As Kobe Bryant prepares for the mental, physical and emotional rides sure to follow in his 19th NBA season, it cannot be easy for him to shake one haunting question.
Is this it?
That's not a confrontation with mortality either. After a torn Achilles and fractured tibia have twice put him face-to-face with the game's grim reaper over the past 16 months, he knows all too well which side of his hourglass holds the most sand grains.
What Bryant could (and honestly should) have a hard time understanding is how the Los Angeles Lakers have botched the last leg of his journey this badly.
L.A. set a franchise record for losses last season (55) and had its second-lowest winning percentage ever (.329). While they should have a healthy Bryant this time around—which it didn't for all but six games last year—the Lakers could conceivably be worse.
"The team has gone from not knowing who was its third-best player behind Bryant and Pau Gasol to not knowing who is its second-best player now," wrote Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding. "And Bryant still has to prove that he can stay healthy an ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Zach Buckley
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