Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant Looks Deadly, But Can It Hold Up?
By Shane Young
The theme of the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers has been a common trend for everyone: Proving people wrong.
Nearly each individual on the roster is playing with that mindset, and it’s an unwavering goal for the franchise. Carlos Boozer is out on the journey to prove Chicago wrong about the amnesty provision. Jeremy Lin now has the freedom to show Daryl Morey and the Rockets why they shouldn’t have been so quick on shopping their backup point guard.
Steve Nash, turning 41 in February, is on the mission to illustrate how healthy he truly is, and that he was worth bringing back for his last season. Los Angeles had the opportunity to use their stretch provision on Nash — where he would be released and all of his owed salary would be broken up into the next two seasons — but they chose to bite the bullet. Rookies Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson will also seek to make other franchises hang their heads, since both felt they were overlooked in the 2014 draft.
What’s the commonality? Shocking the public opinion. Allowing pundits across the nation to see why they play the game; people’s projections aren’t always how things play out. You have to physically play the season, go through the process, and results could actually be favorable for these Lakers.
Nobody understands the concept, or embraces the story of being counted out more than Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, in his 19th season, has been ruled out of championship competition since 2012. After Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks halted the push for a Lakers 3-peat, Los Angeles has only went in the opposite direction.
Many didn’t believe the 2012-13 season could’ve been worse than the Dwight Howard experiment, but it sure was when the league’s fourth all-time scorer went down with an Achilles tear. An hour after it occurred, standing in front of the locker room holding back tears, Bryant was counted out.
Eight months later, Bryant made his return to the court against the Toronto Raptors. Kobe went through a turnover fest and appeared to lose all of his timing, resulting in more doubters.
In sports media, and with the absurd amount of fans that love to chime in their own views, it creates room for loads of negativity. 70-80 percent of the conversations about Kobe Bryant throughout this summer have likely been filled with negative credence.
He’s not supposed to come back, at age 36, and be a prolific superstar. Nobody endures two lower leg injuries and puts Father Time to sleep at the same time.
Actually, it’s a bit disgusting to see people pull out the hate card on a guy that’s been dedicated for nearly 20 years. It’s labeled as being “realistic” and “being on planet Earth” when trying to depict how Kobe will have a down season. However, it’s just as realistic to claim positive views, since Bryant has always been resilient. Each season that he’s been healthy (so, excluding last year), the individual expectations we lay on him are always exceeded.
Take 2012-13 for instance, which was the last time we witnessed him at a peak level.
In his 17th season, Bryant was at the mark of 27.3 points per game, which was the highest of anyone in their 17th year as a pro. His 6.0 assists per game also reached the highest it’s been since 2004-05, which was also a 6.0 assists per game season.
During that year, Kobe also set a career-high in Assist Percentage, which estimates the percentage of teammates’ field goals player X assisted on while he was on the court. His Assist Percentage of 29.7 (through 78 games) was remarkable, and the “selfish” tag that’s been attached to his style was ripped off. Or, at least it should’ve been. Some people still don’t appreciate his personality, or playing techniques.
Despite the Lakers falling to 45 wins, and not being in the upper-echelon of the West, Bryant’s offensive win shares sky-rocketed that season. In 2012-13, his offensive win shares reached 8.4, which was the highest mark it’s been since 2008-09 — his fourth championship season.
After having nine months of uninterrupted rehab and training (January thru September), Bryant seemed ready to lace up for the 2014 preseason.
New head coach, Byron Scott, mentioned during training camp that Bryant would play in all eight preseason games. Some would think the wise approach would be to play him in only half of the games, since there’s no use of risking him to injury in games that don’t matter. Nonetheless, it’s Bryant’s choice to get all of the rust off before the start of the regular season on Oct. 28, and he aims to play the same amount of time during each preseason event.
In the preseason opener vs. Denver on Monday, Scott went with the starting lineup of Nash, Bryant, Boozer, Wesley Johnson, and Jordan Hill. There’s your 2014-15 starters for the whole year as well.
15 seconds into the game, and here comes Kobe flaring to the top of the key, from the restricted area. Off the catch, with a hop to get his shooting motion started, he releases.
Airball. Incredibly too short.
The reaction was silent, but then everyone soon snapped into the truth; these things happen, everyone has a bad shot. It was the movement on the court that should’ve been taken away from the first few minutes, not the efficiency results, or anything to do with scoring. People want to see how he moves, and how he stacks up with other, younger athletes on the court.
Not even a minute later, the Lakers were still scoreless, and someone needed to change that.
