref>Bryant was traded for what eventually turned out to be the first pick in the 1986 NBA draft, although prior to the draft the 76ers traded the pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who selected Brad Daugherty.</ref> where he spent three seasons.<ref name=CBS/> In the first game of the 1979–1980 season, played at home against the Los Angeles Lakers, Bryant memorably had a slam dunk over center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.<ref name=CBS/>

Houston Rockets (1982–1983)

Following the 1981 season, Bryant was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he played one season, his last in the NBA.<ref name=CBS/>

Europe (1983–1992)

Bryant played overseas in Italy and France from 1982 to 1992, playing for Italian teams Sebastiani Rieti, Standa Reggio Calabria, Olimpia Pistoia, and Reggiana and French team Mulhouse.<ref name=Newsweek/> He ended his playing career in 1992.<ref name=Yahoo>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Coaching career

Akiba Hebrew Academy (1992–1993)

Bryant's first coaching position, after returning from Europe, was when he was deployed with the U.S. Armed Forces in Italy. In the 1992–1993 season, he served as the head coach of the women's varsity team at Akiba Hebrew Academy in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=CBS/>

La Salle Explorers (1993–1996)

In June 1993, he left Akiba and accepted an assistant coach position at his alma mater, La Salle University.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On May 7, 1996, Bryant resigned from La Salle after his son Kobe announced his intentions to enter the NBA out of high school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

SlamBall and ABA coach (2003–2005)

Bryant served as coach for the Diablos during the 2003<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> season of SlamBall.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

From 2003 to 2005, Bryant also coached two ABA teams, the Las Vegas Rattlers and the Boston Frenzy.<ref name=Newsweek>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Los Angeles Sparks (2005–2007, 2011)

On August 17, 2005, Bryant, who was an assistant coach for the WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks,<ref name=LASentinel/> was named the head coach, succeeding previous coach (and former 76ers teammate) Henry Bibby.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the 2006 season, he led the Sparks to a 25–9 record and a Conference Finals berth. In April 2007, Bryant was replaced as Sparks head coach by Michael Cooper, who had previously helmed the team in 1999–2004.<ref name="WNBAWNBAJB1"/>

In 2011, Bryant returned to the Sparks, first as an assistant coach, but later as the head coach for the rest of the 2011 season.<ref name=LASentinel>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=CBS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

International coaching career (2007–2015)

Bryant coached the Tokyo Apache of the Japanese bj league from 2007 to 2009.<ref name=AS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On July 3, 2009, Bryant signed a contract with Italian club Sebastiani Rieti, whom he had played for.<ref name="Rieti coach">Template:Cite news</ref> However, the contract fell through, due to the team's move to Naples.<ref name=AS/>

Bryant served as the head coach of Japanese professional basketball team Levanga Hokkaido during the 2010–2011 JBL season.<ref name=AS/>

In January 2012, Bryant was hired as coach of the Bangkok Cobras in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL). He coached for the 2012 season.<ref>Bangkok team hires Kobe’s dad Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=AS/> Bryant also coached for the Chang Thailand Slammers in 2013.<ref name=AS/>

Bryant coached Rizing Fukuoka of the bj League from 2014 to 2015.<ref name=AS/><ref>Bryant out as Rizing Fukuoka coach</ref>

Career playing statistics

NBA

Source<ref name=bbr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Regular season

Template:NBA player statistics start |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 75 || 3 || 16.0 || .422 || || .626 || 3.7 || .8 || .6 || .3 || 7.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 61 || 0 || 10.0 || .446 || || .757 || 1.9 || .8 || .6 || .2 || 4.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 81 || 0 || 15.3 || .436 || || .771 || 3.5 || 1.6 || .7 || .3 || 6.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 70 || 0 || 15.2 || .429 || || .724 || 3.7 || 1.5 || .7 || .1 || 7.6 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| San Diego | 81 || || 28.7 || .431 || .147 || .742 || 6.4 || 1.8 || 1.3 || .5 || 9.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| San Diego | 82 || || 28.8 || .479 || .133 || .791 || 5.4 || 2.3 || .9 || .4 || 11.6 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| San Diego | 75 || 49 || 26.5 || .486 || .267 || .785 || 3.7 || 2.5 || 1.0 || .4 || 11.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"| Template:Nbay |style="text-align:left;"| Houston | 81 || 56 || 25.4 || .448 || .222 || .703 || 3.4 || 2.3 || 1.0 || .4 || 10.0 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 606 || 108 || 21.2 || .450 || .200 || .743 || 4.0 || 1.7 || .9 || .3 || 8.7 |}

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1976	Philadelphia	3	14.3	.750	.714	4.3	.3	.3	.3	7.7
1977	Philadelphia	10	7.4	.387	.625	1.5	.7	.6	.2	2.9
1978	Philadelphia	10	12.2	.447	.727	2.5	.9	.6	.1	5.0
1979	Philadelphia	7	5.0	.385	.500	.1	.6	.1	.0	3.0
Career		30	9.1	.448	.679	1.8	.7	.5	.1	4.1

Head coaching record

WNBA

Template:NBA coach statistics start |- | style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles | style="text-align:left;"|2005 | 6||4||2||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Western|||2||0||2||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|Lost Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles | style="text-align:left;"|2006 | 34||25||9||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Western|||5||2||3||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|Lost Conference Finals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Los Angeles | style="text-align:left;"|2011 | 24||11||13||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Western|||–||–||–||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|– |- |-class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 64 || 40 || 24 ||Template:Winning percentage|| || 7 || 2 || 5 ||Template:Winning percentage Template:S-end Source:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Japan

Template:More citations needed section Template:NBA coach statistics start |- | style="text-align:left;"|Tokyo Apache | style="text-align:left;"|2005–2006 | 40||20||20||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|3rd|||–||–||–||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|Lost semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Tokyo Apache | style="text-align:left;"|2006–2007 | 40||12||28||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|8th|||–||–||–||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|– |- | style="text-align:left;"|Tokyo Apache | style="text-align:left;"|2008–2009 | 52||33||19||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Eastern|||4||3||1||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|Runners-up |- | style="text-align:left;"|Rera Kamuy Hokkaido | style="text-align:left;"|2010–2011 | 22||6||16||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|Fired|||–||–||–||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|– |- | style="text-align:left;"|Rizing Fukuoka | style="text-align:left;"|2014–2015 | 32||9||23||Template:Winning percentage|| style="text-align:center;"|9th in Western|||–||–||–||Template:Winning percentage | style="text-align:center;"|– |- Template:S-end Source:<ref>Joe Bryant basketball profile</ref>

Personal life and death

In 1975, Bryant married Pam Cox, sister of former NBA player John "Chubby" Cox III.<ref name=chubby>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their son Kobe, also an NBA player, was subsequently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Kobe died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020, alongside his 13-year-old daughter (Joe's granddaughter) Gianna.<ref name="LATDeath">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bryant also had two daughters, Sharia and Shaya. The family is Catholic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Through his wife Pam, he was the uncle of professional basketball player John Cox IV.<ref name=chubby/>

Bryant died on July 15, 2024<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> at the age of 69.<ref name="People">Template:Cite magazine</ref> While no official cause of death was announced,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Bryant had recently suffered a major stroke.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Joe Bryant at Basketball-Reference.com
• Joe Bryant WNBA Coach Profile
• Joe Bryant statistics in Italian Championship Template:Webarchive