Well the result was not as good as expected but the celebration was not affected ;-). Great apologies to everybody for the off topic
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...-for-all-basketball-activities-182243340.html Ball Don't Lie Report: Kobe Bryant 'medically cleared for all basketball activities' By Dan Devine1 hour ago Ball Don't Lie Kobe Bryant underwent season-ending surgery to repair a torn right rotator cuff back in January, the Los Angeles Lakers laid out a nine-month timeline for his return to the court. His return to shooting drills last month and general manager Mitch Kupchak's comments last week sparked optimism among Lakers fans that he'd be back in the mix for L.A.'s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct. 28, and it looks like the Hollywood faithful will get their wish. According to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report, Bryant's officially all the way back from his thirdstraight season-ending injury: [Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball] Bryant's recovery from his latest devastating late-career injury, a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder, is complete — and he currently has no physical limitations as he gears up for what he expects will be his final NBA season.Bryant has been medically cleared for all basketball activities, according to league sources.After his body has taken him to basketball hell and back over and over in recent years, that's as much as Bryant could have hoped would happen for him this offseason.The potential for one last Kobe Bryant hurrah is possible. [Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!] As Forum Blue and Gold's Darius Soriano notes, the fact that this outcome was expected based on the initial recovery timeline and the periodic updates offered throughout "does not make the news any less important." It's impossible to separate Bryant's absence for the bulk of the past two campaigns — he's played just 41 of a possible 164 contests — from the reality that these have been far and away the Lakers' two worst seasons since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. To what extent he could carry an underwhelming cast of characters as he moved past age 35 into NBA senescence remained a subject of much debate, but without the legendary offensive star in the mix, Byron Scott's club seemed simply toothless, feckless and, more than anything, hopeless. Bryant's return — along with the presence of supremely confident No. 2 overall pick D'Angelo Russell, a new beginning for injured-before-he-got-started 2014 lottery pick Julius Randle, and the import of players like defensive centerpiece Roy Hibbert and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams — doesn't turn the Lakers into a title contender; the team's overall talent level just isn't commensurate wth the best teams in the league, and there's only so much of a burden Bryant can bear at age 37, after all these breaks and tears. But it does provide hope: for a more competitive product on the floor, for more scintillating "turn back the clock" individual moments authored by future Hall of Famer Bryant, and for something worth watching and celebrating as one of the most gifted and singular characters in basketball history wages yet another war — maybe his last, maybe not — against the forces martialed against him and his brothers in purple-and-gold. The hard business of winning that war will come soon enough. For now, all we know is that he's once again ready to get back on the battlefield; for now, that's enough. "I still got something for all of you" :headbounce:
:heart: Hoping for one or more of these moments from this upcoming season to remember before he's gone....
Awesome. I'm seriously getting amped up for this training camp. This team is already impressing me. I know we go through this kind of stuff every summer, but everyone is saying and doing the right things. Guys have been in the gym now for over two weeks getting ready for the season. I absolutely love the young group we're molding here.
Kobe deserves a healthy season. He doesn't need to play every game but I want him to finish the season and hopefully, gulp, his career not in another injury.
Awesome!! :wow: Edit..... am surprised no other comments on this interview with Mike Krzyzewski. It's always a treat for Lakers fans to hear him talk about Kobe Bryant, and this time is no different. He says a number of cool things about Kobe coming out of high school and also possibly playing past this year if he is healthy.
ESPN: Brian Windhorst says Kobe Bryant "right on schedule", but shouldn't play any back-to-back games this year.
He's a little ahead of schedule actually. Procedure done in January, expected recovery about 9 months, and he's 100% now. That puts him about a month ahead of schedule. I like the sound of no back to backs though. Plan your tickets accordingly!
Wait, is Windhorst "reporting" that a Laker executive or Byron has told him no back to backs for Kobe, or is he just stating his opinion, that we're getting excited about it now, which seems odd? Yeah, common sense of course. Everyone's been saying it here too.