Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash have all missed time due to injury, and the team underwent a coaching change just five games into the season.
Mike Brown's club never got off the ground, and Mike D'Antoni's club took longer to jell than anyone expected.
Consequently, Bryant has shouldered a wide variety of responsibilities both on and off the court. He's gone through a number of phases and worn a variety of hats.
The "Death Stare": Nov. 7, 2012
Mike Brown's autumn leadership was short-lived, as his Princeton offense failed and the Lakers looked nothing like a playoff team.
L.A. brass' patience was thin to begin with, and it showed Brown the door after five games.
Kobe declared support for Brown even after the firing, but all we can remember from the coach's last days is the way Bryant stared right through him during the Lakers' loss to the Utah Jazz.
Bryant dismissed the "Death Stare" as nothing, but his eye contact and body language toward Brown that night suggest that something mattered very much to him.
No matter how significant or insignificant that five-second stare was to Bryant and Brown, it will always be a symbol of Brown's demise and the mess that was the first two weeks of the season.
The Motivator: Nov. 11, 2012 to Dec. 2, 2012
Kobe is always a motivator, but there was a stretch in 2012 when he exerted an extra amount of energy trying to rally his injury-plagued team.
From early November to early December, the Lakers worked to adjust from Mike Brown to Bernie Bickerstaff to Mike D'Antoni. Injury had sidelined Steve Nash, and the team's situation was perilously fragile.
Therefore, Kobe was...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
