In case you were holding out any hope that in 11 days Kobe Bryant would be suited up and ready to play in the season opener when the Lakers host the Los Angeles Clippers, we bring you this note from Mike Trudell, the official Lakers.com reporter traveling with the team.
1/2 - Asked @kobebryant about his Achilles: “I can’t quite push all the way through yet, but it’s coming along fine. It feels all right.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 18, 2013
2/2 Kobe-“It gets tight, so we just continue to work w/t modalities & making sure we loosen it up & get it going, but I feel good about it.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 18, 2013
When Mike D’Antoni said the other day it was unlikely Kobe would be ready for opening day that should have been a sign.
Kobe is diligently working on his rehab, he’s making progress, but as we’ve noted from the day this happened Achilles injuries are not something you can just play through or push through in the same way as other injuries. It is more like a hamstring injury, where you have to be careful during rehab about setbacks and wait until it is fully healed before taking the next steps. It’s an exercise in patience.
Kobe will be back at some point early in the season, it’s just hard to picture that being opening night if he can’t yet fully push off on that leg. When he returns we’ll see how he performs and how long it takes to shake the rust off. This is a Lakers team that can’t afford to fall in a big hole early if the goal remains the playoffs.