Kobe Bryant needs to stop whatever he’s doing (Video)
Kobe Bryant has been abysmal so far this season and it’s not getting any better
The struggles of Kobe Bryant over the start of the 2015-16 NBA season have been widely noted. The epitome of the Los Angeles Lakers’ winless start to the year has been Kobe’s incredibly poor performance and generally depressing form to start the season. There may have been some hope that Bryant would show some life against the also winless Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. Sadly, that was far from the case.
In the opening quarter against the Nets, Kobe squared up with Thaddeus Young at the top of the key and tried to take him off the dribble. The only problem with that is Bryant doesn’t have nearly the first step and separation ability that he once did. As a result, he was unable to really create space and forced a lay-up that was swatted out of bounds:
Whether you like Kobe and the Lakers or not, it’s just sad to see him playing like this. He’s trying to do the things that he did in his prime while he’s in his late 30s coming off of a slew of major injuries and playing in his 20th professional season. That’s never going to work out favorably for a player, even an all-time great like Bryant.
I don’t know whether the move for the Lakers is to bring Kobe off of the bench or to get him to become more of a facilitator in terms of remedying his poor play. All I can say is that allowing him to try and take guys off of the dribble like this isn’t helping the Lakers and is making Bryant look bad in the process.