Kobe Bryant has always chosen his own context.
Accordingly, the perspective has mostly tilted in his favor, toward his grandeur, serving in construction of his legend.
It has not been ineffective marketing.
Bryant came to the Los Angeles Lakers
practice facility a week ago and told new coach and longtime friend
Byron Scott how much rust felt coated on his bones despite how healed
everything was and how much more focus he had been placing on his craft
all summer.
Bryant did not want the team's website or TV network in the gym, as
was allowed for other informal scrimmages for Lakers players. He had
worked out with teammates such as Jeremy Lin for a week early in the
offseason, but this was different.
This would be real five-on-five, a meaningful test.
Did Bryant pass? Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak
termed the results "comforting" and was moved a few days later to
remind: "He gives you a chance, no matter the circumstances, to be
really good."
Scott saw enough to suggest Monday at Lakers media day that Bryant
would average 24 points and play all 82 games. Scott's doubt about how
well Bryant could raise up to get his jumper off was eased to the point
that Scott described Kobe's outlook as "very exciting."
Bryant executed his footwork in the mid-post. He had the lift also to reach high for much-needed rebounds.
He played three games.
He hit two game-winning shots.
Asked on the eve of training camp about his dramatic scrimmage
success, Bryant said, "I hadn't played, so I spent the whole summer just
kind of preparing and training. It was important for me to get a
five-on-five game in, so I could see what I can and can't do.
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
"And I felt like me."
Bryant didn't say it with any bravado, however. He also wasn't
cavalier about it and didn't make it seem like a no-brainer. He didn't
even mention those oh-so-Kobe winning shots that the public was unaware
he had hit.
He was pleased, but he was not emboldened.
He chose that context, and he chose not to feed the hype—or even believe it himself.
All he wanted to say about it was that it was a small, personal, positive steppingstone.
And I felt like me.
That's not to be taken lightly as Bryant, 36, tries to inspire his
public all over again with a comeback from the fractured right knee on
top of the torn left Achilles that saw him play just six games last
season.
"It's just trying to see if I can prove to myself," he said, "that I can be myself."
Bryant added that the "words of doubt" from the outside—haters,
critics or realists, whatever they might be—fan his flame, but only
secondarily.
"I've always been that way, though," he said. "I feel that [makes
for] a much healthier journey. It's much more enjoyable to look to the
side every now and then and look at who you're proving wrong in the
process. That's never been the main driver for me."
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
Listening to Bryant speak Monday, it was clear that he is confident
in his health. What he is uncertain of is the high hurdle of this
recovery, which requires him to re-establish his game in the face of the
unyielding aging process.
To that end, Bryant placed more focus on the craft, the details, the
crux of his game, than anything over the summer. He dropped about 10
pounds but did so without using the track, his usual haven for early
morning conditioning, and holed himself up in the gym. He feels potent
on offense, as usual, but he wonders whether his lower body can slide
defensively the way he knows it must if the Lakers defense is to meet
Scott's expectations.
The fundamentals have to be Bryant's foundation more than ever. His outsized self-confidence was always rooted in faith that his work ethic would result in his game being there when he needed it.
So the only issue now that he is healthy is whether he will meet his own challenge.
Long before anyone else can judge how much this old snake looks like
the Black Mamba, either he will feel comfortable in his skin or he
won't.
Bryant admitted he was "anxiously awaiting" the Lakers' first practice. The first exhibition game is a week after that.
Joe Murphy/Getty Images
The regular-season opener sits a month away.
A year ago, Bryant was in a similar position, returning to the court
from a prolonged absence while facing an uphill struggle against his
Achilles.
"Now there are questions, but they don't center around health," Bryant said of the difference this year.
As much as the suggestions so far sound good, Bryant's inflection
won't change back to certainty until he has a different answer, an
answer that isn't: "I felt like me."
It has to be: "It's me."
Anything less, and it's going to be a long, unsatisfying march into retirement.
