TERRY PIERSON , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ONTARIO – Kobe Bryant’s style of leadership has been more or less consistent over the first 18 years of his career.
It’s called tough love. Like it or prepare to be at odds with the tough-minded superstar.
Until this year, that is.
Bryant said last week that he was taking a more “nurturing” role with this year’s Lakers, who are leaning on far less experienced players than Bryant is used to.
“You had a lot of veteran guys that have been around,” Bryant said, “so, the teaching style is a little different.”
Byron Scott, who was Bryant’s rookie mentor with the Lakers in 1996, said Bryant “has done a heck of a job with taking guys to the side, just teaching them little things about the NBA.”
Scott described Bryant as a mentor and “a little bit of an assistant coach,” shortly before the Lakers played the Golden...
