Should the Lakers hold Kobe’s return (or return him very slowly) in order to “tank” more?
Feb. 5, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) dunks the ball between Brooklyn Nets small forward Gerald Wallace (45) and power forward Kris Humphries (43) during the second half at Barclays Center. Lakers won 92-83. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
Morales – I remember Reggie Miller once saying: this is Kobe’s world, we are all visiting. Kobe will play when Kobe wants to play. The Lakers cannot control him. Mitch Kupchak even said as much. Unfortunately, Mike D’Antoni knows the truth of this. So whatever tanking ideas the Lakers had, while Kobe is running the show, and he will be running it all, all that tanking talk, well you can put a fork in it. That’s done.
Booth – You mention the idea of “tanking” to Kobe Bryant and you’re practically guaranteed get the infamous “Kobe death stare”. Not many players have earned the right to control their own minutes and playing time. Kobe is one of the few. He will inform the coaching staff when he is ready to come back, and how many minutes he will be playing, and they will listen. The sad thing is, I don’t think the Lakers have been “tanking” so far this season. They are just not a good team this year. Kobe won’t allow talk of “tanking”, and he will do everything in his power to keep his team competitive and finish every game and the season as best they can. Again, the Lakers just aren’t a good team this year. They know it, the fans know it, and Kobe knows it.
Lopez – Kobe will return when Kobe’s ready, no matter what the Lakers brass tells him. Tanking isn’t some cure-all strategy to rebuild; if it was, the Bobcats would be dominant by now. Even if Kobe returns and plays at a high level the Lakers will struggle to make the playoffs.
Garcia – My expectations for the season for the Laker team is below 40 wins. It’s not so much about the Lakers tanking, but rather, ensuring that Kobe’s career is highly productive. I feel more definitive about his return if it happened later in the season, so that his remaining time in the NBA is healthy and highly productive. The worst case scenario is rushing Kobe Bryant back, and then having him come back with more nagging injuries. I’m sure he wants to be able to do all he can for the Laker team. The Laker team has to put him in position to do that.
Rea – The Lakers being currently have a squad that has a nice mix of veterans and young exuberant players that even without Kobe they’ll be able to muster enough wins to keep them out of the lower ranks of the NBA with Washington, Utah, New Orleans, Milwaukee and Sacramento. Also, Tanking is just not in the Lakers DNA. Kobe should return once he is ready to play and not a second later. Once he does return, I believe it will result in immediate positive results for the team and help carry them to a playoff berth.
Rude – I’ll be the first to admit that my idea of tanking has switched entirely after seeing the state of both this Lakers roster and this upcoming draft class. Once 100% against it, I’m not alright if the Lakers were to commit to tanking. But that is never in Bryant’s DNA. This is going to be a mixture of a bad Lakers roster being willed to victory by Bryant’s insane drive.