In a World With No Kobe

In a world where the Lakers have no Kobe Bryant (cue dramatic movie music), one team stood alone.  Their leader fallen, a group of men must look deep within their hearts to find the players inside.  Now they must play for more than a win but to prove to themselves that they are winners.  With just once chance at glory, who will rise to the occasion and who will falter?

Kobe is down, so now who will step up?

OK, so maybe things aren’t quite that dire in La-La Land, but the absence of Kobe, short as it might be, is really a great chance for the rest of the team to grow both as individuals and as a whole.  Pau wants more touches?  Well, now he’s going to get them.  Ron Artest is lost in the offense?  Time for him to get found.  The bench stinks out loud?  Let’s reach for the mute button.  Now get to work everybody because this may not last for long.

Kobe has already missed one game and the growth of the team is evident.  I mean, they won IN PORTLAND for crying out loud and they did it with six different players scoring in double-digits while playing some pretty tight team defense.  Not to besmirch Kobe’s good name, but the Lakers haven’t done a whole lot of either of those things this season.  The difference is that when Bryant is the line-up, the rest of the team is merely focusing on acting as his supporting cast.  Like any feature film starring a megastar, the supporting actors are just there to make the star look good while he does everything in his power to make the movie a blockbuster.  But when Kobe is out, the team shifts from feature film to ensemble piece where there are a number of quality actors but none of them have to really carry the movie (kind of like the new Valentine’s Day movie, only not crappy), they are all just there to do their bit and hope the director can stitch all the scenes together in a way that achieves greatness (again, NOT like Valentine’s Day).  Hopefully that metaphor makes sense because I am pretty sure I just equated Pau Gasol to George Lopez and Lamar Odom to Anne Hathaway.  Moving on…

The idea of the Lakers growing as a team is appealing indeed.  Even though the team still boasts the best record in the Western Conference, they have been a bit of a disappointment this season.  Injuries to Kobe and Pau have definitely played a role in that disappointment, but the real heart of their issues is a seeming lack of team chemistry.  At times this year the Laker defense has been downright fantastic, but a lack of communication and teamwork has put the Laker D into disarray of late despite having a fully healthy roster for the first time all season (before Saturday, that is).  Even the offense, the one part of the team that was never supposed to be a problem, has had its struggles.  Again, chemistry and the lack thereof rears its ugly head.  But none of that matters now that Kobe is out, the Lakers are mixing up a new formula.

Without having to defer to Kobe, the other Lakers are freed up to focus more on their own game and rediscover the strengths that some of them may have forgotten about.  Take Lamar Odom as an example.  He’s been so caught up trying to become the playmaker for the second unit that he has almost completely forgotten that he can be a very effective and versatile scorer.  Or maybe Shannon Brown can use this limited opportunity to continue his growth as a player.  The Lakers have asked for him to provide athleticism and energy off the bench this year and not much else.  But in the Portland game, he showed what he could do when put in a position to take on much more prominent role in the offense.  Considering the Lakers recent struggles, the confidence that one game sans-Kobe cannot be overlooked.  Now one can’t help but wonder what else the Lakers might discover if Kobe sits out some more games (just not too many, this season is about championships, not personal growth).

Tags: Analysis, injuries, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Shannon Brown