boutons
03-31-2005, 08:52 PM
The New York Times, March 31, 2005
Bryant's Lakers Are Down and Nearly Out
By HOWARD BECK
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 30 - If the world expected defiance, the world will be disappointed. If a curious public is waiting for the pained look of resignation, the wistful sigh of regret, the plaintive backward glance, Kobe Bryant will not comply.
There have been very few vulnerable moments in public for Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers' star-crossed superstar, and this will not be one of them.
The Lakers, popularly known now as Kobe's Team, are heading toward their first losing season in 11 years. At 33-37, they are five and a half games out of the playoff field, with 12 games left to play - nine against playoff teams, seven on the road.
It appears a near certainty that the N.B.A.'s grand stage will be missing its longtime headliner when the postseason opens in late April.
This is the part where Bryant, who has been blamed for chasing off his co-star, Shaquille O'Neal, and Coach Phil Jackson, is supposed to drop his head in despair and long for the good old days. The digital video recorders set to capture that moment may crash before it comes.
Whatever internal angst he is experiencing - and everyone who knows him says he is - Bryant is not about to share it. The closest he gets is admitting, just briefly, that this new experience of losing drives him a little nuts.
"It does," Bryant said Wednesday with a light grin and a chuckle. "Believe me, it does. But I have a responsibility to my teammates, to make sure that when they come in, they look at me, they don't see me saying, 'Man, I'm disgusted with these guys, I'm tired of losing and oh, my God.' I have to come in here with the attitude of: 'Let's work.' "
That is about as appropriate a motto as there can be for this onetime dynasty as it winds down. Without O'Neal, the hulking, wisecracking center, the Lakers have become ordinary, and perhaps worse, uninteresting. The luxury suites at the Staples Center are less populated, the celebrities have abandoned the lower bowl and there is talk that the Clippers might be Los Angeles's best basketball team.
Before they beat the Knicks on Tuesday, the Lakers had lost eight straight games, the second-worst streak in franchise history.
"It's almost a feeling of disbelief," said Brian Shaw, a Lakers assistant who played alongside O'Neal and Bryant. "For this organization to experience this and for it to happen so fast, it kind of leaves you in a state of shock."
The last time the Lakers bottomed out, in the early 1990's, it was a matter of misfortune. Magic Johnson retired after contracting H.I.V., and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired, ending the Showtime era. Bryant and O'Neal arrived in 1996, beginning a new era of parades and banners. They won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002 and went to the finals again last June.
A conspiracy of ego clashes and financial concerns prompted the Lakers to dump Jackson and trade O'Neal, the most dominant player of his era, to the Miami Heat.
While the Heat has won a league-high 54 games and is eyeing a championship, O'Neal's previous team is heading toward the draft lottery.
The Lakers need another star to pair with Bryant. They need veterans with playoff experience. And they need a coach, since the one they hired last summer, Rudy Tomjanovich, resigned in January, having succumbed to the stresses of the job.
"We did not expect to win at the same level that we did for the last two years, certainly not for the three years before that," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said.
The rebuilding that began with the trade of O'Neal - for forwards Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant - will continue this off-season.
Vlade Divac, the wily veteran who was signed to replace O'Neal, has played only 37 minutes this season because of back problems. Odom, the centerpiece of the O'Neal trade, has missed the last five games because of a shoulder injury and might not return this season. Bryant missed 14 games because of an ankle sprain, and the Lakers went 6-8 in that stretch.
"I think everybody figured it was going to be different, it was going to be difficult," Shaw said. "But not as difficult as it has been."
Controversy, a staple of the last five years, has continued even without O'Neal. The most recent flare-up came Sunday, when guard Chucky Atkins, who has O'Neal's former locker stall, derided Bryant as the team's de facto general manager. He later backed away from the comments, but Atkins's sentiments and frustration were not uncommon.
All season, teammates have lightheartedly referred to Bryant as the G.M., sometimes jokingly asking permission, for instance, to come off the injured list.
Bryant has also worn out some of his young teammates with a sometimes-harsh leadership style, and there is a sense the Lakers need another retooling in the locker room.
"Some of the stuff that's going on internally with the guys, I've experienced that before," said Derek Fisher, Bryant's friend and former teammate, who plays for Golden State. "Once it gets past a certain point, it's just not fun. And it seems like the guys they have might not be the mix."
Yet Bryant has also shown signs of becoming the strong leader the franchise hoped he would be. On Wednesday, he invited the entire team to dinner, a gesture he never made when he was surrounded by older veterans and overshadowed by O'Neal.
"He's opened himself up to this group of guys more so than he ever did with us," Shaw said.
Bryant maintains he had nothing to do with the departures of O'Neal and Jackson. But after years of being the so-called little brother to O'Neal, and to veterans like Rick Fox and Robert Horry, he is enjoying playing big brother to young players like Tony Bobbit and Tierre Brown.
As for the burden he now bears - being blamed for the breakup and for the Lakers' disappointing season - Bryant can take it.
