WHUDDUP.COM

Kobe Bryant wants you to say he can’t do it anymore.

He’s too old. He’s played too many minutes. He’s too hurt. He shoots too much. 

After scoring an NBA season-high 48 points on 18 of 31 shooting in the Lakers’ 99-83 victory Tuesday over the Phoenix Suns, Bryant asked a reporter to tell him to his face he can’t consistently replicate such an effort through the rest of the Lakers’ (7-4) 55-game season. Even if he strung three 30-point plus games in the last four all on a torn ligament in his right wrist.  

“Not bad for the seventh best player in the league,” Bryant said in a shot at the ranking a panel of ESPN writers gave him this offseason.

Even after seeing Bryant throw a baseline dunk past Grant Hill or catch Matt Barnes’ lob for a reverse slam, it’s fair to wonder how long he keep this up. It may be fun to watch. It may even lead Bryant to “Tebow” to cap off his 108th career 40-point game. But averaging a league-high 23 attempts hardly seems logical when wear and tear can further hurt his wrist. His six of 28 performance last week against Denver showed that approach can sometimes backfire, particularly when the Lakers have other options. But Bryant refuses to think in those terms.

“Just making adjustments. You have to figure out a way to get it done,” Bryant said. “There’s no time to make excuses. If I play bad or have one bad game like I did in Denver, everybody cries for a change or cries for the fact I’m too old when it’s just a bad game with a bad wrist. Nobody wants to hear that. So I make adjustments and go from there.”

That wasn’t the issue. It was that he didn’t adjust in the middle of that game. But Bryant’s made adjustments afterward. Instead of shooting less, Bryant’s shot more and in different locations more conducive to making them. He wishes his wrist would fully heal so he could improve his 20% mark from three-point range. But earning Western Conference player of the week honors and remaining second in the league in scoring (27.6) behind LeBron James will do.

For now. 

“Not everybody is built the same way,” Bryant said. “That [wrist] hurts. But after the injections, you don’t feel anything. It just goes numb.”

And then he goes to work. Bryant scores 17 of the Lakers’ 25 first-quarter points on eight of 11 shooting (72.72%) after his teammates go four of 23 (17.3%) in an effort Brown described as “discombobulated.” When everyone from Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and yes, even Luke Walton thrive in the second half, Bryant complements them too. While the Lakers limited the Suns to zero field goals and one free throw in the final six minutes, Bryant provides the scoring. He banks a shot. He throws down the aforementioned dunks. He makes a fadeaway. 

We’ve seen this happen plenty of times before, but even his strong supporters wonder how it’s possible. Lakers Coach Mike Brown has deferred to Bryant in every way about his injuries. He simply lets the trainers perform their diagnosis. If Bryant says he’s healthy, he can play. But he always says that even when the wrist has often ballooned in size.

“If you open him up,” Brown said, “he might be a machine.” 

Whether it’s a machine or a body, Bryant’s always tinkering with it.

He receives pre-game injections every single day. Afterwards, he either wears a black oven mitt or kinesiology tape to control the movement. It’s similar to how Bryant refused to accept that his surgically repaired right knee and twisted left ankle last season were irreparable. Suddenly those parts look great after receiving innovative procedures on them this offseason in Germany. 

Bryant does all this simply so he can win. So he can beat up on Phoenix, a team he still hates after it eliminated the Lakers in the first round of 2006 and 2007 playoffs. So he can “generate energy for our ballclub” as Bryant puts it. So he can satisfy his insatiable love for basketball at his most dominant.

But he also does this so he can provide another rebuttal regarding his age, his health and longevity. 

He still remains Kobe Bryant. And being Bryant, he believes he’s far from finished. 

“I’m ready for the next one,” he said.

We will soon see whether Bryant continues to conquer the odds or if he will crash and burn while trying. There will be many who believe the latter will happen. And, for better or worse, Bryant will try to prove you otherwise. 

What a crazy week for Los Angeles Lakers fans and Los Angeles basketball fans in general. Chris Paul is officially a Los Angeles Clipper and the Los Angeles Lakers are (to some fans) what appears to be a shell of their former selves.

Lamar Odom and his reality show are now in Dallas and Shannon Brown has moved to the desert to play with the Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. Meanwhile the Lakers have added players like energy guy Josh McRoberts and a washed up 20-something former dunk contest winner in Gerald Green. 

