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Kobe Bryant is practicing with the Los Angeles Lakers. Not kinda-sorta doing drills, scrimmaging. The internet is a great place, so here's a roundup of all the quotes and media from his first scrimmage since tearing his Achilles:
Kobe, can you see yourself playing this month? "Yeah, I can."
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 19, 2013
The Lakers play at home on Friday and Sunday, followed by a three-game roadtrip that begins on Tuesday Nov. 26th and finishes out the month of November on the 29th in Detroit. That's five games left in November total.
Visual evidence of him doing basketball things after receiving full medical clearance a few days ago:
Some more courtesy of Lakers Nation:
More goodies from the Lakers' official Vine account:
And fun quotes floating around Twitter:
Kobe on how his teammates responded when they saw him put his practice jersey on the first time: "They knew they had to bring their A game."
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 19, 2013
Still can’t put a time frame on a return: "It’s tough to say. Monitor how it goes today & see if I can come back & go full bore tomorrow."
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 19, 2013
Word is Bryant played more like the distributing player we saw dropping 10+ assists last spring. Knows ins/outs of D’Antoni system.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 19, 2013
Kobe just hit an 18-foot fadeaway over Xavier Henry near teh top of the key. His team beat the backups, 21-3.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) November 19, 2013
Kobe's practicing on the Lakers' starting unit, along with Gasol, Blake, Hill and Meeks.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) November 19, 2013
Kobe: "I’m able to hold defenders off pretty easily with my off hand, maintain position in the post. I’m much stronger now than I was."
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) November 19, 2013Kobe: "I’m able to hold defenders off pretty easily with my off hand, maintain position in the post. I’m much stronger now than I was."
Sounds like tomorrow we'll get another practice, another update, and probably another grab bag of interesting info streaming in through Twitter. Also, if we are to construe anything from the lineup he spent most of his time with, it sounds like they're gearing him up to play small forward. It makes sense mostly because the team is down a point guard, Meeks is playing some great ball at the two, and Kobe isn't unfamiliar with shifting up.
Also, Kobe's apparently getting stronger? I suppose he's gearing up to be a power forward to elongate his career another decade. (I got jokes). ((But really)).