I thought this was a good read, and I think it says a lot of what long time Lakers/Kobe fans have been feeling lately. This is uncharted territory with Kobe and it's strange, and sad. I enjoyed the initial break he took where our guys stepped up and he saw he could do less, but I don't love seeing him sit so much and the idea that he will be done soon feeling so real and so close. I also enjoyed how Ding pointed out that Byron said he was done playing Kobe entire quarters. Then he does it again in a blowout. Wtf, Byron?
There's only one person to blame, Byron. A 36 player going into his 19th season and off of two seaso ending injuries should not be played entire quarters and almost entire games. Best thing to do was slowly work kobe back into game shape, he had a long time off of real game time basketball. And once he was back to that point then he should be playing at most 32 mins. Heck even take some back to back games. Even Kobe said at one point that he was tired! Yet byron still played him so many minutes. Now we are stuck at a point where it looks like Kobe is really broken. EDIT: another nice read from Ding, thanks for sharing.
I'm thinking the decision to sit so many games has some purposeful tanking element. There was another article today that had Byron saying he may shut Kobe down at some point in the season. I'm thinking their eye is on that lotto pick.
Yep. This stinks of last year's moves to me. Kobe was hurt most of last year, true, but he also sat a lot longer than he had to I think. The Lakers are looking around and realizing that we're just Kobe missing away from being a Bottom Four team.
I dunno, I think we're basically the same with or without Kobe. We're in games against a lot of good teams, we beat some bad ones, and we get destroyed by the Clippers, same as usual. I don't see why sitting Kobe would matter, not like you're saving him for a title run next season, and you're stopping the only things he has left, racking up points, assists, and boards for the all-time lists.
Well the flip side of that coin is you're not gaining anything as a team either. Kobe's stats aren't as important right now as the Lakers getting that pick, right? I think the goal for the FO now is: - Do their best to get that pick - Go find a star in FA (Love, Rondo, even Jimmy Butler, Dragic, and Monroe) - Go for the playoffs next season with a healthy Randle, a Top Five pick, and a high-profile FA Playing Kobe now on a regular basis just leaves open the possibility of injury for Kob and ticket sales plummeting again. With this method Kobe could play every two to three games which won't help us win much while still giving the fans the specter of Kobe playing. I think at this point it's a business decision and a leap of faith that we'll be able to field a more competitive roster for Kobe next season.
This is what I think is the biggest point. We've seen Kobe back already. We know he can still play at a high level, even getting up pretty nicely on that backdoor dunk. He's saving it. Why waste what he has left on a lost season? Summer 2015, he's going to go up to these free agents and be like "Yo, I can still play. I just took 2015 off and risk getting injured with these scrubs. Come play with me." We're all used to seeing Kobe fight through injury, but he can't do that anymore. So instead of shutting it down for the season, he's using the "I'm old" card. I think Kobe still has 1 really good season left in him, especially if he gets paired with the right players.
good piece. I hope the full tank is finally on. people complain about Byron, but imo, the team has actually overachieved so far. now, maybe that's Byron being short-sighted, but they should probably be an 8-win team right now.
This may be the best thing that could have happened for Kobe. Kobe, like all elite athletes, think they can be pretty bullet proof. He proved to himself he can't do what he used to any more. Had we played him less minutes, he would always think he was capable of more. Now he KNOWS he's not, and will hopefully accept what he can do with a renewed vigor knowing what he now knows, and embracing what that means. For him to be "done" and still throwing up triple double type numbers is absurd. A true man among boys, and I look forward to watching whatever he gives us while we also now have a chance to develop some young talent. With Kobe's blessing...
at this point, it's not like kobe would change much anyways sitting him out like this is for the better and i'm sure he prefers that instead of being out there for loss after loss
Yes kobe is aging, yes kobe can't do what he has done in the past...But its not fair to measure him that way. Measure him against others who played 19 seasons. Kobe is still at the top of that list.
I firmly believe, that if Kobe puts his mind to it, he can avg. close to a triple double. Not bad for an old guy.
I'm not sure if he could average one, but he could come pretty close. Way closer than a man his age with his many miles on it has any right to anyway. If he tried, and I think he's sort of on that path, I think he could end up with 16/8/10 or something like that. He said not too long ago that he's getting his "Oscar Robertson on" which I'm sure means trying to get a Triple-Double every game.
