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Kobe Bryant is even harsher than the critics mocking him on Twitter.
After suffering a torn rotator cuff, which marked his third consecutive season-ending injury, Bryant worked extremely hard during the offseason to return for his 20th season at the age of 37.
SBNation said that the Lakers are now at “ground zero”, attempting to rebuild what was once great.
In particular, the defensive end of the ball has been a struggle for the Lakers. There are plenty of guys on the Lakers that are still worse than him.
The “them” Bryant is referring to is the Lakers’ young players: rookie guard D’Angelo Russell, second-year guard Jordan Clarkson and second-year forward Julius Randle.
The best case scenario for the Lakers right now, then, is probably to swallow their pride and let Kobe do this for one last season.
After putting up two airballs in a loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday, Bryant is approaching the level of embarrassment that James describes. The Lakers are extremely high on Russell and think he will be a huge star, as shown by the fact that they took him over Jahlil Okafor in the draft, so they will do everything they can to make him comfortable and put him in the best position possible to succeed.
Their defense was quite weak and offense didn’t do so well either. Overall, the Lakers did suffer and were not able to compete well in the league.
While Randle led the Lakers on Sunday with 22 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and four steals, Bryant scored 15 points on 3-of-15 shooting in 31 minutes. However, the expected light failed. We will likely get our first glimpse of this change on Friday night when the Lakers play the Sacramento Kings.
“I know he’s frustrated”, Scott said. “I’ve got to capitalize for him, that’s all If I could make a damn shot, that would help”, he added. The Mavs are also playing well offensively, but they’re an older and slower team that just had trouble with that pace against the other team from Los Angeles. “I’m just taking it one game at a time right now”. Bryant shot 2 of 8 against Dallas from behind the three-point arc on Sunday night.
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He didn’t come to the Lakers’ facility Monday after talking with coach Byron Scott on the phone. “It’s their job to facilitate and it’s my job to finish”, Bryant said. Until Kobe can start getting closer looks at the basket, I can’t see his percentages changing too much.
