Kobe Must Lead the LA Lakers, Not Save Them

The anticipation for Kobe Bryant's return against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday is approaching royal wedding levels.

Questions abound, including what kind of player he’ll be and what he’ll mean to the team.

To be fair, this is a longstanding Bryant narrative. His star power is so great, his talent level so high and his competitive nature so off the charts, that speculation about his role is a part of each and every season. This time around of course, the situation is amplified.

There’s the question of health, of durability and explosiveness—the public has seen him play only in snippets from practice. He’ll also be playing with six new teammates in Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry, Shawne Williams, Chris Kaman and Ryan Kelly. Of the guys that Bryant has played with before, Steve Nash and Jordan Farmar are both sidelined.

What will Bryant’s inclination be? Jump in and take over or lead in a more cohesive way? According to Marc Spears for Yahoo! Sports, the Los Angeles Lakers head coach is hoping that Bryant’s teammates won’t simply be playing in awe of him:

A lot of times they will stand around and watch him...We have been playing a certain way so we have to guard against that.

There’s also the question of whether the Lakers need saving at this point. At 10-9, their record puts them a game out of eighth place in the Western Conference playoff picture as of Saturday. In other words, the West is all bunched up. The Lakers’ record won’t motivate anyone to start putting champagne on ice, but it’s also not panic city. Plus, the season is still young.



One of the most interesting things to watch for when Bryant takes the floor is positional adjustment. With Nash and Farmar out, the team only has one true point guard. In D’Antoni’s system, ball movement comes fro...

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