Scott must lead Kobe Bryant if he wants the others to follow. Not just get along. Not just offer license and liberty. Lead.
And Scott's ledger on that front so far is as bad as the Lakers' one-win record under him, the worst 10-game start in franchise history.
There is a fundamental problem with the template.
You want to build the team around Bryant's free rein on offense while he is encouraged to "rest"—Scott's own word—on defense, yet every other guy is being held to fantastic standards that must be met for the team to overachieve?
How is anyone besides Kobe ever going to think that's cool? Resentment is bound to build, especially when Bryant is so unabashed in competitive zeal that he described his view on his teammates' passivity Sunday night thus: "Can't just sit back and watch crime happen."
Scott riding Bryant for so many sloppy extra minutes Nov. 4 against the visiting Phoenix Suns—he'd predetermined that the lack of games afterward meant Bryant could go longer—is not building a team. It reeks of desperation and undermines the rest of the players—besides endangering Bryant for the long haul of the season (and making him tired and making it less likely to win that game down the stretch anyway).
The whole thing, deep down, doesn't make Bryant happy either. He has learned most from the push and pull of Phil Jackson, the cross-denunciations from Tex Winter and the stubborn self-worth of Derek Fisher that his success doesn't come courtesy of yes men.
Kevin Ding | Bleacher Report
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