Out tonight again...good. Also, Trudell tweeted that Kobe might be sitting out of all games on the 2nd of a B2B.
Mark Medina@MarkG_Medina · 7m7 minutes ago Byron said it's too early to know if he would shut Kobe down for season. Said after All-Star break, he would revisit that idea Mark Medina@MarkG_Medina · 16m16 minutes ago Byron said he will likely sit Kobe on 1 game of back to backs moving forward. Which one depends on how schedule is structured
Kobe coming off of two season ending injuries and Byron finally realizes he played Kobe too many minutes. Nice. For him to think playing him 12 minute quarters was the RIGHT thing to do, just shows how clueless he is on the subject. Can we hire someone to solely manage Kobe's minutes? Like anyone on this board who has been saying this since forever ago.
Why would Byron be making the decision to shut him down for the whole year. Unless he has some injury we don't know about. If he's healthy he should play except manage the minutes and mix in the rest periods like 2nd games of back to backs. He's put himself in the NBA record books way up there and still climbing many categories. Besides doesn't seem like he's working on his shot much in practice any more, let him "shot" in games to get some kind of rhythm back.
I thought Kobe was tired, but dang where did even bringing up shutting him down for the season come from? If he would have to do that I'd assume he would be thinking retirement, that's just.. wow. Looks like 28-30 mpg at most is in his future though. Dang, I really thought Byron would be the coach to save Kobe from himself, but he was no better than Brown or 'Antoni, and he broke Kobe in a brand new way.
You don't just make up for running a player into the ground in his 18th season with Kobe's mileage by sitting him a couple games now. Damage has been done.
Some good and revealing quotes recently from Byron. Basically, Kobe told him how many he thought he could play, Scott played him more - repeatedly - and ran him into the ground. Thanks, coach. Still, he has learned a lesson?
To be fair, Brwn and 'Antoni never really learned. Byron is much quicker on the draw, though that's not saying much.
To be fair to Brown and MDA, Kobe never said, "Hey I can only play 32 minutes at this point.". They definitely overplayed the s*** out of him, no defense for that, but at the same time Kobe never said he couldn't play that much, never said he could only go 32. His mindset at the time was I'm not coming out of the game, I can handle this. Brown and MDA went with the flow and refused to go against Kobe when he said he could do it. Byron just said screw it you're playing 35+ every night. Oh you only want to play 32 minutes, well suck it up. Byron isn't quicker on the draw, if Kobe wasn't dead right now, he would still be playing him 35+, let's not kid ourselves. The only reason Byron is out here trying to save face and saying he was wrong and he will change things, is because Kobe can't even log 1 minute right now. He was quicker on the draw in one aspect though.... Running Kobe into the ground. Not even halfway through January yet, congrats Byron.
Honest question. Are we really thinking Kobe might be jacked up physically from the too many minutes up to when he started being held out of games following the horrendous hero ball game against the Kings? I don't know, am asking. He played a couple times after that and didn't look like he was hurting or anything. Then the horrible game against the Clips. Or, is anything else going on? I saw some bleep on Yahoo where who knows who reported who knows from where "rumors" that Lakers would be open to giving him a chance on a contender with a trade, if they got fair value. Worst idea ever. This guy really needs to spend his whole career here as the greatest Laker ever. Even if he catches Mike with 6 rings, he will never catch up to him as far as being "the better player". Just won't. Mike's shooting %s, hand size and greater athleticism will always have him ahead of Kobe career wise. Not a bad place to be at all though since Mike was the GOAT.
That said, I've always liked Antawn ...... Antawn Jamison Compares Kobe Bryant And LeBron James Posted by: Dan Duangdao Posted date: January 11, 2015 In: News | Comments : 20 SHARETWEET After a successful NBA career where he averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 16 seasons, Antawn Jamison is now analyzing the Los Angeles Lakers for Time Warner Cable SportsNet. On Saturday, Jamison was on NBA TV where he discussed numerous topics including two of his former teammates, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. When asked to compare Kobe and LeBron, Jamison mentioned the five-time champion as the ultimate competitor: The biggest thing — not really a big difference — both are great competitors. Both of them when it’s time to play basketball, they’re ready to go, but Kobe Bryant, the way he compete is like no other. I’ve never been part of a guy who works as hard. During a typical practice day, we might get in around 9:30-10. He’s been there at 5:00 working out, things of that nature. I think Kobe Bryant is the ultimate competitor when you’re trying to compare those two between him and LeBron James. Throughout Kobe’s future Hall of Fame career, teammates and those around him have raved about his competitiveness and work ethic. With those qualities, Kobe has similar expectations of his teammates and those who are able respond have won championships. This season, Kobe is figuring out how to scale back his workouts in order to play at a high level in actual games. After two consecutive season-ending injuries and in his 19th season, Kobe has had difficulties recovering following games. After playing over 35 minutes for much of the season, head coach Byron Scott has recently limited Kobe to 32 minutes per game while resting him on back-to-back games. Appearing in 32 games, Kobe is averaging 23.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Thank you Kobe for spoiling us all of these years, and for leaving a vacuum that will be tough to fill when you are gone. Only the bravest will even try, and we kind of like those kind of guys.
Los Angeles Lakers ✔ @Lakers Kobe Bryant got treatment this morning at the team facility. He remains a game-time decision for tonight’s matchup with Miami. Retweeted by Mike Trudell Mike Bresnahan ✔ @Mike_Bresnahan Byron has sat down with Kupchak + Kobe to figure out how to "preserve" Kobe over the next year and a half. No talk of shutting him down. Still a game-time decision according to Scott
Lol. How to "preserve" Kobe? Is he a mummy? It's not rocket science Byron, you said it yourself in the summer time. Limit his minutes. No more than 30-32 on a night we are in the game and end his night early if we are losing big. The meeting shouldn't be about Kobe, it should be about shaving some layers off that thick skull of Byron's.
And it's not like we don't have players to back him up. Ellington and Young are both great scorers. We have a rookie we can develop, too.