Kobe Bryant has seen the Lakers struggle post his retirement(and even during his last days), but is happy that the franchise was able to recruit LeBron James and show the world that the franchise still had the power to attract the world’s best.
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After years of not winning any championship, Bryant feels that the present team has the required ingredients to go all the way, especially under the able leadership of LeBron James.
LeBron has been the centre figure at many franchises and knows what it is to play for a team with a rich history.
When he came to LA, he had a mission and Bryant is confident that that mission could come to fruition if the Lakers kept a little patience.
“Coming in here, this organization, this city, it’s not anything that is new to him,” Bryant said.
“He’s always had the spotlight, right? He’s been able to deal with that gracefully. I think the difference here is that you have a collection of players with a lot of talent all young. And so the challenge is, can they figure out what their games are individually, sooner rather than later?
“Because at the beginning of the season, you saw a collection of individual talent trying to figure out what they can do and where they can do it on the floor. What about their games? But at the same time how to figure out how to make those games blend in as a group. You can’t have one before the other, see what I’m saying? So it’s a test of Bron’s patience, and also doing what he needs to do to keep the team’s head above water. So it’s a balancing act.” he added.
Bryant was very firm about how the Lakers needed to play, with the current method of LeBron hogging the ball and making everything happen not making much sense to him.
Bryant made a good point about how the current method is good for keeping the team above water but not for going all the way towards an NBA title.
“That’s not the recipe to win a championship, by no means, but it is a recipe to keep your head above water.” Bryant said.
Bryant spoke extremely highly of the young Lakers players, emphasising on how they had the required talent to help the franchise win titles in the future.
But he wanted to put out the idea of ‘patience with oneself’, something that these youngsters need to have in order to succeed at the highest level.
“Unbelievable talents,” Bryant said.
“The patience is on all of us. We have to be patient. But as players, you’re never patient with yourself. You’re patient with each other, but not with yourself. You want to be there now and you work to be there now with the understanding that it is going to take time. But you want to be there now. That’s the way that you accelerate growth. They have a lot of potential, man. They’ll figure it out.” he added.
Bryant was then quick to take a dig at the Warriors, saying that he desperately wanted the Lakers to win a title so that the Warriors fans who have come out of nowhere can go back to their caves.
“Of course they will. Of course they will,” Bryant repeated.
“They have determination to figure it out. They will figure it out. They have talented pieces …. So enjoy the journey because we’ll be champions before you know it. Then we’ll just be laughing at all the Warrior fans. …
“I remember going there to play, looking around and seeing a lot of Lakers jerseys in the stands. Now all of a sudden, I’m like, ‘What the…?’” he concluded.
