Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant’s New Aggression
By Chris Walton
With all of the injuries that the Los Angeles Lakers have suffered this preseason, they are far from finding their identity as a team.
Byron Scott has implemented an offense that is the polar opposite of Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun style from last season. It features less freedom and focuses on shots from midrange and the post.
Three-pointers also seem to be forbidden within the flow of the team’s gameplan. The Lakers have not attempted more than 10 3-pointers in any of their four games. Much of this can be attributed to the absence of both Xavier Henry and Nick Young, who picked up the shooting and scoring off of Los Angeles’ bench.
The one thing that remains is Kobe Bryant is looking to be more aggressive. Thursday night’s matchup against the Utah Jazz saw him take the most shots this preseason (23), including more shots in the paint. Bryant finished his night with 27 points on 43.4 percent shooting.
It’s been clear that The Black Mamba wants to ease himself into the year as an efficient scorer. The one thing that could attribute to the Lakers’ success is nights when Bryant becomes a volume scorer. In a lot of ways, the Lakers will live and die with 19-25 shots a night from Kobe.
Why does Bryant need to take this many shots? So much of Los Angeles’ offense is missing due to the aforementioned Young, Henry, Jeremy Lin, and Ryan Kelly suffering injuries. With the season starting in less than two weeks, these players will be looking to get in game shape and learn the team’s offense.
Scoring will eventually become a part of their roles, but right now the Lakers need to lean on their franchise guy.
Bryant looked comfortable doing what he does best, and that’s scoring. The fluidity and confidence that he displays on the court right now is important. It’s definitely good news to the Lakers that Bryant is looking to have placed last season’s devastating injury behind him.
With every game where he exhibits mobility and energy, the team knows they can rely on him to appear in most games this season. Both Bryant and Scott have met regarding the minutes that he plans to play on a nightly basis. With that number in mind, the Lakers must be imagining how many games Kobe is planning to appear in for the year.
Hopefully, Bryant will pick his spots and rest when needed.
The reality still remains that Kobe Bryant is in year 19, and he hasn’t played a full season in two years. To expect him to compete at his infamous level of competitiveness is farfetched. The one thing that Los Angeles must do is allow him to lead and play his newly evolved game.
More importantly, they must figure out how to mesh the slow-down style of Kobe with their younger players. Despite his great success and ability, wins in the NBA are coming by hand of high-powered offense and defense.
The Lakers must bring the best out of Bryant at both ends, and hope that he keeps his aggression there, too.