Lakers Confidently Counting on Kobe Bryant

The talk of Los Angles Lakers Media Day was Kobe Bryant's return to health and just how good the future Hall-of-Famer looked in a recent closed door scrimmage.

“He looked amazing,” 19-year-old Los Angeles Lakers rookie Julius Randle, who recently played a pick-up game of basketball with Kobe Bryant, described the 19-year veteran on Monday’s Media Day. “He’s just Kobe. He looks like he hasn’t lost a step. Can’t guard him. Defending. He’s just looks like Kobe.”

“He just refuses to lose,” Randle continued when asked about Bryant’s competitiveness. “When he’s working out, he doesn’t expect to miss any shots.”

Although the Lakers were not screaming the message from the tallest tower, one would be blind, deaf and dumb not to understand the underlying message of Lakers’ Media Day: Don’t count out no. 24 just yet.

Perhaps, no one understands Bryant’s progress and recovery better than Wesley Johnson. A quiet guy by nature, Johnson is an athletic freak who has been struggling to find his way in the league. After the conclusion of a disappointing 2013-14 season with the Lakers, Johnson’s return to the team was far from a foregone conclusion to those on the outside.

However, behind closed doors, Bryant and Johnson had been hard at work since April.

As Johnson recalled, he was sitting next to Bryant during the team’s final photo. There, Bryant turned to Johnson and said, “We have a lot of work to do this summer.”

Johnson agreed with the superstar without fully understanding what Bryant was talking about.

"Right after Easter, he hit me up, 'Are you ready to work?'" Johnson smiled. "He said, 'I'll be in the gym at 7 (a.m.)."

Johnson made a point to say Bryant did not ask him or tell him to join. He simply stated where he would be and at what time. Johnson turned up, and the two worked out together.

"The whole summer was pretty much repetition," Johnson spoke in his soft Texan accent. "From April to July, it was a big improvement. We ramped it up every month."

"We cleaned up a lot of my offensive game. No wasted motion," Johnson talked about how the sessions helped him personally improve. "It slowed the game down a lot for me."

The duo continued to work out together, but Johnson hesitated when speaking too directly about how strong Bryant looked. Johnson didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but he hardly sounded concerned about Bryant’s ability to return to playing at an elite level.

“I expect him to play 82 games and to play well,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said on Monday, adding that Bryant would probably average 23 to 24 points per game. “The biggest thing is for him to stay healthy and keeping his minutes to a minimum where he can play those 82 games.”

“I've had a chance to see him work out,” Scott said confidently. “I've had a chance to see him play five-on-five. He's far from retiring.”

Lakers management, Bryant’s teammates and Coach Scott appeared to believe Bryant would still be an effective player, even at 36 years of age. That now famous five-on-five where Bryant turned heads and converted non-believers consistently found its way into Media Day discussions.

“I really fouled him and he really made it, and I was impressed at that moment,” teammate Nick Young said he texted Bryant after the five-on-five game to let Bryant know that he had tried to foul him so that the Lakers’ all-time great would be unable to hit the game winning shot in the five-on-five scrimmage.

Bryant still made the shot, and the game ended with Young on the losing side.

Hearing the disbelief in Young’s voice, Bryant had seemingly made believers out of everyone in the locker room and on the coaching staff. But would Bryant be a different player?

“My game has sort of been my game since I figured it out in 2003, in terms of the basics of it,” Bryant responded at Media Day when asked about how he'd adjusted his game this season. “I haven’t really had to change too much of it.”

In his 19th season with the Lakers, don’t be surprised if Bryant looks like the same “Kobe.” From the sounds and sly smiles of his teammates, coaches and Lakers’ management, they would be surprised if he is anything less.

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