Kobe, who has been out since January with a torn rotator cuff, has just been cleared for all basketball activity. With the season approaching next month, some concerns have been raised about how the Lakers should handle Kobe. According to Byron Scott, Kobe will have limited playing time on the court.
Season after season, it gets harder and harder to watch The Black Mamba ball out. Its like knowing your favorite tv show is getting closer to its series finale. To make matters worse, with all the injuries Kobe has suffered in recent years, it almost sad to watch one of the greats decline right before our eyes. There is no love for the Lakers on this side; however, being a fan of great basketball you never want to see a legend go out like this.
With that said, Kobe s going into his ‘final’ contract season with the Lakers and as always, championship aspirations sit on the horizon for him and the squad. Being that the Western Conference is so stacked, Kobe and the Lakers are fine tuning their approach to maintaining health. In an interview with CBS Sports, Byron Scott says that Kobe will only play 20-25 minutes per game and will most likely sit out a game when their are back to backs.
The hardest thing about that, however, is telling Kobe no. We all know who Kobe is and if he wants to play, how is the coaching staff going to tell him no–especially when it comes down to crunch time or even an overtime game? Personally, it sounds like a storm waiting to happen. Byron Scott expressed that he felt guilty about letting Kobe play for so many minutes prior to his most recent injury and that is something that he does not want to go through again. Makes perfect sense when the squad was barely holding ground in the Western Conference, even with Kobe.
Either way though, I’m definitely excited to watch Kobe hoop in this final contract season. Pending he has a good season, I wonder if he would consider playing in New York like Phil Jackson hinted at a few months ago?
