In Los Angeles, it apparently is illegal to use the words “temper” and “expectations” in the same sentence. At least when discussing the return of Kobe Bryant to the court.
As you likely have heard, Kobe Bryant returned to practice on Tuesday with the Lakers and above you see the video as proof (courtesy the fine folks at LakersNation.com). Kobe knocks down a few shots, makes a few poor decisions and generally looks pretty good but rusty.
Yet listening to people around Los Angeles you’d swear Kobe circa 2002 is going to walk on the court next week (most likely) and transform the Lakers.
Temper your expectations here people.
To start with, he will have a minutes limit at first. Plus, he’s not going to be the “put the team on my back and carry you” Kobe anymore, and if he tries to be it will not go well.
As Chauncey Billups told PBT — and he had the same injury at pretty much the exact same age — it is hard to get the same level of explosiveness back. Because of that it takes some time to learn how to get your shots off again and get what you want on the court. Yes, even for Kobe Bryant and his great basketball IQ and fundamentals (Billups isn’t too shabby in those categories, either).
Still, anything Kobe brings is going to help a struggling Lakers offense.
The Lakers are 25th in the league in points per possession, and one of the biggest issues is they are 28th in the NBA in free throw rate — they don’t get to the line that often. That’s one thing Kobe will help change. He’s going to be the same aggressive Kobe and he’s going to draw fouls and get some buckets. He will get to the line.
If Kobe, even at 35 coming off a ruptured Achilles, can make some plays and lift the Lakers offense up to around the league average, suddenly this can be a .500 team or a little better that can play for one of the bottom playoff spots in the West (it’s going to take 46 wins or more to make the playoffs in the West, that may be too high a bar for Los Angeles).
Kobe will have a positive impact on the team, just temper the expectations a little.
