In a piece entitled “The slow death of a competitor,” HoopsHype’s Roland Lazenby discusses how much mileage Kobe Bryant has on his body.
In his 14th season, Bryant heads into Tuesday night’s pivotal first round Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder having played better than 44,400 minutes of regular season and playoff basketball.
If somehow the Lakers manage to survive and and advance, Bryant could wind up with better than 45,000 minutes on the odometer after this season.
Jordan, long considered the standard because he drove the Bulls to a championship as a 35-year-old NBA guard, played a total of 48,485 minutes over his 15-year career, the final 5,000 of which were frustration filled.
I don’t think there’s much of a question that Kobe is at the tail end of his prime. Perhaps he’s even started the slow, inevitable decline that most superstars experience as they get into their 30s. Since he’s playing a few more minutes, his stats haven’t dropped much since last season, though his PER (21.95) is at an eight-year low.
He shot just 30% in three April regular season games, and is shooting 38.4% against the Thunder. Maybe his finger is bothering him, or maybe it’s the defense of Thabo Sefolosha (and Kevin Durant), or all of the above. Game 2 Kobe dropped 39 points and got to the line 15 times. After the Lakers lost Game 3, Game 4 Kobe deferred for much of the game, taking only 10 shots and scoring just 12 points as the Lakers tried to exploit their size advantage.
But this is nothing new. Kobe has pouted his way through playoff games in the past. (Anyone remember that Suns series a few years back?) The problem with the Lakers is not Kobe Bryant. The biggest thing standing in the way of a second-straight title is this team’s lack of hunger. Led by Kobe’s insatiable appetite, last year’s Lakers would not be denied. But now that they have their rings, getting motivated is not as easy, especially when there are a dozen or so teams with comparable talent and better chemistry waiting in the wings.
Ron Artest is a disaster offensively, Andrew Bynum is coming off an injury, and Derek Fisher is showing his age. Lamar Odom is averaging a career low in playoff points, rebounds and FG%, and at times looks like he’s ready to start his summer with Khloe Kardashian.
In short, these are not the same Lakers we saw last year. The good news — for Laker fans, anyway — is that there is time to straighten this out. The sky is not falling. Game 5 at Staples is a good opportunity to start. If they can get their swagger back and win the series, another Finals appearance is well within reach. The West is talented, but Utah is thin on the front line, Dallas is on the verge of collapse, San Antonio is aging and the Suns are…well, they’re the Suns.
Then again, if OKC is able to win Tuesday night and go on to win the series, we could see a veritable sea change in L.A. Artest, Bynum, Fisher and even Phil Jackson could be headed for new zip codes this summer.
And to think, this is just the first round.
Photo from fOTOGLIF