Pretty interesting stuff here. His stuff on Kobe is EXACTLY why this locker room won't turn on him. They adore Kobe and even when he's screwing up, they're going to have his back. He's their Jordan and they're fine with whatever he does.
Really fun read. I love Larry. I never thought they'd turn against Kobe really. They've expressed too much love and admiration for that. Byron on the other hand...
They all know once 24 hangs them up...it is all on them. Nance has taken Bass' minutes because of his non stop motor. I really liked his game dating back to preseason. I like the fact that 24 and Peace are taking the time to teach them all the finer things and nuances of the game. School's out... Good read.
It's funny after reading this, does anyone remember the play he blitzed the ball handler and poked the ball loose? I mean Kobe and Metta really are doing great work. Kobe inspires them and Metta kind of teaches them on the floor. Kobe really is the coach of this team pretty much.
My favorite bits in this were the insight on the bench discussions. We see guys talking on the bench all the time, gesturing and motioning to the court, and I always wondered what they're saying. Kobe giving Larry tips on defense, Metta giving Russ tips and confidence on offense, love that stuff. The stuff about Larry defending Kobe's awful play, that's a shame, but I wouldn't expect anything less. At least it's nice to know that Kobe is helping these guys develop while he's on the bench and in other areas, it's more than B0ron is doing while he stands arms-folded for entire games.
Great read. Really like how Kobe and Metta teaching the young guys, you have one of the most knowledgeable players and one of the best defenders of the game sharing their knowledge with you, I hope the young guys are sponges and soak it all up.
I'm not going to convince everyone on this, but I'll just say that it's clear to me that it's hazing, and it's clear from Nance's POV that it bothered him. I know we call it "team building" and "brotherly ribbing" and "just F-ing around," but it's not. Will Nance lose his mind because of this? Nah. It's not that big a deal.
Very cool, one thing I like that Larry brings up that he is realizing and is a key to playing in the NBA is the dynamics of speed, the change up from slow to fast and vice versa that you don't see in college which is just fast all the time but very often out of control. The times when you need to slow it up so that when a fast cut and/or pass happens the defenders are having to adjust to a different speed as well, all of that is part of the game at this level. Something I think young DAR has had to struggle with a little bit as well.
