Off-season Outlook: Kobe Bryant

I know, I know.  Why waste valuable blog real estate focusing on the flotsam and jetsam of the Laker roster.  Who is the Kobe guy anyway?  Why does he spell his name so funny?  Anyway, just stick with me through this and we’ll get to more important player reviews like Sun Yue and DJ Mbenga.

Oh, THAT Kobe.  OK, I suppose we should talk about him.

2009 Recap:

Statistically speaking, this season was actually a mild disappointment for the Mamba.  His 26.8 points per game, 4.9 assists per game and 5.2 rebounds per game were all some of the lowest marks in years for Kobe.  The drop off was only slight however and probably more attributable to the fact that Kobe deferred more to his supporting cast rather than trying to take the full load on himself.  A big part of the drop off too was that Phil Jackson made a concerted effort to limit Kobe’s minutes which came in at just 36.1 minutes per game, down from 38.9 the year before and 40+ minutes the three years prior to that.  Don’t expect that to change next season now that Kobe is about to turn 31 and very much in need of being protected from wear and tear.

More than anything, Kobe deserves major ups for maturing as a person.  Kobe haters have long dogged Kobe for being selfish and overly hard on his teammates, but that certainly wasn’t the case this year.  It may not have been totally genuine (and probably isn’t if you have closely watched Kobe Doin’ Work), but for this season Bryant was one of the boys and limited himself to verbally berating Pau Gasol to once a week rather than three times a game.

The ultimate goal of his personal evolution was to enable the Lakers to finally win him that fourth ring he has sought for so long and his plan worked to perfection, earning him NBA Finals MVP along the way.  Not a bad year if you ask me.

If nothing else, Kobe should be appreciate for inventing the Underbite of Death to intimidate opponents

Homework:

Yes, believe it or not, one of the greatest players on the planet does have some things to work on in the off-season if he wants to lead the Lakers to another title:

• Make nice with Ron-Ron. Everyone knows about the infamous shower meeting between Kobe and Artest by now, but that one encounter certainly doesn’t mean the Black Mamba and the Tru Warier are suddenly BFFs.  Artest desperately wants a title and to be a Laker, so he should be willing to play the role of Robin to Kobe’s Batman, but given Ron’s, umm… “unique personality,” Kobe would be wise to form a bond early with Artest so that he can keep Crazy Ron in check should he go bonkers again or start getting fed up with being a second banana.
• Get the finger fixed. Kobe has claimed that he isn’t going to get his problematic ring finger fixed this summer, but I think he should.  He was able to play through it last season and is content to do so again this year, but I really see little downside in him getting it repaired now rather than risk re-injuring it at an inopportune time.  There is a chance he might miss a little time to start the season, but not so much time that it would threaten the Lakers’ repeat aspirations since Kobe is on threat to pull a Shaq and get it fixed on “company time.”
• Rest up. The Kobester has a lot of miles on his legs and he just needs to grab himself some couch this summer and take a load off.  I don’t even want him playing basketball in his driveway.  Just rest.
• Stay hungry. My biggest fear for Kobe is that he reverts into lone wolf mode next season now that he got his coveted Shaq-less ring.  The worst thing that could happen to the Lakers would be for Kobe to want to shut up all the media pundits who say that LeBron is better.  If Kobe goes out every night trying to prove that he is the real MVP of the league like he has in seasons past, the Lakers will certainly win plenty of games but could really struggle in the post-season.  He just needs to find some sort of other side project to focus on during the season to satiate his competitive fire.  Perhaps he could take up quilting or competitive frisbee golf.

Tags: Kobe Bryant, Player Review