The 2014-2015 season for Kobe Bryant was supposed to be a glorious one for him in the sense that he was healthy, ready and out to prove all the doubters wrong about what he can and cannot do on the floor at the age of 36.
Unfortunately for the superstar – and he still clearly is that after being voted in by the fans to start in the All-Star game despite being heavily outperformed by James Harden – the only thing that really went right for him this year was being able to move past Michael Jordan on the All-Time scoring list while he still could.
Bryant started the season playing a bizarre brand of basketball – 100 percent endorsed by coach Byron Scott – in which he would lead the league in usage rate and take much of that time chucking up some of the most inexplicable shots of his career while playing over 37 minutes per game. During the early part of the season, Bryant led the league in scoring. He also led the league in field goal attempts and field goals missed, while shooting under 40 percent (he’s shooting 37.3 percent on the year) and alienating the rest of his team.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), his body wouldn’t allow him to continue to play at such a torrid pace. After moving past Jordan to sit as the third best player of all-time in total points in mid-December, it started to become clear that Bryant was hurting both the Los Angeles Lakers and himself with a style of play that no longer fit his capabilities. Three games after that Minnesota game – a span in which he shot an unbelievable 19-of-71 from the field (26.8 percent) – Bryant began to sit out games to rest his aching body. He would sit for the next six days, missing three games in the process. That wouldn’t be enough, as he would go onto miss eight of the team’s next 16 games – exactly half of the games the team had on the schedule.
Then came the really bad news: it turned out that the guard had a torn rotator cuff on his right shoulder that would require surgery, which he successfully had on Wednesday. Bryant’s failed attempt at revitalizing his career after two injury-ridden years ended half way into the season with yet another injury, and he will be out of commission for the next nine months due to the surgery.
So what’s next? Is Bryant going to make yet another attempt to come back strong and end things on his terms? Is it time for him to call it a career? That’s obviously up for him to decide, but Scott made some predictions about what may be in store for the guard moving forward, from Mark Medina of The Daily News:
“All I know is that it’s pretty painful,” Scott said, “and the rehab is long.”
The Lakers’ timetable on Bryant’s recovery also means he could either return at some point during training camp in Hawaii or just before the 2015-16 season starts.
“In my mind, he’s coming back next year,” Scott said, “unless he tells me something different.”
“The biggest thing with Kobe is as long as (the media) are saying that he’s done, he’s going to come back,” Scott said. “He proved this year that he has a lot left in the tank and is still one of the best players in this league. If you guys keep saying he’s done, that’ll help him as well.”
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“For Kobe, play him at mid to low 20s minute-wise, but you have to have some horses to be able to do that,” said Scott, before looking ahead to free agency in July. “A lot of it depends on what guys we bring in.”
Scott has been saying curious things for much of the year (his unreasonable dislike for 3-point shooting was a particular topic of interest), and this is no exception. For him to say that Bryant “still has a lot left in the tank” and that he’s “still one of the best players in this league” shows that he, perhaps, may not have been the right man to coach the Lakers this season. It was, after all, Scott’s decision to let Bryant play the ridiculous amount of minutes for much of the year before realizing (way too late) how much harm it was doing to the aging guard. It was Scott who allowed Bryant’s destructive style of play to carry on for the first two months of the season, as if getting Bryant the necessary amount of points to move past Jordan was the only thing that mattered to Scott before anything else. Scott alienated and criticized other players on the team for much of the season, which is fair given some of the personnel on his roster, but he failed to do the same with Bryant and simply glorified what his star was doing whether it was good or absolutely awful.
Bryant showed this season that he is still capable of doing other things on the floor: he averaged 5.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.3 steals. He also showed that the impossible shot-making part of him is long gone. He can do it from time to time and it’s entertaining when he makes a few, but trying to take fadeaways with a hand in his face 20 feet away from the basket on a regular basis proved to be a recipe for disaster on both ends of the floor for the Lakers. His true shooting percentage on the season is 47.7 percent, which is a whopping 7.6 percent worse than his career average of 55.3 percent. It took him 20.4 shots to get to 22.3 points per game. It almost never led to positive results when Bryant resorted to chucking up an absurd number of shots (with little success), and his body couldn’t even handle it. His PER this year is 17.5 (the lowest since his rookie year) and screams anything but “one of the best players in the league”.
So what exactly is Scott’s idea of “plenty left in the tank”? He says, assuming Bryant is back next year, the plan is to play him in the mid-to-low 20s minute-wise. Does that sound like the plan for a guy who still has a lot left in the tank? There’s a complete sense of delusion when you hear Scott talk about Bryant, and it makes you wonder if he’s just showing respect for Bryant or if he actually believes in the stuff he is saying.
OTHER NEWS AND ITEMS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
After watching Langston Galloway perform over the past couple of weeks, Carmelo Anthony sees a little “Linsanity” in him, from Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN NY: ““I don’t know man, I would say probably ‘Linsanity,’” Anthony said. “[Jeremy Lin] wasn’t a rookie but he was here and he had that mindset of taking the big shot when he first got here. “I don’t like to compare anything, but Langston’s mindset of being willing to take that big shot, take the open shot, just having the opportunity out there, I think Langston loves those moments.”… “Langston can play,” Anthony said. “I don’t think a lot of people know about him. But he can play basketball. Even going back to training camp, early in preseason, we knew he could play basketball. “He’s great at getting in the paint, he can score the basketball,” Anthony added. “If he don’t have something, he’ll find the open man. That’s what he’s been doing.”
