Los Angeles Lakers: Should Kobe Bryant Play The KG Role?
Kobe Bryant is used to being an alpha dog for the Los Angeles Lakers, but should he take a page out of his fellow veteran Kevin Garnett’s book and play the mentor role going forward?
It’s clear that this NBA season for the Los Angeles Lakers will be all about Kobe Bryant because, simply put, he’s Kobe.
He’s the last of a dying breed of alpha dogs that once ruled the NBA. He has been the team’s go-to guy for the better part of two decades and has made his mark as one of the greatest scorers and isolation players of all time.
Even in his old age, Bryant’s presence and resume alone has still managed to dominate in such a way that head coach Byron Scott blatantly bends his personal rules to accommodate the Black Mamba, and fans still hold out hope that every night he performs he will erupt and show a glimpse of the player that used to be.
Because of this, fans can expect to see Bryant continuing to play 30+ minutes a night, jack up 20 shots a game and go without blame or resistance from the coaching staff despite the clear deterioration of his play — simply because he’s earned it.
However, something different — and beautiful — occurred Wednesday night when the Lakers took on another young team with an aging Hall of Famer in the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While Bryant played the majority of the first half and had a decent game by his current standards — 11 points in 25 minutes on 38 percent shooting and 50 percent from three — it was what he didn’t do that made headlines the next day.
In a shocking twist, Bryant benched himself in the fourth quarter and overtime period of a tightly contested game and convinced Scott to let youngsters D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle run the show.
The highly touted rookie duo responded to the nod from Bryant by delivering their best performances of the season. Russell led the way with a season and career-high 23 points, including the shot that sent the game into OT, while Randle provided 20 points and 12 boards in a contest that might have served as a coming-out party for the two, despite the team losing 122-123.
What made the game even more exciting to watch was seeing Bryant going wild on the bench, cheering on the youngsters as they finally got the opportunity to lead the charge and beaming like a proud father after Russell hit the overtime-forcing shot.
This is the first time Bryant took a clear backseat to the budding youngsters as opposed to trying to play the mentor and star role at the same time. In this vein, he took on a role very similar to the one Kevin Garnett has been playing in Minnesota.
As KG and the Timberwolves have demonstrated, passing the torch sooner rather than later will only make things better — for everyone.
When the Wolves made the move to bring Garnett back to Minnesota, it wasn’t just for the obvious feel-good storyline. It was understood that Garnett was well past his prime and that while he is still able to play, he would best serve as somewhat of a player-coach to their young, talented core of Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and now Karl-Anthony Towns.
Garnett has fully assumed that role, only playing 19.6 minutes last season and 16.1 this season, allowing the youngsters to play the quality minutes to gain experience in real game situations.
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The situation has worked out tremendously well for everyone involved. Wiggins and LaVine continue to make strides in their second year in the league, Towns is an early Rookie of the Year candidate, Garnett is enjoying the last days of his career as the spiritual leader of the team that drafted him and, most importantly, the Timberwolves are playing better, as they currently sit only a game back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
As evidenced by last night’s game, such a situation could be beneficial for the Lakers, too.
It’s clear the team is at a turning point right now. Bryant still plays well from time to time (see the 31-point game against the Washington Wizards) but can’t sustain it while playing 30 minutes a night over the course of an 82-game season.
At this point in his career, playing him 20-25 minutes a game would not only allow him to still play and play more effectively, but would give more quality playing time to the young tag team of Russell and Randle, who are getting better and better with each passing game and will only continue to grow leaps and bounds as the season goes on.
Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 7
As KG and the Timberwolves have demonstrated, passing the torch sooner rather than later will only make things better — for everyone.