Should the lakers shut kobe down for the year...?

[EdXDavis21]

It looks like the team is not gonna accomplish anything why not give him the lengthy rest for the year so he can have extra energy in his final season with potentially better team... at this rate kobe might suffer a major injury if scott overuses him...

[Kilroy]

Depends on the goal of the team... If the goal is to showcase the talent we have, increase their value and then make a few trades, then you just sit him until the deadline...
But if the goal is to prepare for the draft, why not sit him?

That's the basketball answer, the NBA answer is probably, you better play his ass if he's healthy because there's too much money riding on him to sit him for no reason.

[cw3k]

No. Kobe needs to be Kobe and be selective on his shots

[dAdo dA dEvil]

Just because we won one game without Kobe the we shut him down for the year ??? This is ridiculous ...

[Kilroy]

I assumed this was purely hypothetical in my first post... Theoretically, sitting Kobe could make sense depending on the goals of the team...

But realistically... With or without Kobe, this is not a playoff team... So why are we sitting him? Is it to protect him, or is it because you think we have a better chance to win without him? And if that's the case, win what? An extra couple games?
Even if that happened, sitting Kobe would be considered a full on tank move... The Lakers would be slammed for it, and given the fact that even though we suck, we still put butts in other team's arenas, largely because of Kobe, it would piss off the league in a big way. Not to mention, probably hurt the bottom line of our team and it's partners.

Kobe isn't likely to sit the rest of the season no matter what... At least not right now... If somewhere between the all star break and the end of the season, we're still loosing more than 50% of our games, he may sit... But not now.

[Dr Aki]

is this the same corollary argument for "saving bynum for the playoffs" and extending it to kobe?

[ArC_man]

You want me to watch Ronnie Price and Wes Johnson jack up shots for the rest of the year?

[Slava]

What does shutting him down accomplish? The only reason I have invested into this season, like many others is to watch Kobe play for 1 of his last 2 remaining seasons. The two young players we have invested a ton in being Randle and Kelly have both got injured so its not like he is impeding anyone's progress either.

[crazyeights]

Didn't Dirk sit out a few games in the middle of the season one year? Either after some knee thing or after he played bball over the summer?

Everything points to they're shifting their approach with Kobe this season, I think going forward we'll see him rest until he feels ready to go, then a reduction in his overall minutes and workload. Get him right, then he'll finish out the season (hopefully a little more reliant on the team and with a elevated shooting percentage).

Unless there's something we absolutely don't know about his health, I'm taking their word at face value. The dude's been sore, and the rest of the season is already moot, no reason to run him into the ground. I'm willing to give him time to take a different approach...to me this could be a bit of a watershed moment.

But Kob is stubborn as hell, so we'll see.

[ardee]

All I care about with Kobe at this point is he gets his efficiency to an ok level, even like 52-53 TS%. I can't take all these **** giving him **** for his percentages.

[Pointgod]

Or we could just rest him on second half of back to back games and monitor his minutes. When the hell was the last time a healthy player was sat not even halfway through the season?

[Danny Darko]

At this point I think he needs to learn where his body is at and find a healthy rhythm playing so he's ready for next year, otherwise he might really atrophy and get rusty.

[The Laker Kid]

Kobe is like a 20 year old PC at this point. You shut him down for a year and he may never boot up again.

[Penberthy]

Wasn't there some clause in the time warner deal where they had to keep ratings over a certain number in order to get paid in full. I thought that was thrown around for justification of Kobe's contract(because they need to get the ratings). If he's going to keep playing the same way though, I'd rather watch the lakers without him, makes it more interesting at least, they lose either way.

Oh and tank hard.
And get Clarkson Kelly and Sacre lots of experience, they Kobe young and randle are the only ones under contract next year.
Trade everyone else for any picks possible.

[Sofa King]

[kblo247]

Kobe is hurting from over use sure, but he's also hurting just because his body was away from the NBA for a. year and the muscle memory of how to finish and how to shake off bumps isn't there ... Your solution is another year layoff ?

[SlimShady83]

How is this for an idea I just thought of.

How about Benching Kobe and place either Young or Ellington in the starting job?

We've benched Boozer and Lin and now let's do Kobe for the year too. Kobe would kill the 2nd units and this would let our young team run n gun with Kobe on the bench ???

Highly unlikely and I know Young is better off the bench, but still a thought to be had.

[Laker_Kid]

nice thought but itll never happen. kobe will retire first before playing off the bench.

[mcscotty]

Kobe is hurting from over use sure, but he's also hurting just because his body was away from the NBA for a. year and the muscle memory of how to finish and how to shake off bumps isn't there ... Your solution is another year layoff ?

The layoff and getting confidence on his surgically repaired legs is 85% of the problem. He's still got wheels, lateral movement and decent lift. Soon as Kobe finds his shot and rhythm things will look good.

[Arnold93]

Although he's shown a bad performance until now. He's still a superstar, I don't think the team would be better off without him, just like the last seasons. Having Kobe on the court can generate more profit than shutting him down at least.

//Arnod - read my blog: http://bernhardtsson.com/