First it was a 10-of-26 game, then 13-for-31 the next game. Then it was 19-for-43 right after that and 11-for-30 the following night and 13-for-30 after that. He then gathered himself with a sharp 17-of-33 performance, but there he was the next game, down to 15-for-37. He was better the next night on the back-to-back, scoring 43 points. But he needed 38 shots to get there.
Yes, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are here Friday to play the Bulls, and if those stats sound like two weeks with Bryant, it’s close.
It was two weeks with Michael Jordan, and Doug Collins, the coach who put the Bulls on the road to their dynasty, remembers it well.
“If Michael didn’t take 35 shots that year, we had almost no chance of winning,” Collins recalled.
Bryant is no Michael Jordan. No one is yet. But as the Lakers make their way around the Arctic Circle this week in Milwaukee, Toronto and Chicago, the question hanging over the team is What Will Kobe Do?
More Top Picks Best Ice Barrel Cold Plunges For Small Spaces
Perhaps no player in the NBA is vilified more unfairly for his play. Bryant is second in the NBA in scoring at 31 points per game.
But he’s taking a league-high 27.5 shots per game and shooting 42.4 percent, his lowest since his rookie season.
Selfish, they’re screaming. He needs to involve his teammates more, make them better. Pass the ball!
Lakers coach Phil Jackson has hinted about his offense not being equal opportunity, as it’s supposed to be, but he doesn’t criticize Bryant for his shot selection. It’s a gentle minuet for the two, given their history.
Here’s what isn’t said often enough: Bryant is being asked to carry a mediocre team of second-tier players. It’s not unlike what Jordan faced in Collins’ first season–Jordan averaged 28 shots per game playing with Brad Sellers, Granville Waiters, Earl Cureton, Pete Myers, Gene Banks and Steve Colter.
Jordan also had John Paxson, Dave Corzine and Charles Oakley. Try to find even that level of talent on this Lakers team, which comes in 9-9 after winning three straight. To me, that should get Phil Jackson in the conversation for coach of the year.
Look at this roster: They drafted a teenage center, and Jackson has had to play him down the stretch in games. Their big off-season deal was for Kwame Brown, who quit on the Wizards in the playoffs against the Bulls last spring.
Three of the five starters never have averaged double figures in an NBA season: Smush Parker, undrafted, waived by three teams and in the developmental league last year; Sasha Vujacic, who averaged 9.6 points in three seasons in Italy; and Chris Mihm, working on his third team in six seasons, a 7-footer who averaged a career high 6.7 rebounds per game last season.
They’re NBA players, but none would figure to start for a playoff team.
Lamar Odom could, but the versatile big man also is on his third team, with one playoff appearance in six years. He remains an enigma, uncertain with the ball and unable to fathom Jackson’s offense.
How is this team winning any games?
Yes, Bryant takes a coach’s nightmare worth of bad shots. Like, say, Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, also squeezing off more than 20 shots per game. What’s their excuse?
I remember one of my conversations when I was coaching the Bulls (before I moved up to self-appointed general manager and started making trades).
I told Jordan he was shooting too much and wasn’t making teammates better. Look at Magic Johnson, I suggested. Jordan smirked. It’s a lot easier to make James Worthy and Kareem better, he said. He was being asked to make Mike Brown and Elston Turner better.
It has been easy to dislike Bryant around the NBA. He’s not generally one of the guys, a problem he compounded when he feuded with the popular Shaquille O’Neal. Everybody loves this giant. Bryant became the Lakers’ Jerry Krause, unfairly blamed for dismantling the dynasty.
Plus, the Lakers are going through a difficult, if inevitable, time for a great franchise.
Remember, it is the name on the back, not on the front.
The Celtics were great because of Bird, Russell, Cousy, Cowens, McHale and Havlicek. The Lakers were great because of Magic, Kareem, Wilt, West and Baylor.
The 76ers were great because of Wilt, Dr. J and Moses. The Bulls were great because of Jordan and Pippen.
When they go, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, you can’t win with laundry.
For now, Bryant has to be a little bit of a wild and crazy guy, just as Jordan had to be. When the Bulls added great talent that Jordan could trust, they became an elite team. When the Lakers do, we’ll know better about Bryant. So right now, just enjoy the show.
More Top Picks Best Bottle Sterilizers For Babies