New York ? Between 1996 and 2004, nobody saw the Kobe Bryant who has been parading around the airwaves the last few days.

Before then, they saw an ego big enough to replace the three-lettered acronym for the National Basketball Assn., a child prodigy destined for greatness but targeted by a plethora of critics. There’s been bickering with his star teammates, his own family, the public and the legal system.

He is the defendant in a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape stemming from an incident at an exclusive Colorado resort last year. A felony sexual-assault charge against him was dropped after the woman decided to stop participating in the criminal case. He publicly apologized and avoided a trial that would have rivaled O.J.’s.

It appears that all this acrimony has touched a nerve, igniting a maturation process.

Perhaps it is a facade, a public-relations stunt performed purely to resurrect an image that’s plummeted. But whatever the reason for Bryant’s newfound loquaciousness, don’t bother complaining.

Just hope it continues.

Bryant may be shooting less than 40 percent from the field for the first time in his career as the Lakers struggle while he’s fallen from grace over the last 18 months.

The latest controversy, involving allegations by Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, that Karl Malone made a pass at her, doesn’t help, either.

Yet, in this world where everyone from criminals to politicians appears to have nine lives, there’s nothing wrong with Bryant’s having two.

We’ve seen the obvious one for nearly nine years — in which a reclusive Bryant meshed arrogance and apathy toward his public into a splendid basketball iconic figure. Now it’s time to give him what America is famous for giving almost everyone else:

A second chance.

“Quite honestly, I’d like one,” Bryant said. “People have never known me; they’ve never understood me. The thing is, I used to rely on that and say, ‘to hell with it. That’s other people’s problem.’ Obviously, I now know it’s my problem and I just want to move forward. This last year and a half has been the hardest time of my life.”