Actually, there are three. If pressed, Bryant himself would reveal that in his heart of hearts, he believes he'll have a dominant age-36 season. But even the supreme confidence of a generational star like Bryant now comes with a dash of rationalization, per an interview with Scooby Axson of Sports Illustrated:
So when I hear pundits and people talk, saying, ‘Well, he won’t be what he was.’ Know what? You’re right. I won’t be. But just because something evolves, it doesn’t make it any less better than it was before.
Bryant may have convinced himself that he knows what lies ahead this season, but with all he's been through, the rest of us can't be so sure.
There was the Achilles rupture in 2012-13 that ended his season. After just six games in the subsequent campaign, Bryant's fractured leg put an early coda on 2013-14 as well.
There's just no way to know how Bryant will perform physically after losing so much time to serious injuries. Maybe he's right, though. Maybe the productivity will still be there—just achieved through different means.
Head coach Byron Scott told Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times: "He will be on the low box, he'll be in the mid-post, he can be there a lot more than he has in the past and I think he can be very, very effective in all those areas."
In Bryant's last full season, he was an absolute monster on the block, ranking fifth among all NBA players in points per play on post-ups, per Synergy Sports (subscription required).
Just 13.1 percent of Bryant's possessions were devoted to touches on the block in 2012-13, a figure that should significantly increase in the upcoming campaign. If Bryant suffers a modest decline in efficiency as his volu...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