"Whatever the perception is out there, whatever burden people want to place on me, you know I've never been the type to succumb to that," he said. "I don't focus on that. I focus on us, right here, in this inner circle. And knowing that we continue to work hard. And one day, God willing, we'll be back up at the top."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Bryant's Lakers Are Down and Nearly Out
By HOWARD BECK
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 30 - If the world expected defiance, the world will be disappointed. If a curious public is waiting for the pained look of resignation, the wistful sigh of regret, the plaintive backward glance, Kobe Bryant will not comply.
There have been very few vulnerable moments in public for Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers' star-crossed superstar, and this will not be one of them.
The Lakers, popularly known now as Kobe's Team, are heading toward their first losing season in 11 years. At 33-37, they are five and a half games out of the playoff field, with 12 games left to play - nine against playoff teams, seven on the road.
It appears a near certainty that the N.B.A.'s grand stage will be missing its longtime headliner when the postseason opens in late April.
This is the part where Bryant, who has been blamed for chasing off his co-star, Shaquille O'Neal, and Coach Phil Jackson, is supposed to drop his head in despair and long for the good old days. The digital video recorders set to capture that moment may crash before it comes.
Whatever internal angst he is experiencing - and everyone who knows him says he is - Bryant is not about to share it. The closest he gets is admitting, just briefly, that this new experience of losing drives him a little nuts.
"It does," Bryant said Wednesday with a light grin and a chuckle. "Believe me, it does. But I have a responsibility to my teammates, to make sure that when they come in, they look at me, they don't see me saying, 'Man, I'm disgusted with these guys, I'm tired of losing and oh, my God.' I have to come in here with the attitude of: 'Let's work.' "
That is about as appropriate a motto as there can be for this onetime dynasty as it winds down. Without O'Neal, the hulking, wisecracking center, the Lakers have become ordinary, and perhaps worse, uninteresting. The luxury suites at the Staples Center are less populated, the celebrities have abandoned the lower bowl and there is talk that the Clippers might be Los Angeles's best basketball team.
Before they beat the Knicks on Tuesday, the Lakers had lost eight straight games, the second-worst streak in franchise history.
"It's almost a feeling of disbelief," said Brian Shaw, a Lakers assistant who played alongside O'Neal and Bryant. "For this organization to experience this and for it to happen so fast, it kind of leaves you in a state of shock."
The last time the Lakers bottomed out, in the early 1990's, it was a matter of misfortune. Magic Johnson retired after contracting H.I.V., and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired, ending the Showtime era. Bryant and O'Neal arrived in 1996, beginning a new era of parades and banners. They won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002 and went to the finals again last June.
A conspiracy of ego clashes and financial concerns prompted the Lakers to dump Jackson and trade O'Neal, the most dominant player of his era, to the Miami Heat.
While the Heat has won a league-high 54 games and is eyeing a championship, O'Neal's previous team is heading toward the draft lottery.
The Lakers need another star to pair with Bryant. They need veterans with playoff experience. And they need a coach, since the one they hired last summer, Rudy Tomjanovich, resigned in January, having succumbed to the stresses of the job.
"We did not expect to win at the same level that we did for the last two years, certainly not for the three years before that," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said.
The rebuilding that began with the trade of O'Neal - for forwards Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant - will continue this off-season.
Vlade Divac, the wily veteran who was signed to replace O'Neal, has played only 37 minutes this season because of back problems. Odom, the centerpiece of the O'Neal trade, has missed the last five games because of a shoulder injury and might not return this season. Bryant missed 14 games because of an ankle sprain, and the Lakers went 6-8 in that stretch.
"I think everybody figured it was going to be different, it was going to be difficult," Shaw said. "But not as difficult as it has been."
Controversy, a staple of the last five years, has continued even without O'Neal. The most recent flare-up came Sunday, when guard Chucky Atkins, who has O'Neal's former locker stall, derided Bryant as the team's de facto general manager. He later backed away from the comments, but Atkins's sentiments and frustration were not uncommon.
All season, teammates have lightheartedly referred to Bryant as the G.M., sometimes jokingly asking permission, for instance, to come off the injured list.
Bryant has also worn out some of his young teammates with a sometimes-harsh leadership style, and there is a sense the Lakers need another retooling in the locker room.
"Some of the stuff that's going on internally with the guys, I've experienced that before," said Derek Fisher, Bryant's friend and former teammate, who plays for Golden State. "Once it gets past a certain point, it's just not fun. And it seems like the guys they have might not be the mix."
Yet Bryant has also shown signs of becoming the strong leader the franchise hoped he would be. On Wednesday, he invited the entire team to dinner, a gesture he never made when he was surrounded by older veterans and overshadowed by O'Neal.
"He's opened himself up to this group of guys more so than he ever did with us," Shaw said.
Bryant maintains he had nothing to do with the departures of O'Neal and Jackson. But after years of being the so-called little brother to O'Neal, and to veterans like Rick Fox and Robert Horry, he is enjoying playing big brother to young players like Tony Bobbit and Tierre Brown.
As for the burden he now bears - being blamed for the breakup and for the Lakers' disappointing season - Bryant can take it.
"Whatever the perception is out there, whatever burden people want to place on me, you know I've never been the type to succumb to that," he said. "I don't focus on that. I focus on us, right here, in this inner circle. And knowing that we continue to work hard. And one day, God willing, we'll be back up at the top."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company