Kobe Bryant a Mixed Blessing for Lakers?
For all the good qualities (Kobe) Bryant showed both in his play and leadership, the Lakers’ start offered a few bad examples that proved too destructible.
First, involves how he carried the Lakers. (Mike) Brown took a shortcut by leaning too heavily on Bryant’s services. That resulted in Bryant averaging 38.5 minutes per game despite Brown’s numerous proclamations he’s play him between 33-35 minutes a night. It also contributed to Bryant shooting at a 43% clip, his lowest mark since his second year in the NBA. Say all you want about the Lakers’ inconsistent bench and transition period under a new system. But the Lakers would’ve been better served if they worked on finding the perfect balance between Bryant, (Andrew) Bynum and (Pau) Gasol. Instead, Bryant devoted a 27.9% plurality of his shots on isolation shots where he shot only 37.3%. Meanwhile, Brown found no scenarios to limit Bryant’s playing time until a shin injury left the Lakers’ coach with no other choice.
There were also instances where his high volume shooting hurt the team. Bryant and Brown somehow defended his six-for-28 clip in a New Year’s Day loss to Denver despite Bynum and Gasol going over 60% from the field in that game. Brown first criticized Bryant for shooting nine for 31 in a regular-season loss to Washington, but then quickly apologized even though the film showed they were bad shots. And then in two games of the Lakers-Thunder series, Bryant’s trigger-happy tendencies in the fourth quarter played a huge part in the team’s unraveling.
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