Byron Scott admitted to the media prior to the Lakers’ game on Sunday that guard Kobe Bryant, who was sitting out his 4th game out of the last five, had played too many minutes to start the year.
In today’s news of things that make you go “Duh!”, Lakers head coach Byron Scott stated prior to Sunday’s game against the Trailblazers that he played Kobe Bryant too many minutes to start the year, resulting in Bryant’s recent run of missed games.
Scott had many poignant quotes as to the status of Bryant and his mistake in Bryant’s early minutes.
"“It was an overload,” said Scott, “I should have figured out that it was going to take a little time, but watching his workouts and what great shape he was in, I think I got a little too confident.“I was wrong,” admitted Scott.Bryant missed all but six games last season with Achilles’ tendon and knee injuries.“I wish I had kept his minutes at 30 or 32 minutes, back-to-back games, I wish I had thought to sit him down then,” said Scott before Sunday’s game."
Scott would go on to say that he was not concerned about Bryant’s health going forward this year while also talking about possibly shutting down Bryant after the All-Star break.
According to Byron Scott, shutting down Kobe for the rest of the season after the all-star break is an option
— Lakers Pulse (@LakersPulse) January 12, 2015
Hoops Habit
Prior to his week-long hiatus in late December, Bryant was averaging 35.5 minutes a game, just one minute shy of his career average of 36.6 minutes a contest. Upon his return, Bryant averaged 31.4 minutes a game, a far more reasonable average per night, even if still possibly on the high side.
Nonetheless, Bryant was playing too many minutes and it has been noticeable. He’s shooting a career low 37.5%, which is almost a full 4% lower than his next lowest season and the only time in his career he’s shot less than 40% from the field.
Fortunately for Bryant and the Lakers, this did not end in a season-ending injury like it did under Mike D’Antoni in 2013. Hopefully the Lakers caught it soon enough this time around and can fix their errors.