The State Of Kobe Bryant And The Los Angeles Lakers

Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns, Kobe Bryant found himself in a familiar situation against a team he’s despised since the mid-2000s: outmatched, outflanked and outgunned.

But in typical Kobe fashion, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and by hoisting 37 shots in the losing effort, he went down in a purple and gold blaze of glory that’s slowly but surely becoming the identifying trademark of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Suffice it to say it’s a far cry from this franchise’s former days of glory.

By becoming the only player other than Michael Jordan to take that many shots in a game at age 36 or older, Bryant unknowingly gave the Lakers their identity for the 2014-15 season.

But unlike His Airness — who put up 51 points on 55 percent shooting in his 38-shot game with the Washington Wizards — Kobe shot his team out of the game (37.8 percent). The Mamba also took two more shots (37) than the rest of L.A.’s starting five COMBINED (35).

As he continued to hoist shot after shot in an attempt to carry the Lakers on offense, he wasn’t just fighting the Suns. He was battling Father Time, Uncle Injury-Prone, all known efficiency metrics, his teammates’ ineptitude and his current predicament on a hopeless team. You can just see it in his body language.

Five games into the new NBA calendar and the Lakers’ season is already a bust, but people are still tuning in.

It could be because train wrecks are generally hard to turn away from, especially when they involve a five-time NBA champion, but it’s more than that. It’s also more than Laker haters soaking in every ounce of aggravation and frustration on Bryant’s face night in and night out.

No, people are still watching because Los Angeles has finally dropped the charade and begrudgingly embraced the trend that’s grown more and more prevalent for years: the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t about winning championships right now. They’re about Kobe Bryant.

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What other conclusion can we draw from the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers so far? Whether or not you believe Kobe Bryant is the reason the Lakers have failed to attract big-name free agents the last few summers is irrelevant. The Black Mamba is a proven winner, but he finds himself surrounded with a completely incompetent supporting cast. Why not take 37 shots in a game? No one on this roster is going to do anything with the ball.

Maybe that’s why not many people are raising hell that eight days into the season Kobe had taken 40 more field goal attempts than anyone in the league. He’s averaging 24.4 shots per game, but he’s only converting on 40.2 percent of his attempts.

This isn’t a Kobe witch hunt though; if anything, it’s a reminder that he’ll do what it takes to win on a team that doesn’t know how to do so.

Entering the season, the most optimistic (read: delusional) Lakers fans were hopeful that a playoff spot was in the cards. Kobe Bryant was going to be the MVP, Julius Randle was going to be the Rookie of the Year, Steve Nash was going to stay healthy and Jeremy Lin was going to kick off Linsanity 2.0.

I’ve never tried that California kush, but it MUST be good.

Even if Randle hadn’t broken his leg in the season opener, and even if Nash’s career wasn’t going to wind down in the most depressing fashion possible, this Lakers team was never going to make the playoffs. Byron Scott doesn’t like three-pointers, Los Angeles has the worst defense in the NBA and even if Kobe did lead by example on that end, guys like Lin, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill are just outmatched defensively.

In his prime, Bryant was a very good defender when he was locked in. But it’s no surprise to see a 36-year-old come back from an Achilles injury AND a knee injury and struggle to keep guys in front of him, even when he is locked in. No offense to Alec Burks, but when ALEC BURKS is making you look like stick in the mud, you know defense is an area for improvement.

The Lakers won’t win many games giving up 116.8 points per contest and 120.5 points per 100 possessions — both the worst marks in the league by a margin as wide as Shaquille O’Neal‘s waistline. But maybe winning was never a realistic goal this season.

After all, the Lakers have a 2015 protected pick that will go to the Suns as the final stinger of the infamous Steve Nash trade…unless L.A. spirals down the drain. The pick is top-five protected, which means the Lakers would need to finish in the top five of the NBA Draft Lottery to keep it (most likely requiring one of the worst five records in the league). Sixth and below and it goes to Phoenix.

After Los Angeles’ miserable start, Suns fans have reasons to sweat about missing out on that pick. The Lakers have looked worse than every other team in the league save the Philadelphia 76ers. Their second best player is Ed Davis, a bench player, and this once-proud franchise is off to its first 0-5 start since the 1950s, back when they were the Minneapolis Lakers.

And yet, the Los Angeles Lakers remain a team worth watching.

“Vino” is the perfect nickname for Kobe Bryant at this stage of his career. He’s aged, his essence is no longer in its prime and everyone is getting drunk on its complete and total consumption. Whether you’re watching the Lakers as a loyal fan, to simply cheer on Kobe in his return or to laugh at the state of the NBA’s Dallas Cowboys, Bryant is the one who makes it all so interesting.

The Lakers are in worse shape than they’ve been in for more than half a century. Other than Randle, this team has virtually zero assets once the Mamba decides to call it a career.

But that’s OK. Believe it or not, it’s acceptable for a team to be truly terrible for the first time in 50 years. No other franchise can claim to be as consistently competitive/lucky in the history of the NBA like the 16-time champions can.

But in a lost season, when championships are so unbelievably beyond reach and luck runs out, you can be guaranteed people will still tune in to watch Kobe get his. It’s a necessity on this team. It’s from popular demand. It’s fun AND it’s controversial. But most of all, it’s who Kobe Bryant is, and it’s who the Los Angeles Lakers have become.

Yet somehow, it’s even scarier to imagine what the Lakers will become once No. 24 is no longer around.

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