Regeln » Lakers and Kobe work together to control transition

Brandon Bass just got done with rebuilding, having spent the last two seasons in Boston, where the Celtics cancelled Ubuntu and broke up the Big Four for spare parts with nary a tear shed. It was time to move on. The Los Angeles Lakers, his new team this season, are in the midst of a rebuild, so Bass, no doubt, has advice for his new, young teammates.

Except, he doesn't.

"You aren't ever going to be in a rebuild as long as that guy is on the team," he said last Monday, on the team's Media Day, nodding to your right.
Any guesses about to whom Bass was referring?

That Guy, aka Kobe Bryant, seemed a little wistful on the eve of his 20th NBA season. He is on his 10th coach, and his latest center, and his next point guard. Whether this is his last season will surely be his decision as the One-Name guys always have that autonomy, their great pasts a guarantor to determine their futures. NBA 2K16 MT Coins
But the One Namers still have standards, and for almost all of his two decades in the NBA, Bryant's only standard was being on a team good enough to compete for a championship. This year's version of the Lakers won't, can't, has no shot at being that relevant in the NBA landscape. It would take almost everything to go right for the Lakers to be in the hunt for a playoff spot, even as they should be improved over last season's 21-win effort.

Kobe Bryant talks with David Aldridge during Lakers media day before beginning his 20th season in the league.

So, what could feel new this year, after all these years?

I think he's at a point in his career that he's mature enough to accept certain things, and accept uncertainty. Probably earlier on in his career, he wouldn't have dealt with it as well.
– Former Lakers big man Pau Gasol, on Kobe Bryant

Into that new mix comes the 37-year-old Bryant, who begins the season third (32,482 points) on the NBA's all-time scoring list, 4,446 points behind second-place Karl Malone. Unless Bryant gets in the wayback machine and averages better than 30 a game this season, it would likely take two-plus seasons for Bryant to pass Malone, at which point he'd still probably need another season to catch the all-time scoring leader, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points).

It's hard to imagine Bryant hanging around just to get a shot at Abdul-Jabbar. To play past this season, and the end of his two-year, $48 million deal, Bryant would have to see real signs of improvement from the team. Playing just to be playing has never been his style.