Kobe Bryant is drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan the Los Angeles Lakers star surely can’t be too thrilled about.
“There’s some parallel to it,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said of his aging-star and the Jordan who spent the last two years of his heightened career with Washington as a fraction of the player he had been in Chicago. “Kobe didn’t retire or come back. But he’s coming off an injury.”
Scott later added “Michael played with the Wizards. That wasn’t the Chicago Bulls, a team he wasn’t used to playing with. Kobe’s still with the Lakers, but playing with a group of guys that aren’t like the group he’s been accustomed to playing with.”
The winless Lakers play host to Jordan’s Charlotte Hornets on Sunday with Bryant needing just 454 points to replace the man many consider to be the greatest to ever play the game for third place on the league’s all-time scoring list.
But Bryant can’t seem to think about much of that right now, he’s too busy trying to get his overmatched and undermanned Lakers over the hump. It won’t be getting any easier.
After Charlotte, the Lakers face six teams (Memphis, San Antonio, Golden State, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas) over their next seven games that all made the playoffs last season. And the Spurs are defending champs.
But you just know the 36-year-old and five-time champion Bryant won’t be going down without a fight. The 16-time all-star is averaging nearly 28 points over the Lakers first five games, including scoring at least 28 in three different games.
[Photo Credit: Keith Allison]