The Lakers are desperately trying to turn this season around, so they held a meeting yesterday to try to figure things out. Coach Mike D’Antoni invited members of the Lakers to air their grievances and Kobe reportedly took advantage of it to confront Dwight Howard.
Report after the jump…
According to Dave McMenamin at ESPNLosAngeles.com:
Several players spoke up, including Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, the 17-year veterans who make up the Lakers’ backcourt.
Bryant asked Dwight Howard if he was bothered by playing alongside him, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the meeting.
Bryant acknowledged he could be “hard to play with,” according to the newspaper, and challenged Howard to speak up if he had a problem with it. Howard was “despondent” and did not offer much of a reply, according to a team source.
Howard, though, disputed the details of the story after Wednesday’s game, a 106-93 loss to the Grizzlies in which he sat out the second half after re-aggravating a right shoulder injury.
“Whatever was said that (Bryant) said is not true,” Howard said. “He never asked me if I liked playing with him. I will say that. He never asked me.”
Howard then was asked if he was bothered by playing with Bryant.
“No, I’m not,” Howard said. “It’s something that we all got to learn. We got to learn how to play together.”
After Wednesday’s game, Bryant was asked if he “felt comfortable” with what he said during the team meeting. He responded, simply, “Yup.”
(Story continues…)
