That the Los Angeles Lakers miss a player who shoots 35 percent from the floor and has a hard time playing any defense shows how much the organization is ailing right now.
The defenseless Lakers suffered another humiliating defeat in their 60th game of the season, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 112-95 at Staples Center. The Grizzlies tied a franchise record for most points in a half with 67 (that they first established two nights earlier against the Lakers in Memphis).
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The team played without Kobe Bryant, who was nursing a strained right shoulder, in the second game of the back-to-back schedule. His younger teammates felt his absence on the court.
"That's where we're kind of lacking at this point," rookie Larry Nance said, according to Lakers Nation. "A lot of guys are hesitant to step into that role because obviously that's 24's role. I do think leadership is something we lack and I think, in fact I know, with [Kobe] out on the court I don't think [the deficit] gets to 30."
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Nance wasn't the only one who commented on Bryant's absence, another Lakers Nation article reported.
Byron Scott: "When No. 24 (Kobe Bryant, out sore shoulder) is not there, I really saw the lack of leadership that we do have."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) February 27, 2016
Russell: "I don’t really have the credibility or experience, so what I say goes through one ear and out the other." — Bill Oram (@billoram) February 27, 2016
And so with three-fourths of the season gone, Lakers fans might be less than thrilled to learn that their team has learned nothing about leadership.
When the season began, coach Byron Scott initially said he was going to cap Bryant's minutes, but later recanted, saying Kobe could play as much as he wanted because he had earned that right.
So the young Lakers players, including Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell and Larry Nance, learned early on that they were going to have to defer to Bryant in crunch-time situations.
That didn't matter much anyway because Los Angeles, as it turned out, didn't have many clutch situations as the team embarked to set a franchise record for futility for the third straight year under Scott.
Nance is convinced that the youth of team still needs to make a commitment to a leadership-by-committee approach to help the team stay competitive in more games.
"There's a lot of guys that peek their head in and try every now and again," he said, "but it's something that, with guys that are so young, we're all the same age, it's gotta be something by committee at first."
The only problem is that it's going to be much more difficult for the young players to change their habits they were using when Bryant was healthy after the pattern has been established.
Meaning that it looks like Los Angeles will be in for a rough go in 2016-17 without Kobe, especially if they are able to secure another high first-round draft pick. If the season ended today, the Lakers would have the second-worst record and a fair shot to earn a top-three pick.
If the Lakers fall out of the top three, their pick goes to the Philadelphia 76ers.
But it appears as if the Lakers will be starting over again next training camp on trying to find a fourth-quarter leader with Bryant out of the way in retirement.
That doesn't sound very much like player development.
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