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http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24725638/lakers-gm-mitch-kupchak-says-plan-is-to-manage-kobe-bryants-minutes


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Thoughts? What would you suggest the range be for mpg this season for Kobe?

I think his range should be 31-35 minutes. Phil tried to do this before he even left, and it was going down. Bad coaching hires increased the minutes again resulting to the breakdown of the Mamba.

Also we have to be smart, looking at the schedule there should be some back to backs that he just shouldn't play in period. For example there's a set of back to backs where the opponent is the T-Wolves. The first is Dec. 14 against the T-Wolves, the next game is the Pacers on the 15th. Sit Kobe on the 14th and play the Pacers.

The next is March 24th and 25th, 24th is the T-Wolves....again sit Kobe, play the 25th against OKC. Sorry Minny but you don't see Kobe on your floor this season. League would be mad as hell but so what, that's how Byron should do it. Some teams aren't worth playing against.

MDA is horrible at managing minutes.

To be fair, Phil sucked at managing Kob's minutes too.

In 2010-2011, PJ's last season, Kobe's knees were really bad. Pretty sure Phil mentioned that was part of why he was retiring, he didn't think Kobe could play like he used to (before the magic German procedures brought life back to him)...regardless, Kobe was in a lot of pain and even he might have said he was thinking of retiring.

So that season, yeah he averaged 33.9mpg, but if you look at the box scores there games where we'd blow out a team and he'd play like 26, or there were games where we'd lose by 3 and he'd almost play 40. From the looks of it, Kobe never played a low mpg in a few point loss. PJ didn't have the ability, the sway, or the guts to sit him.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bryanko01/gamelog/2011/

Point being, PJ didn't manage his minutes like Pop does with Duncan where they'd lose a game by 4 but he still only played 31 minutes.

But it's tough, because Phil was trying to win, and it's hard to justify taking Kobe out when he's putting up 42/12/9 in 48 minutes against Phoenix. Really this attests to the fact that it's tough to manage Kobe's minutes when even now he's still the best scorer on the team--and we'll probably need him to be the first option all season.

I love those old Bird-Pacer squads where they ran 10 guys at you every night and no starter averaged over 26-27 minutes a game, except Reggie Miller, who, still, was well under the league average for a star on a good team at that time.

I like Kobe to lead the team in minutes at a modest 32 minutes per.

Unless this team has a shot at the post season come all star break, this season isn't about Kobe's minutes... It's about Randle, Kelly, Clarkson, etc

So I think it's a good think to rest Kobe as much as possible, not just for Kobe, for the development of our assets as well...

We've heard this every single year for the last five, what makes this one different?

DEEP3CL wrote:I think his range should be 31-35 minutes. Phil tried to do this before he even left, and it was going down. Bad coaching hires increased the minutes again resulting to the breakdown of the Mamba.

Also we have to be smart, looking at the schedule there should be some back to backs that he just shouldn't play in period. For example there's a set of back to backs where the opponent is the T-Wolves. The first is Dec. 14 against the T-Wolves, the next game is the Pacers on the 15th. Sit Kobe on the 14th and play the Pacers.

The next is March 24th and 25th, 24th is the T-Wolves....again sit Kobe, play the 25th against OKC. Sorry Minny but you don't see Kobe on your floor this season. League would be mad as hell but so what, that's how Byron should do it. Some teams aren't worth playing against.

I don't think Kobe is going to pass on a chance to take Wiggins & Lavine to school.. Maybe he'll sit the 15th against the Pacers, without Paul George they shouldn't be much/any better than the T-Wolves. We saw last season how devastating not having a top 10 player is.

Hmm.. managing him for what? I don't think there should be too much of a long term plan. The idea would be to find the sweet spot where he can be effective but will last the next 164 or so games at a high intensity.

For the 2015 NBA Finals!

Michael Lucky wrote:We've heard this every single year for the last five, what makes this one different?

Another injury to Kobe would be devastating to the season

Sofa King wrote:

Michael Lucky wrote:We've heard this every single year for the last five, what makes this one different?

Another injury to Kobe would be devastating to the season

thats mean Mudiay or Karl Town will play for the Lakers

soooo you're getting paid a fat contract to rehabilitate? go out with a bang kobe. all or nothing. you have a total of 164 games left to play, considering you're healthy and don't make the playoffs. just do some crazy stuff on the court…stuff we'll never be able to see again and no other player will dare to do. you're already a proven athlete and a champion at all levels the game has to offer. just show us a 360 or between the legs one last time in these last 2 seasons. embarrass fools. and play some defense too. lockdown defense, like you did when you were 22. grow an afro again. switch back to number 8. drop no look dimes, maybe not to shaq or pau, but try to do it with sacre now. its his problem if he can't finish. but we'll get the oohs and aahs we want to see before you leave. we're not gona win, we don't have the talent to win and you're too old kobe. do the big balls dance again. enter the dunk contest. enter the 3 point contest too. just so we get to see you shoot. talk smack to somebody. get in their ear and just keep jawing at him. do it to lance stephenson. that would be awesome. punk him when you play him. just go crazy man, just go crazy. And have fun and show the fans your greatness, and most importantly remind us what we will miss once you retire.

^I literally get emotional every time I think about the fact that Kobe might be gone in the next couple of years.

They have a lot of depth compared to what they had on the championship teams. There's no reason why Nick Young shouldn't be playing major minutes and if Johnson comes out focused this year I doubt you're going to see overwhelming minutes for Kobe.