Kobe Bryant is going to play for the Lakers again pretty soon. We don't know when, we don't know how he will look as he gets back into game shape, but we know the return is imminent. We always knew that, though, but we're officially closing in on a return date. He's practicing with the team for the first time since his Achilles popped and the Lakers are 5-7 without him.
Things are about to get complicated in Los Angeles.
There are many angles to consider with the return of Kobe Bryant. Even if he's 25 percent less effective and plays limited minutes early on it's a given he will give the team a boost. Forget the nuances of defense and offense for a moment and consider that the Lakers are relying on Nick Young, Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson and Jodie Meeks to handle small forward and shooting guard duties. They've done well. As Kanye would say, #NODISRESPECT, but they aren't Kobe.
The Lakers' offense, for as reasonably "good" it was projected to be, is still near the bottom of the league in efficiency. 100.6 points per 100 possessions (per Basketball-Reference) isn't what most had envisioned for this squad -- that's 25th out of 30. You'd have to go back to the 1975-1976 Lakers to find a worse offensive rating in franchise history. This team is performing historically bad on offense.
Kobe immediately boosts that even if he's sitting in a chair at the elbow putting up shots while blindfolded.
If the season ended today (you know, 12 games into the year) the Lakers would be on the outside of the playoffs looking in. That's not a big deal, really, because it's still stupid early in the season. They're 1.5 games out of the eighth seed, belonging to the Dallas Mavericks and their 6-4 record with Monta Ellis.
Let's not think about the standings right now, though. Those really don't matter all that much this early in the season. The Lakers are playing hard and exceeding expectations together and the wins have been a blast to watch. The year has already been more uplifting than the entire Dwight Howard campaign, and that's with Steve Nash being reduced to broken status a few games in. But the overarching reality still matters, and this Lakers team isn't going to win a title. The rebuild is still coming. The 2014 NBA Draft is still going to be incredibly important to the team.
They clearly aren't tanking, but they aren't contenders. Enter Kobe.
Who knows how the team performs once they have one of the greatest players in NBA history to fill up the
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