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

3. The current Lakers are younger and significantly more inexperienced than the 1996-97 Lakers

When drawing comparisons between his first NBA team and today’s Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe referred to his team as having some young pieces. These players included himself, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Shaquille O’Neal, who had just signed with the Lakers that offseason.

However, it is not fair to compare that young core of players to this season’s Lakers because this year’s team’s main contributors are younger and do not possess the experience that the Kobe’s team had. That season’s Laker roster was the 10th oldest team in the league by average age, while this year’s team is the second-youngest.

Kobe also failed to mention that the 1996-97 Lakers team had 28-year-old Elden Campbell, who enjoyed his best season as a pro, averaging 14.9 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. The Lakers also had NBA journeyman Cedric Ceballos, who was 27 years old and coming off of two straight seasons where he averaged 20 points per game or more.

This year’s Lakers team does not possess anywhere near the veteran leadership that Kobe had when he entered the league. Center Brook Lopez is 29 years old has been a nice piece to set a good example, but the team has been carried almost entirely by the players that Kobe called out in his commentary.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Lakers’ coaching situation is very different now than it was when Kobe joined the organization. The team currently has a lot of faith in Luke Walton in his first head coaching job, but it’ll take patience for him to build a contender. Kobe’s 1996-97 team had NBA coaching veteran Del Harris, who was in his third season with the team.