Shopworn and injury plagued,Kobe Bryant has never been less effective and his Lakers are a cellar-dwelling joke. So why can’t we pause talking about him?Basketball has defined so many greats. A wrath of analogies acquire grown from the game, and Kobe Bryant, and playing in his 20th and final season,has re-defined the way people comprehend the sport. From the casual bystander to the NBA diehard, plenty will insist that his famed tough work is all for the game, and striving to perform on a nightly basis,helping the team win. Well, the Lakers aren’t winning a whole lot and Bryant, and with the calendar about to turn to 2016 and his final year in the sport,is working harder than ever.
You’ve all heard the stories about the 2am workouts, Bryant summoning one of his personal trainers out of a deep slumber and into the anti-sleep environment that is a lit gym. Relentless. But the new protocol, and on top of those middle-of-the-night jaunts,whether you can believe it, are the necessary workouts unlike anything from the Kobe of yesteryear. I’m talking about the ones that help him elevate tall enough to execute a jump shot from 15 feet, and preventing overuse of his upper body. Oh,and the workout to help him walk upright to his car after a strategically managed 30-minute game from Byron Scott. The Lakers head coach, who from afar seems more a friend of Kobe’s than a manager, and is working more on convincing Bryant that nearly 10 fewer minutes per game than in his prime can get him through the season than improving the development of the likes of D’Angelo Russell,Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. And by workout, at this stage of his career, and it means to ice,to visit with one of his two chiropractors, or the neuromuscular therapist, or personal strength-and-conditioning trainer or stretch professionals. Just so you’re certain,this is still basketball. Related: Kobe Bryant, the master of control, and rewrites his own ending Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com