Kobe Bryant Discussion: Mamba Out!

Way too many minutes. Byron is failing at all things. Won't reign in Kobe when he said he had this great relationship with him and it was part of the reason he was hired here. Running him into the ground - something he said he would not do because he cares so much about Kobe, but has done consistently since being hired. Is supposedly good at developing young PG's, but won't play Russell in most fourth quarters and hasn't really played him to his strengths. Then there's the veterans. Bass out of position since day one. Too much reliance on Lou Williams. Too much reliance on Kobe. Not enough Hibbert to close out games.

 

Byron has to overplay Kobe, because Nick Young is glued to the bench.

 

I've been trying to rationalize the minute and there's really only a few conclusions to be made:

1. Byron (and by extension the FO) wants Kobe to get injured so that he'll be out of the way for the young players. This one is pretty nefarious, but it comes with the assumption that Byron (and by extension the FO) knows that Kobe cannot possibly shoulder this many minutes at this stage in his career. Any rational person knows that a 37 year old player should not be playing this many minutes in a game ESPECIALLY if he's already admitted that he's tired ESPECIALLY if you can absolutely see that he's tired on the floor (inconsistent shooting motion is a huge red flag).

2. Byron (and by extension the FO) has enabled Kobe to do this because they are too weak to tell him no. This one is troublesome becomes it indicates there's no one with a spine in our FO. No one is willing to tell Kobe to either scale back his time on the floor or his presence on the floor. No one wants to step in and tell a 37 year old man that he can't have this. He's basically a spoiled child and the Lakers are the parents that enabled him to get to that point. Now it's costing the Lakers time and opportunity for the team to become established in their post Kobe Bryant Era.

3. Byron (and by extension the FO) is incompetent. They actually don't realize that a 37 year old shouldn't dominate possessions, shouldn't be taking this many shots, and shouldn't be playing this many minutes. They think Kobe is still capable of playing at an elite level where he can carry a team to victory on a nightly basis. They don't think it would be a better idea to give more responsibility to the young players so that they can grow. This is probably the most frightening conclusion because it means even after Kobe is gone the people on our sidelines and in our FO are so incompetent that they're likely to fail again anyway.

 

Agreed. Those "legal issue" years made Kobe take a step back but that 02-03 season Kobe was spectacular. It's his most under-rated season. No one ever talks about it. It's also one of his most athletic seasons. Most of those crazy baseline dunks took place that year.

 

This one too.

 

I agree with you but in this case it's because he has the stomach flu. Byron playing him 35+ minutes a game will kill him. The only thing that kept him under 30 tonight was gastroenteritis.