It was Bryant, who asked for the ball near the left elbow, from about 16 feet out. That’s his prized-possession, as it’s been since going back-and-forth with Michael Jordan as a youngster in the late 1990’s. Arron Afflalo was on the assignment of guarding Bryant, since it doesn’t take a genius to know what Kobe was setting up for. Two quick dribbles, and a spin towards his strong shoulder, and you had Bryant’s vintage fadeaway jumper. He didn’t fail to connect that time, showing that he’s capable of delivering the same goods as before.
It wasn’t the made shots that you had to look for, or even the fact that he was scoring. His footwork in the mid-post was consistently the same as it’s been for the last four or five years. The lateral movements aren’t going to get slower just because he’s had surgery on his Achilles and knee. It’s the simple case of going through rehab and physical training. Too often, there are folks that have the impression of a player returning on hobbled legs. That’s not the case, since a veteran isn’t going to return prematurely, or before he’s 100 percent. And, if you’re 100 percent, it completely takes away the “but he’s coming off two major injuries” argument.
Bryant also benefited from using Jordan Hill as a screener at the top of the key. Just minutes after his pull-up fadeaway, he popped behind the 3-point line while Hill used his body to double screen Afflalo and Timofey Mosgov. Hill’s man (Mosgov) did sneak through the screen eventually, but it was after Bryant had already entered his motion. Splash, again.
His pull-up jumper (off the catch) looks the same, and it even has the same lift that it did in 2012-13, before the injuries. Again, those legs are fine.
He wasn’t shy to go back to his post game, as he tried another turnaround jumper from the right corner. Knocked a bit off balance and having to shoot with little space, it still fell for Kobe, giving him three field goals on the night.
After resting for the second quarter and coming back into the game during the third, Bryant finished with 13 points on 5-of-12 field goals. It was a game for him to get back into the groove, and a few errant plays were expected. He was able to get to the line four times, and that’s the underlying factor for his success this season. He shouldn’t make it too hard for himself, trying to score from mid-range and the outside. Attack the basket as much as possible, but do it in his usual finesse fashion. It will create trips to the foul line, and generate easier scores.
His passing was on-cue, and not mistimed as it was during his December return last season. That was a horrible adventure we don’t ever want to re-visit.
Playing in 21 minutes, Kobe should see these type of minutes all preseason long. He looked unselfish, especially when driving to the rim. It’s quite ridiculous that he still garners so much attention from defenders, and that only helps the Lakers. Every big man is so caught up with what Bryant might do, they sag off Jordan Hill or Carlos Boozer. Bryant was able to make the right passes (as well as slick deliveries) to the big men when he drove through the lane, and he finished with five assists.
Bryant’s plus-minus for the first preseason game was +7, higher than any other Laker for the night.
Transitioning into the regular season, the question of whether or not Kobe’s scoring looks and easy offense can hold up is resting on his health. That’s always what it depends on in sports, right?
With him stating that this is the best he’s felt physically in “the last three or four years,” it shouts nothing but great signs. The destruction Bryant put on opponents in 2012-13 was also through some nagging ankle injuries and lower back pain, so to hear him say that should be fully optimistic.
The Lakers should feel rather lucky. They’re slated for only 16 back-to-backs over the course of the season. Now, to any average person out there, 16 seems like a very high number, considering how vigorous the NBA schedule is for six months of the year.
But, 16 back-to-backs is actually tied with the Miami Heat for the least amount in the entire league. Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Denver all got stuck with 21 back-to-backs, while Detroit must have ransacked the commissioner’s house this summer. They have the most back-to-backs in the league, with 22. Yes, the Lakers were fortunate, and so was Kobe.
Will Byron Scott sit Bryant in any of the back-t0-backs to conserve his health and energy for the next two years? It’s not plausible, since Los Angeles hopes to be on the cusp of Western Conference contention … at least for the 9th or 8th spot. If they find that they’re record is above expectations from the media (so, above .500), you better believe Scott is playing all of his starters, and playing them at high minutes. It’s just what coaches do when they find themselves within reach.
Bryant would want nothing more than to play at 37 or 38 minutes a night again.
But, if he wants to still feel on top of the world in terms of energy and fighting off fatigue, he’ll have to step in and let the young guys know that offensive contributions have to come from them … immediately.
If Scott is true to his word and doesn’t take the D’Antoni approach — working his old, beat up superstar to death — this season is set to shine bright for the Lakers. More importantly, it’ll allow Bryant to be more productive when he’s on the floor, similar to the glimpses we seen in the preseason opener.
**All statistical support credited to Basketball-Reference**