Cox's dream, of course, is to someday find a niche in the NBA. But in reality, Cox needs to explode during his junior and senior seasons if he's going to have a shot. As USF coach Mathews puts it, "He's only a sophomore, and you never can tell about kids. He's playing better and better. I know he wants to [play professionally], and when that time comes, we'll see. Being a pro is a hard thing to do. You really have to work, and if you're on the fringe, you gotta go to the right team and get a break. It's in his hands."
Marty Blake, the league's legendary director of scouting, phrases it less delicately: "He's got no chance, right now. The fact that he's Kobe's brother [sic] doesn't mean anything. If he starts averaging 24 [points] a game, then it would mean something."
Courtesy of AP Worldwide Photos
In his sixth season in the NBA, Kobe Bryant has emerged as one of the league's premier players, averaging 26 points per game.
Courtesy of AP Worldwide Photos
In his sixth season in the NBA, Kobe Bryant has emerged as one of the league's premier players, averaging 26 points per game.
Paul Trapani
After a good start in league play, John Cox and the Dons finished the season with just an 8-6 record against WCC teams.
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That's why Cox has a fallback plan. A business major who earned an 87.1 average in high school, Cox is savvy enough to realize his famous genes might land him a job in the boardroom, if not on the hard-court.
"If I major in business, you know, my cousin's pretty popular, I might be able to get a good job," Cox says. "Right now I'm focusing on college basketball. If it takes me further, then I'll go further. But right now I want to concentrate on my education, get my degree."
When asked if he feels at all bitter toward the cousin who's achieved everything -- and achieved it so quickly -- in the sport that's dominated both of their young lives, John Cox dons an unusually serious frown. "Bitter?" he asks. "I don't know what you mean, "bitter.'"
Does Cox resent his cousin's success? Does he ever wonder why he's not the one who was blessed with the beyond-extraordinary talent in the family?
"Oh, I see what you're saying," says Cox, with a sigh and a nod that indicates he's thought about this question many, many times. "Do I feel I'm in his shadow? Not really. I'm glad he's doing so well. He helps me a lot. People are still going to say, "You're not Kobe,' no matter what. I just have to be the best player I can be.
"It's so everyday, you know? It used to bother me, but not anymore. That's what I am. I am his cousin. There's nothing else to it."
John Cox has never beaten Kobe Bryant one-on-one.
But he's come close.
The last time was in October, when the cousins were back in Philadelphia to attend their grandfather's funeral. They played in the gymnasium of Bryant's high school, Lower Merion. With the score tied 10-10, Bryant buried two jump shots to seal the victory.
"Usually there's a lot of trash talk, it can get real competitive," Cox says. "But once I lose, he knows I'm mad anyway. He knows it hit my heart already. He can kind of not say anything, just walk off the court like that's how it's supposed to be, and that makes me even more mad."
But while Cox would like to someday beat his cousin one-on-one, that's not the competition by which he measures his success. Instead, he says, he'll feel he's arrived if he can team up with his cousin -- ideally in the NBA but otherwise on charity or promotional squads -- to beat players who don't share their proud family's genes.
"If anything, if someday down the line I was playing at a professional level, I'd want to play with him," Cox says emphatically. "Rather than play against him, I'd rather play with him. I've always kind of wanted to play with him anyway. We can compete later in a gym one-on-one, you know what I mean?
"No, when it counts, I'd rather play with him."
