The Nostalgia Of Kobe II
So last week, I wrote about the nostalgia of Kobe and expectations that he will have a huge year based on how disgruntled he is. Of course, a day later, news came out that Kobe’s wife Vanessa was filing for divorce.
While the idea of holding onto Kobe because of nostalgic feelings about his prime years still applies, it seems I was making a huge reach on why he has been so on edge. Instead of a burning desire to prove everyone who was doubting him and his team wrong, it was his personal problems manifesting to the surface. But what this new set of circumstances presents is another question: whether what happens off the court with Kobe matters at all as it relates to his on court performance?
I’m going to say no, but with a caveat that it’ll be really easy to merge his struggles on the court and correlate them to his off the court issues, especially given his age. It’s going to be a lot easier to attribute any decline in his game this year to off court distractions. But if how Kobe handled the scrutiny of his sexual assault case from 2003 is an indication, news of his divorce will be nothing but a footnote going forward.
What fascinates me more about this season for Kobe is that we’re entering the final part of his career narrative. At this point, it’s about getting to six championships and matching Jordan. It seems that with more superstars carving out their own niche in recent years, and even more failing to live up to expectations, we’re drifting away from the obsession of anointing someone as Jordan’s successor. Lebron can be Lebron. Durant can be Durant. They don’t need to live in someone else’s shadow. Whether that speaks more to what they can do versus what they can’t is another discussion entirely.
Staying with Kobe, six rings will give him a narrative that holds up historically as well as anyone.
And what makes his chase for number six that much more intriguing is the fact that he now has a new head coach that no one thinks he can coexist with, and a starting line-up that includes two big men - one who shrunk in the spotlight last year, the other incapable of staying healthy for extended stretches - a forward named World Peace and a point guard who probably had his last relevant NBA moment negotiating the collective bargaining agreement.
This Kobe isn’t suppose to win another title. Not this year, not unless the team retools to catch up with the rest of the Conference who have improved dramatically. Circumstances are now different for Kobe than in years’ past.
Kobe’s been a front runner for most of his career. Save that period from Shaq departing to Gasol arriving. And when I think back to those years, when he carried the likes of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown to the brink of a first round upset of the Suns, I remember them as Kobe’s best individual years — whether it was by necessity, or the fact that they coincided with his prime.
This is the Kobe I expect to see this year. This is the Kobe that the Lakers are going to need. And if that’s the Kobe that comes through and carries his team, we just may need to re-write his historical ranking one more time.
I can’t wait.
