In what appears to be the beginning of a trend, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant sat out shoot-around this morning prior to tonight’s game. Furthermore, it looks like Bryant won’t be participating in many shoot-arounds the rest of the season.
Kobe Bryant sat out shootaround again today. Byron Scott said, at some point, he might even stop telling Kobe to come in for shootaround.
— Shahan Ahmed (@shahanLA) November 28, 2014
At this point, Kobe is just playing games, getting treatment and watching film. That's the plan going forward. #Lakers
— Shahan Ahmed (@shahanLA) November 28, 2014
Honestly, this looks like a bad precedent to be setting. Bryant missing shoot-around, yet being the dominant force during games isn’t a great idea.
The discussion over Bryant’s minutes is the one dominating story lines of late with the Lakers struggling all season, yet Bryant ticking over 30 minutes a night. Against Memphis, Byron Scott tried a newer strategy of taking Bryant out with about two minutes to go in the first and third quarter, then holding him out until the eight minute mark of the second and fourth quarters, a strategy he was pleased with.
Byron Scott said Kobe Bryant’s minutes will be regulated similar to Memphis. Meaning taken out earlier in 1st and 3rd quarter #Lakers
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) November 28, 2014
Scott said it worked pretty well and Bryant looked fresher late against Memphis so he’ll do it again for Minnesota. #Lakers
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) November 28, 2014
Even with this new strategy, Bryant played 35 minutes, far too many for someone with as much mileage as him on his legs.
All in all, Scott has handled Bryant’s minutes very poorly this year. Saving him time during practice still doesn’t equate to anything during games, where he’s only going to struggle more and more as the season progresses. We’ve seen Bryant look fatigued now, and we’re less than a quarter of the way through this year.
Ideally, Bryant should play ~30 minutes a night, at most. The Lakers are going to be bad with or without him this year. No reason to sacrifice whatever we have left of Bryant to make us marginally better this year.
What do you think? Should Bryant be playing less minutes? Would you hold him out of shoot-arounds? Let us know down below