The Lakers are not expected to make much noise this season, but that hasn’t tamed Kobe Bryant’s ferocity one bit. During practice reserve guards Nick Young and Lou Williams reportedly made the mistake of trash talking Bryant, who proceeded to hop in a time machine and school them for a scrimmage victory.
Metta on Kobe's practice: "He was scoring in people's faces, talking trash." Someone apparently talked trash to Kobe and it fired him up.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) October 25, 2015
Turns out there were *two* players who fired up Kobe by talking trash to him at practice today: Lou Williams and, no surprise, Nick Young. — Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) October 25, 2015
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On one hand, it’s good news for Los Angeles that Bryant is still capable of going off, even at 37 years old and coming off knee, Achilles and rotator cuff surgeries. On the other hand, Young and Williams are expected to be key contributors, and they can’t hang with a 37-year-old who has had surgeries in three consecutive seasons, and has missed 123 of 164 possible games the last two years.
Young and Williams might be too entrenched in their ways to respect the type of intensity Bryant brings at all times, but he sounds like he’s gotten through to rookie Larry Nance Jr.
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“[S]omebody said something to Kobe … [and four threes] later, you can see the score now,” Nance Jr. said after practice. “I think we’ve learned from that mistake: Don’t poke the bear.”
Bryant played in 35 games last year, averaging 22.3 points on 20.4 shots. His supporting cast this season is young, but talented, so D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle may push Bryant to pass more, like he was in the past two seasons when he averaged six assists.
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