Byron Scott may not be a fan of Nick Young, aka Swaggy P, and what he said about the guard’s status for Thursday’s game may be the perfect proof of it, from Medina of Daily News: “Lakers forward Nick Young only completed treadmill work during Wednesday’s practice, leading coach Byron Scott to provide a factual albeit biting assessment on how much Young’s sprained right ankle has healed. What is Young’s status for when the Lakers (12-34) host the Chicago Bulls (30-17) at Staples Center? “Questionable,” Scott said. “Like everything regarding Nick Young, it’s questionable.” Young missed the Lakers’ 98-92 loss on Tuesday to the Washington Wizards after spraining his right ankle during Monday’s practice. Before that, Young played only nine minutes in Sunday’s loss to Houston after Scott became upset with his effort and body language.”
Matt Barnes explained what happened in Phoenix and why he really got fined by the league, from Arash Markazi of ESPN LA: “”I was talking to a 13-year-old boy and his dad,” Barnes said. “We were kind of going back and forth and there were two guys behind them that were heckling me the whole game. I was laughing and messing with them. I had a bad game shooting and they were just on me. I said something to the little boy because someone said you were fined $25,000, and I was like, ‘That was a lot of money, huh?’ And he looked at me and smiled. Then the owner [Sarver] said what he said, and I responded. You can ask him what he said. He said enough to make me respond. We don’t like each other. He didn’t like me when I was there and I didn’t like him when I was there, so it is what it is.”… “He’s said some stuff about me before that fueled a few of my old teammates that were there from the Clippers,” Barnes said. “I’ve never liked him and as soon as he said that to me, it got me going, but if players are held to a high standard, owners should be held to an even higher standard. “I’m not even blaming him. If you’re going to say something like that to me, expect me to respond, but don’t go run and tell when I do go say something.”
The Charlotte Hornets announced that Kemba Walker will miss some time after undergoing successful surgery: “Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker underwent successful surgery today to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. The procedure was completed by Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Walker’s recovery time is expected to be a minimum of six weeks. Walker is the Hornets’ leader in points (18.8), assists (5.2) and steals (1.4). Walker averaged 23.0 points on .429 shooting from the field (171-399), including .355 from beyond the three-point line (43-121) over his last 21 games played. He scored at least 28 points in six straight games from Jan. 3-14, the longest streak of his career and the second-longest streak in the NBA this season behind only Russell Westbrook’s nine straight games from Dec. 12-26. Walker scored 20 or more points in 14 of his last 21 games played.”-
Pau Gasol opened up about what it means to feel secure about where he is and questioned whether his brother would want to go to Los Angeles as a free agent, from Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report: “I’m re-energized. I’m in positions where I’m comfortable and effective, so I make a lot of plays,” Gasol said of his wonderful new life as a Chicago Bull instead of a Los Angeles Laker. “And the fact that my name is not on the trade block like it has been for the past three years, that’s a factor that’s overlooked. “It’s huge. It’s huge not to have to think about that and have it in the back of your mind constantly. It’s nice to have that type of security and comfort.”… “Marc wants to win a championship,” Pau said. “That’s what he’s looking for. That’s what’s most important to him. I don’t know if you think the Lakers will be in a position to win a championship next year or not. “But he knows what he’ll be looking for as a free agent—or maybe he’ll stay in Memphis because they have built a very good team already there with some very good pieces. He’ll know what he wants, and he will be ready to make his decision.” 
The BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge will have a different look this year, with the teams divided not by Rookies and Sophomores but by where they originated from: “The league’s annual showcase of premier young talent will debut a format that pits 10 first- and second-year NBA players from the United States against 10 first- and second-year NBA players from around the world. The game, set for Friday, Feb. 13, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, will be televised live by TNT at 9 p.m. ET, part of Turner Sports’ 30th year of All-Star coverage… U.S. Team Roster: Trey Burke (Jazz), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Pistons), Michael Carter-Williams (76ers), Zach LaVine (Timberwolves), Shabazz Muhammad (Timberwolves), Nerlens Noel (76ers), Victor Oladipo (Magic), Elfrid Payton (Magic), Mason Plumlee (Nets), Cody Zeller (Hornets), Head Coach: Alvin Gentry (Warriors). World Team Roster: Steven Adams (Thunder), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Bojan Bogdanovic (Nets), Gorgui Dieng (Timberwolves), Dante Exum (Jazz), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), Kelly Olynyk (Celtics), Dennis Schroder (Hawks), Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves), Head Coach: Kenny Atkinson, Hawks.”
Nikola Vucevic hopes to make the All-Star team this year and admitted his defense needs work, from Zach Lowe of Grantland: “In the back of my mind, I’m really hoping I’ll be in New York. That would be a dream.” [Q] “The knock on your game is rim protection. Guys are shooting in the mid-50s against your team at the basket when you’re around the rim. How would you grade your progress in that part of defense? [A] I’ve gotten better each year. It’s going to come with experience — learning from my mistakes, watching film, seeing what I’m doing wrong. I need to make a lot of improvements in that area. As a big man, it takes time. You can’t just stand in the paint. You have to move. I sometimes react late to the ball, or I’m a little late moving from the weak side. I’m obviously never gonna become a Dwight Howard or Andre Drummond or DeAndre Jordan that goes and blocks a lot of shots. But I need to be a better presence in the paint. I do think my one-on-one defense and my defense in the post has improved.
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @Sheridanblog.
Brett Brown
Is there a worse head coach in the NBA than Byron Scott?