When Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant finally spoke about his long road back from his April 12 Achilles tendon tear, saying this week that he's still ahead of schedule but providing no timeline for his return, this much was made clear: The Nick Young variety act will continue for the foreseeable future.
Young, the homegrown gunslinger out of nearby University of Southern California who saw opportunity in Bryant's absence and signed on as his substitute during the summer, is one of the least-known, most-entertaining players in the entire Association — a constant bag of offensive tricks and hoops eye candy. But he's not Bryant, the future Hall of Famer who is hell-bent on punishing the many media soothsayers whose preseason predictions have his team sitting home come playoff time in late April.
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Yet this was the tallest of tasks even if Bryant was healthy, what with Dwight Howard having headed for Houston and Lakers running mates Steve Nash and Pau Gasol yet another year older (39 and an older-than-his-age 33, respectively). And now that Bryant is starting to sound like a player who may not be back any time soon — a revelation that should surprise no one considering the injury typically takes six to nine months to recover from — this new Lakers lot is charged with a challenge that seems more daunting by the day.
Bryant, who recently returned from Germany after undergoing his latest round of platelet-rich plasma therapy on his right knee, hasn't officially deemed himself out for the Oct. 29 regular season opener. But his recovery, it's still safe to say, may last long after the games start counting.
He told news reporters Wednesday that after "six months of eating whatever the hell I wanted to eat and not running," he's out of shape and will need three weeks of "rigorous conditioning" to regain his fitness — a period that has not started yet. He is running at his full body weight on the altered-gravity treadmill but has only taken set shots to this point and has yet to ask his 35-year-old legs if their vintage explosiveness is coming back anytime soon.
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In the interim, there is plenty to ponder when it comes to the Lakers who are on the floor. Young, for starters, is off to an inconsistent start in his early Lakers days: He's 12-for-35 from the field in all, with a 4-for-16 outing against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday certainly skewing his statistics. Gasol and new frontcourt addition Chris Kaman, meanwhile, played together for the first time on Tuesday in a win over the Nuggets that showcased some of their versatile potential (they combined for 26 points on 11 of 22 shooting, five assists and 15 rebounds while each playing approximately 25 minutes).
Anyone who remembers the tension between Gasol and Mike D'Antoni last season remembers that it was rooted in the Lakers coach's belief that two big men have a tough time playing together effectively (he obviously went with Howard early and often). Yet D'Antoni admitted on Wednesday that he likes what he sees from these twin towers so far.
"The two bigs can play together; I didn't know that," D'Antoni said Wednesday. "I've not traditionally loved two bigs together, but they have nice chemistry and they both are skilled...We'll see going forward, but it looked good last night."
If anyone has the chance to re-assert himself as a star-caliber player in the early goings of this season, it's Gasol. He's only three years removed from winning the second of back-to-back titles with Bryant, and just two years removed from his last All-Star Game (his fourth overall), yet spent most of last season outside his comfort zone because of Howard's presence and style.
"He'll be in his kind of natural (role), that of being a playmaker and a facilitator and a scorer when there's no double teams," Bryant told Time Warner Cable of Gasol on Tuesday night. "And he'll be able to control the pace of the game a lot more, which is what he's more comfortable doing."
As for when Bryant will be comfortable on a court again? That much remains a mystery.
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