Local sports radio is already saying that the basketball powers have shifted in LA from the Lakers to the Clippers, but I think they are way off.

On paper, the Clippers have one of the best teams in the West and could compete for top 5 spots in the West. On paper, it looks like Lob City or the next coming of Payton/Kemp or Stockton/Malone. On paper, the Lakers look like a old bunch of guys way past their primes with a new coach and system to learn.

Lakers fans are livid at the league denying the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers and the trading of Lamar Odom to the now hated World Champion Mavericks. They’re upset that Mitch has yet to make any “big moves” as he stated were in progress in a press conference a couple of days ago. They are in a panic over this current Lakers squad who was recently swept out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks, a squad that is getting older by the minute and has a history of injury problems. 

Lakers fans… relax. Take a deep breath. Inhale… exhale. 

In my opinion, we will be fine, here’s why.

First, Kobe Bryant. Anytime you have this guy on your team you have a legit chance at not only making the playoffs but winning it all. Yes, he is a year older but I believe this will be the healthiest Kobe Bryant that we have seen in a few years. After 3 very deep runs in to the NBA Finals with various injuries, Kobe is finally well rested and as healthy as he has been in years. After losing to the Mavericks Kobe said “It was a wasted year of my life”, and I don’t think he wants to go through that again. 

Second, Andrew Bynum. Drew has been criticized for years for not being able to stay healthy for an entire season. When healthy, Andrew Bynum is probably the 2nd best center in the NBA behind superstar Dwight Howard. Drew, like Kobe, finally spent a summer not rehabbing or nursing an injured knee. Instead Bynum took up boxing, added on muscle and looks like he is in the best shape of his career. It’s amazing what rest can do to a body.

I think Andrew improves by leaps this season, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I believe whatever system Mike Brown installs in to this Lakers team, that Andrew will be a big part of the defensive scheme of things here in Lakers land. Don’t forget Mike Brown was able to get Anderson Varejao on the NBA All defensive 2nd team in 2010. Why would he not be able to do the same things with an Anderw Bynum? I believe Andrew makes the 2nd team all defensive team this year. 

Third, Mike Brown. People are really sleeping on Mike Brown this year. OK, I realize he is not Phil Jackson as a lot of my twitter followers have been screaming. Who is? PJax is the greatest coach of all time, there is no other like him and will not be one maybe ever. However, Mike Brown is in my opinion a pretty damn good coach. He took a young Lebron James led Cavaliers team to the NBA Finals in 2007, only to be swept out by the Spurs. He was named NBA Coach of the Year after a league best 66-win season in 2009 and followed that up with another league best 61 wins in 2010. Thing is, Mike Brown didn’t win it all and that is something most people point to when talking about his coaching history. 

Look what he did with the teams he had though. The Cavs were basically a one player team with Lebron leading the team statistically in almost every category. He turned Varejao in to an all defensive team player, Mo Williams in to an All Star and Lebron James in to a 2 time NBA MVP. What makes people think he will do worse with a far better team here in LA?

A lot of Lakers fans are demanding that we upgrade our point guard position, and some were even willing to give up some of our size in Gasol or Bynum. Just last season the duo of Bynum and Gasol was the Lakers main advantage over other teams. No other team would be able to match up with our size and now fans believe that it is now our downfall along with the PG position. 

Let’s look at Steve Blake and Fisher who statistically were terrible with the Lakers last season. No point guards flourish statistically when running the triangle offense. Look up all the Bulls and Lakers teams from years past and you will notice the trend. Steve Blake has and may still be able to put up descent numbers in a more traditional offense instead of the triangle. Also I really like the addition of Darius Morris to our team as well. He was easily the most pure point guard in the NBA draft last season and hopefully Mike Brown can turn him in to a guy that can contribute to this squad.

Same goes for Ron Artest, ehem…. Metta World Peace. Metta was a 17-20 point scorer before joining the Lakers and the triangle offense. He clearly had problems learning and running the offense and his stats took a huge hit because of it. Now with word that Metta will be the 6th man of this team, I believe that offensively and defensively he will improve. 

It really is all about the system.

Honestly, I would not be surprised if at the end of the season, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Ron… damn. Metta World Peace are all be sitting on the 1st or 2nd all defensive team. 

Now this doesn’t mean the Lakers are going to win the championship, but I still believe they will compete in the West and still be one of the teams to beat.

All you Lakers “fans” that believe were done, please step off the Lakers bandwagon now. Thank you.