Kobe Bryant to Lead Los Angeles Lakers
At the age of almost 37 and after overcoming several serious injuries in recent years, Kobe Bryant will once again don the Lakers uniform. The '24' of the gold and purple will have to act more as a teacher than ever, as much of the hopes of the angelinos rely on the duo of young guards who illuminate the future of the team: D'Angelo Russell, the number two pick of the last Draft, and Jordan Clarkson, whose performance as a rookie last season exceeded all expectations.
These three mentioned players, who will probably occupy many minutes at the '1', '2' and '3' positions (yes, Kobe will play as a small forward), are joined by the acquisitions of three veterans who will surely bring value to their new team: Lou Williams, the Sixth Man of the Year; Roy Hibbert, who will try to regain his dominance; and Brandon Bass. In addition, the team led by Byron Scott also has a Julius Randle, who is expected to do great things in the league.
We don't know where the Lakers will end up next season, but what we do know, thanks to an interview that Bryant gave to Yahoo! Sports, is that the shooting guard has a lot of faith in his team. Can these Lakers make it to the playoffs?
"Of course they can. We definitely have talented players in their respective positions. We also have very young players. How will the pieces of the puzzle fit together? Actually, we don't know. We're going to training camp to try to figure things out, like so many other teams. We have to discover our strengths and weaknesses," said the Lakers star.
Bryant averaged over 22 points per game in the 35 games he was able to play in the 2014-15 season.