Los Angeles Lakers: A response to Kobe Bryant’s recent comments

Los Angeles Lakers and NBA legend Kobe Bryant recently voiced his latest opinion on the current team’s young core, and his advice was very critical and candid.

It has now been more than one full season since Los Angeles Lakers fans have seen Kobe Bryant suit up for the purple and gold, but he has made an effort to stay active in the Lakers organization. Magic Johnson has admitted to reaching out to Kobe for advice when it comes to basketball decisions, so the Black Mamba’s opinion is certainly worth paying attention to.

In an interview that aired on Spectrum Sports Net, Kobe began by comparing the current Lakers to the team that he joined in 1996 coached by Del Harris. He discussed some of the similarities between the two teams and emphasized patience during the process of building a contending team:

"“Even when Shaq and I first came here, there was still patience. Shaq still had to grow up, he was extremely young. I still had to grow up. We had a lot of the pieces around that had to grow up. Now, it seemed like it was easier then, because it seemed like we were a contender right off the bat. Van Exel, Eddie Jones and Shaq. But that wasn’t the reality. It took us years to get there. The only difference was we were a contending team. Never won anything, but we were a contending team. This team here is not a contending team, they haven’t won anything. It’s the same damn thing. So, patience has to be required. That day will come. These young players will grow, and then everybody will look up and marvel at the amount of talent we have.”"

These are all fair comparisons of the two rosters, as Kobe Bryant’s first NBA team had some young pieces. That team went 56-26 and finished second in the Pacific before the Lakers were eliminated by the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals.

It seems like Kobe has faith that the current core can return the Lakers to where they belong, but his attitude changed when he proceeded to call out some individual players, encouraging them to show more desire to make the Lakers a contender now:

"“No, not for [Lonzo Ball]. He needs to get better now. Kuzma, better now. Randle, better now. Players, you want that now. We never thought, ‘OK, we’re going to win four years from now. We really thought this is our year. We’re going to get this done. We’re going to push, push, push, push, push to get better now.’ And in the process of having that impatience, you develop. If you’re just patiently going about it, you’ll never get there. For players, it’s kind of patient impatience.”"

Now I’m not saying I have the credentials to tell the five-time NBA champion he is wrong, but I’d like to take this opportunity to present some counterarguments to the statements he made. Here are three reasons Kobe Bryant and all Laker fans should dial back the criticism and appreciate watching these young Lakers grow up before our eyes.