Los Angeles Lakers: A Guide To Enjoying The End Of Kobe Bryant’s Career

3. Mentor The Younglings

So now that we’ve accepted the depressing fact that Kobe Bean is no longer Kobe Bean, what should Bryant’s role be for the 2015-16 season? Well, it’s one that’s supposedly been his role since the start of last season: mentoring the team’s young talent and passing the torch.

Despite only playing 14 minutes in his rookie season due to a leg injury, Julius Randle is back and looks ready to take the league by storm. He’s averaging 14.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in what is essentially his rookie season, and recently had a 22-point, 15-rebound performance against the Mavs — in the same contest where Kobe went 3-for-15.

Even on a night where Kobe was down on himself, he was more than capable of noticing how well Randle has been playing so far.

So with all that praise heading Randle’s way, why the hell aren’t the touches following? Through the first four games of the season, Randle is averaging 12.0 shots a night, which is a respectable amount, but still pales in comparison to Bryant’s unnecessary 15.5 field goal attempts per game.

There’s no doubt about it; until D’Angelo Russell is an NBA-ready point guard (or, more accurately, until Byron Scott starts playing him at the 1), the Lakers’ core begins with the impressive mix of speed and power that Julius Randle brings to the table.

However, Randle isn’t the only promising young player on this roster. Russell’s development may be tethered to Scott’s nonsensical insistence that he play off the ball, but Jordan Clarkson is another guy who should be getting a significant portion of the Lakers’ shots.

So far this season, Clarkson is averaging 18.3 points per game on 55.8 percent shooting from the field and 46.7 percent shooting from three-point range. In the Lakers’ latest game against the Denver Nuggets, he put up 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting.

So why the hell is such an efficient offensive player giving up looks to a guy who’s shooting an abysmal 32.3 percent from the field and 20.4 percent from three-point range? There’s no logical reason for it until you remember the guy in question is Kobe Bryant.

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At this point in his career, Kobe is that father that walks his daughter down the aisle at her wedding and won’t let go of her hand when he gets to the end of the aisle until someone forcibly removes it from his grip.

The Lakers are no longer capable of winning games while being led by the Black Mamba. It’s time for them to invest in the future, and in order to do that, both Kobe and this franchise need to realize that Bryant has got to relinquish control. The sad thing is that Kobe has a ton of basketball wisdom to impart on these young, impressionable players who still view him as a basketball deity.

Kobe’s torch has burned out, and it’s time to pass it on to the next generation. It’s time to start giving the lion’s share of the team’s shots to those guys and be remembered as the Laker great who helped usher in the next era. Right now, he’s the Black Mamba whose vice grip is suffocating the future of the franchise he helped make so great.

Next: No. 2