Kobe Bryant is 35 years old and fresh off significant injuries in each of the past two seasons; however, Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti is confident that Bryant will remain healthy throughout the upcoming season.
From Mike Trudell of NBA.com:
"I have 100 percent confidence that he’ll be healthy because of the way he handles his body and the style of play that we’ll compete at. We can’t play at a frenetic pace. We can push the ball when it’s there, and we can certainly let Kobe create out of the post with his back to the basket at this stage of his career."
Vitti also added that Bryant has “done everything right” since his injuries.
"He’s gone to the next level of nutrition. In fact, he has somebody come and picks his meals up here at the practice facility. Our chef makes his meals daily. He’s also done a lot of functional movement assessment over this past year that he’s been out, identifying how the way he’s played over all these years had created some dysfunction. When you’re young, you can get away with that, but it catches up as you get older and he’s paying more attention corrective exercise prior to performance."
It’s obviously great news for L.A. that Vitti has such confidence in Bryant. The Lakers desperately need Kobe to stay healthy and play at an elite level if they want to have any shot at a bounce-back season following last year’s 27-win campaign.
Bryant appeared in just six games this past season and averaged 13.8 points (42.5 percent shooting from the field and 18.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc), 6.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.