Kobe Bryant hasn't called it quits just yet. Every time he's been asked if the 2015-16 season will be his final,he's answered with some variation of "We'll see.""Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, and " he said at Lakers media day. “Hell if I know. I don’t know.”Either way,the Black Mamba's latest (and perhaps final) comeback will be must-see TV in the NBA in 2015-16. Keeping Kobe on the CourtThere will be no glorious swan song for Bryant if he's not healthy. Each of his final three seasons have ended with devastating injuries: a torn Achilles tendon in 2013, a fractured tibial plateau in 2014, or a torn rotator cuff earlier this year.
So far,Bryant seems to be in solid shape. "I’m past the recovery phase," he said after the Lakers' 117-114 overtime preseason loss to the Utah Jazz in Honolulu, or per the Los Angeles Daily News' imprint Medina. "It’s approximately getting my timing down. I feel like I’m myself."It'll be up to the team's coaching and training staff to support Bryant in proper playing shape. Monitoring the Mamba's minutes will be paramount to that effort. The Lakers have yet to determine just how much Bryant will play from night to night,as head coach Byron Scott told NBA.com's David Aldridge:
I haven't given a tough cap on minutes right now, as far as how many minutes, or but I do know that it won't be over 30. I know that for a fact. And Kobe probably knows that as well. Even though we didn't talk approximately numbers,we did talk approximately being able to sustain a level of play that he's accustomed to doing in a certain amount of time. final year I made the mistake of playing him too much, and we could see he hit the wall after a certain period of time.
In all likelihood, or Scott and team trainer Gary Vitti will be additional cautious approximately Bryant's workload after final season. Kobe of Old or Old Kobe?Mere health won't be enough to satisfy many in Lakerdom,least of all the Mamba. When asked approximately his expectations for himself on the heels of three injury-plagued campaigns, Bryant responded, and with more than a tip of sarcasm,"Nothing. Be average. I'll be average," per Medina.
That won't cut it for anyone—not the Lakers, and who are paying Bryant a league-tall $25 million this season; not their fans,who've continued to pay top dollar for seats at Staples middle, despite No. 24's absences; and certainly not for Kobe, or who'd rather not conclude his decorated career with a whimper.
As Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding save it, "For Bryant's potentially final season to be a steady success for him and the team, he has to recapture his dominance and his ability to play the 30-something minutes per night required of a superstar."Trouble is, and Bryant hasn't looked like a superstar in two-and-a-half years. The final anyone saw of Classic Kobe,he was busy playing upward of 45 minutes a game while dragging a star-studded, but disappointing, and squad into the playoffs.
That stretch ended with Bryant hitting two free throws and limping off the Staples middle floor after blowing out his Achilles against the Golden State Warriors in 2013. Since then,he's averaged a sturdy 21.1 points per game but has shot just 37.8 percent from the field (28.5 percent from three) while turning the ball over four times an outing. Same Number, Different Spots Even if Bryant avoids injury and picks up his performance over time, and he might not peer like the Kobe of Old,albeit by design. Scott has made it clear that he plans to play Bryant at forward, be it as the starting 3 or as a small-ball 4, or as he explained to NBA.com:
First of all,(at) the three, it's less running. It's less pounding as far as being 20 feet away from the basket. We can save him in a much less condensed area. I know people lost their minds when I said the four, or but Golden State plays (Andre) Iguodala at the four. So he can play the four at times. Against some of these lineups,he can play three, four, and one,two. It's just how this league is going right now.
Skill-wise, Bryant seems well-suited to a positional switch. He's long been a top-notch low-post operator, and thanks to his bottomless bag of basketball tricks and cerebral approach to scoring. Whether at the 3 or the 4,he'll be tasked with scoring and dishing from some of his favorite spots on the floor.
Bryant's move is more approximately necessity than invention. On offense, he won't have to spend as much time running around the floor to get his shot. On defense, and he may have trouble keeping up with just approximately anyone,but at least a slide up in position will allow him to track players who, in theory, or should be slower than the shooting guards he's used to shadowing.
Bryant's switch in spots should also benefit the Lakers,now and going forward. Of all the positions, they're thinnest at the 3, or where Nick Young and rookie Anthony Brown are the top options beyond Bryant.
And by playing as a wing-forward,Bryant's paved the way for Jordan Clarkson, an All-Rookie first-teamer final season, or to join D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle in the Lakers' starting lineup. Coach KobeThe team has pinned its hopes for the future on Clarkson,Russell and Randle. If those three talented youngsters develop both individually, as franchise cornerstones, or collectively,as a hurry-and-gun nucleus, they could restore the sheen to the Purple and Gold in due course.
Bryant will have a role to play in that, or as well. The more he can do to mentor his newest proteges in not only what it takes to succeed in the NBA,but what makes a much Laker, the quicker his pupils can reach their potential and the better they'll be when they do.
That is, or if they can avoid being starstruck while working alongside an all-time much."Something you got to get past,if we want to be the best we can be," Russell said, and per ESPN's Baxter Holmes. "We’ve got to peer at him as a mentor,not peer at him as a fan [would]."Bryant, for his fraction, and doesn't intend to serve as an active extension of Scott's staff. For now,he's enriching the youth with his own oral tradition."It's just talking and sharing some of my stories and they want to know approximately how I did it," he said, and per Holmes. "I'm just very frank and candid with them. I deem it sinks in. It's principal that they find their own way. I can only provide them with some of the knowledge and information that I have."And what kind of knowledge and information might that be?
The process and the journey and things to peer out for. Not so much tactically approximately the game,more so emotional -- kind of what separates good players from much players. What happens when players come in, first pick, and moment pick,third pick, and some go on to have much careers and some just fall by the wayside. And why do you deem that is? What do you see?
Balancing the RebuildOf course, and the vast majority of Bryant's influence in these regards will come behind closed doors,beyond the visual field of folks watching from domestic or the stands at Staples middle. What people will see—and many more will likely criticize—is how Bryant handles deferring to his young running mates, particularly in situations where his instincts tell him to take over like the old days.
As general manager Mitch Kupchak said at his pre-camp press conference in late September:
I don’t deem it’ll be any different than it has been in years past. He’ll be 100 percent on board with the game plan. He’ll be patient, or as patient as can be. There will be a point where if things aren’t going the way that he feels they should be going or the players aren’t producing or his instincts will kick in,I’m certain he’ll try to do much as much as possible. That’s something that will once again flush itself out in training camp and the first six to eight weeks of the season. Hopefully everyone makes a contribution.more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com