As I think back on this Lakers season, I remember back to April 2, 2016 when I had the distinct pleasure of attending a Lakers walk-through practice before their game against Boston the following evening. My friend, Susan, had won a charity auction and somehow I drew the Wonka ticket and got an invite. As a lifelong basketball and Lakers fan, this was a dream come true. As a person who has coached basketball for the last 18 years, this was Eden.
Going into the Lakers facility in El Segundo, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first thing that you see when you get into the private portion of the Lakers facility is the rec room. The room has a giant chart telling the players, in a three-tier poster, what food they should be putting into their bodies. Then, you see the tables with what would be the players’ lunches waiting for them in fancy cookers. The beverage refrigerator was deliberately stacked with the healthiest drinks on top, and each level below a lower category of nutrition. I have to say that while it should not have been surprising, I was highly impressed with how on top of the type of food being consumed the Lakers were. Come to think of it, everything about the Lakers practice facility was thought out, meticulous, and had a purpose.
After you get through the rec room, it’s into the training room. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to Gary Vitti for our group’s loud volume, which prompted him to politely, though not subtly, close his office door. Dr. Seto, on the other hand, gave us a little health tutorial. The training room looks like you’d expect, although the wooden floor with the Lakers logo on some of the machines was pretty cool.
From there it was to the gym where you’re greeted with a giant chart of free throws attempted, made, and percentage. After a few minutes, the walk-through started with team stretches followed by warm-up drills. The big men were on one side of the court doing their drills and the guards on the other side doing the same. They were split up into small groups at six different baskets. Given that this was a week after the video heard round the world, it was quite interesting to see that Metta World Peace took it upon himself to warm D’Angelo Russell up alone. He was quiet but in his ear, coaching him up the entire time. If you’re wondering about Swaggy P, he didn’t exactly give any effort to pick up D’Angelo’s ball when it rolled over to him and then Swaggy lost his ball in the corner about five times in six minutes. Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised that he was being sat for lack of focus shortly thereafter.
Before I get into my revelation, I do have to mention that I was a little on cloud nine while watching the Lakers run a set featuring UCLA cuts. And to answer my friend Chris’ question, no, I didn’t draw up a play featuring a UCLA cut for Mark Madsen. It was a simple out of bounds play. Oh, did I mention that I got to talk basketball with Lakers Assistant Coaches Mark Madsen and Jim Ivins and that the two of them could not have been nicer? Sorry, back to the column. I HIT A THREE ON THE LAKERS PRACTICE FLOOR! Ok, now back to the column.
The biggest presence at the Lakers practice, the elephant in the room, wasn’t even there. As most of you are aware, Kobe Bryant stopped practicing with the team with the team and hadn’t practiced with them for some time. But just in case the Lakers players forgot who this season was about, Kobe’s production team was there shooting the practice for Kobe’s film, and lowering the overhead mike into random conversations on the court. I didn’t need to ask anybody from the Lakers whether it was weird, not just having Kobe absent, but having a giant camera and microphone invade practice every day. But it was a great metaphor for the season. This season was all about Kobe, and that is just the way he has always wanted it.
Now before you get all salty with me, let me just tell you that I have cheered on #8 and #24 throughout his tenure with the Lakers. He has been the best player on my favorite team and will go down as one of the ten best players to ever lace them up. Additionally, you were sure to be entertained every time he stepped out onto the court. But that doesn’t mean you have blinders on when it comes to him.
Kobe excelled because he focused on himself. That is not to say that he didn’t want to win. He did, more than anything, but in my opinion, only because he knew that championships were what defined legacies. Look at this quote: “I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.” – Kobe Bryant. Notice that there is no “we” in that sentence about winning championships.
Kobe is a complex individual, but his focus has always been singular. Here’s another example: “In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball’s different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There’s a lot of great individual talent.” – Kobe Bryant. He may have been playing a team sport but Kobe looked at it as an individual battle. He honed his craft more than anyone I can think of. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether he was just a control freak, the most self-absorbed person on the planet, or a little of both.
So when I think of Kobe Bryant, I will remember his drive, his intensity, is IDGAF attitude, but most of all, his self-serving need to win that benefited both him and the Lakers in kind during his prime. You may be angry that he used up far too much of the salary cap for the Lake Show in his final years, but just look at his ability to generate revenue. As Kobe would argue, why should he take a pay cut? Again, he wasn’t just about winning, he was also about Kobe.
When I look back on this season, I will think about that practice on April 2, 2016. I will think about how the vast majority of the Lakers were still dialed in as to their responsibilities. They remained professionals despite being the Bryantettes on a team that was 16-59 at the time. The assistant coaches I spoke to were unanimous in their crediting Byron Scott for keeping most of the team on board.
The more I thought about it, the more I thought of President Obama’s first couple of years in office. You may or may not have liked how he handled the Iraq War and the Great Recession, but you couldn’t argue against the fact that he was dealt a horrible hand. So too was Coach Scott. I don’t know if that merits another opportunity, but being Byron Scott this year was the toughest job in the coaching business. Can he lead a rebuilding Lakers team next season? It looks like we’ll find out. After watching a Lakers walk-through late in the season and expecting a team full of young, checked out guys only to find the players executing what they were asked to do and doing so with a focus that belied their record, I wouldn’t want to fire this coaching staff, despite how you may feel about Coach Scott.
As for Kobe, I will always be grateful that I got to watch one of the greatest players who ever played the game do so in a Lakers uniform. I will miss witnessing his mastery of the game. But I am, and have been, ready for the next chapter in Lakers history. When you think of eras, there was the West/Baylor/Chamberlain era, then the Showtime Era, and finally the Kobe era. Kobe wanted these last 20 years to be about him, and they were for better AND worse.
All in all, I have been lucky to have been a Lakers fan during this stretch, but I’ll leave you with this: Would you rather have been a Lakers fan during the Kobe era and seen remarkable dominance during the middle stretch of two decades or been a Spurs fan during the Duncan/Popovich era and seen consistent excellence and team play during a similar span? I don’t think there’s a right answer to that question. But I know this, Kobe wasn’t going to pull a Tim Duncan, take a pay cut, and hand the reins over to someone else. He only knew how to play one way and that was with his foot all the way down on the gas. The last few years have been tough to watch, but at least last night, one final time, we were all captivated and reminded again about what greatness looks like. Kobe claims that he could never have envisioned last night. I call BS. He envisioned it, worked for it, went out there, and executed it. The Lakers went 17-65 but people will remember this season for Kobe’s 60 points in a ridiculously entertaining comeback win. For better AND worse, Mamba out.