Given his age and recent injury history, many people are wondering whether Kobe Bryant will still perform at an elite level this season. One way to make sure Kobe remains effective is to manage his minutes, even sitting him out at times during the regular season — something akin to what the Heat did with Dwayne Wade last season. This is something new Lakers head coach Byron Scott plans on discussing with Kobe when training camp starts.
A. Martinez and Jacob Margolis of 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio spoke with Scott about his plans to limit Kobe’s practice time and even hold him out of games this season:
Yeah, Kobe’s his own man. We know how hard he works, we know how driven he is. But I think he’s at the point too where he’s so much more mature, and he understands that he only has a few more miles left on that body, you know, maybe two, maybe three years. And I think he’s probably more acceptable to accept the fact that you can’t practice every day. There might be some games where you can’t play this game or that game. But that’s all to be determined. We have to sit down before training camp and go over some things because I can’t have him going twice a day in training camp. That’s what the young guys are supposed to do. He’s been here long enough and understands his game better than anybody here, what it takes to win. I got to use that knowledge that he has as well. I’m going to treat him like he’s an assistant coach as well as a player.
Kobe is the hardest working player in the league, so even broaching the topic of practicing less might be difficult for Scott. Now imagine the conversation between the two when Scott brings up the idea of Kobe sitting out some games during the season? Kobe has a lot of respect for Scott, who was a veteran presence during Mamba’s rookie season with the Lakers. Even so, it’s hard to imagine Kobe signing off on not playing when he’s healthy, unless it becomes clear that it’s the only way to keep him effective.
There’s also the matter of chasing down historical records, something that means a lot to Kobe. He is currently fourth on the all-time points scored list with 31,700 points. Next up on the list for Kobe to catch is Michael Jordan, who finished his career with 32,292 points. Barring another injury setback, Kobe should pass Jordan next season, and he might even do it in Chicago. If Kobe stays healthy and plays for a couple more seasons, he might start setting his sights on being the all-time points leader in league history, a record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds with 38,387 points.
Any games Kobe voluntarily sits out will delay his chase for history and you can bet he won’t be happy with that. It’s hard to imagine Kobe sitting on the bench cheering on his teammates when he’s healthy and ready to go, but this might be the new reality for him as he enters the final phase of his career.
What do you think?
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