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10 things to expect from Kobe Bryant this season
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10 things to expect from Kobe Bryant this season

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is set to enter what will likely be the final season of his legendary NBA career. Widely regarded as the closest thing the NBA has had to Michael Jordan since his retirement, Kobe has had a brilliant career in which he has won five championships, has been selected for 17 All-Star Games, all while providing some of the most iconic moments in NBA history. 

  
Now, at 37-years-old and in the final year of his contract with the Lakers, all indications are the that the Black Mamba will be walking away from the NBA at season's end. With that in mind, I wanted to look at what fans can expect from Kobe Bean Bryant during the 2015-15 season. 

1) Kobe the facilitator

With all the millage that his body racked up, Bryant is no longer the elite scorer he once was. In fact, since tearing his Achilles in 2013, Bryant has often sublimated his game to look to get his teammates open looks. Bryant has averaged 5.7 assists per game over the past two seasons, nearly a full assist over his career mark of 4.8 APG. With lottery picks D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle assuming larger scoring roles in the Lakers offense, expect Kobe to be a bit more pass-first for the Lakers this year. Don't expect him to suddenly become CP3 however. 

2) Missing the end of back-to-backs

Although the NBA has adjusted its schedule to decrease the number of back-to-back games teams will play from now on, the Lakers will still play 13 back-to-back sets this year. Given Kobe’s age and recent injury history, expect Bryant to miss the tail-end of just about every single one of those back-to-back games.

3) A terrible FG%

In 35 games last season, Bryant shot a miserable 37.3% from the field. Although it’s hard to imagine a player of his caliber will manage to shoot that badly again, given Kobe’s tendency to take contest jumpers at the end of the shot clock and the fact that his team doesn't have many other scoring options (sorry Swaggy), expect his FG% to be somewhere in that range again this season.

4) Very little defense

Let’s face it. Bryant is playing on borrowed time and only has so much juice left in his legs. Expect the head coach Byron Scott and the Lakers coaching staff to try to hide Kobe on defense as best as possible in order to prevent him from overworking himself on the defensive side of the floor. That said...

5) Kobe will finish 13th all-time in steals

Bryant is 75 steals behind Derek Harper for 13th all-time in the category. As long as Kobe manages to play 50 games, he should be able to blow right past that number. Unless, of course...

6) Kobe will exceed his minute limits, and risk injury

In reality, there is no way a player at Kobe’s age should be playing any more than 28 minutes per night. And that's before you get into his recent injury history. But hey, this is Kobe Bryant were talking about. If he wants to play 38 minutes on a given night, he is most certainly going to, and that will exponentially increase his chance to suffer another injury. Much of Byron’s Scott’s job this season will be to protect Kobe from himself, but what's the likelihood of that actually happening? Let’s just say...good luck Byron!

7) Love and hate

No NBA player over the last 20 years is more divisive, and no player has been responsible more controversy, hatred, and broken hearts than Kobe Bryant. By that same token, no player has captivated the basketball world over that same time frame than Kobe, although LeBron comes close. As he makes what will likely be his final rounds across the league, expect a bizarre but well-deserved mixture of hate, love, and respect from fans, coaches, and fellow players.

8) Frustration

Let’s keep it real, Lakers fans. 35 wins is your ceiling in stacked Western Conference, and even that number is Bikram yoga-esque strecth, as Kobe might say. And given his borderline-psychotic competitive nature, expect to hear and see an incredible amount of frustration from the “Black Mamba” both on and off the court this season.

9) One last buzzer-beater

Surely, he’s got one left...right? I mean, it just wouldn’t be right for the world to not witness at least one more Kobe Bryant game-winning buzzer-beater before he rides off into the sunset.

10) His final game will be:

April 13, 2016, against the Utah Jazz at home. This game will in all likelihood be Kobe Bryant’s final curtain call. Expect it to be an emotional night at Staples Center. There will be standing ovations, tears, an absurd amount of media coverage, and somewhere in the midst of it all there will also be an NBA basketball game.

Although there is an outside chance Bryant will play for Team USA in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio, game number 82 on the Lakers calendar will likely be the final time Kobe graces an NBA court. And if it truly is, the basketball world will be saying goodbye not just to an all-time great, but man who lived and breathed basketball every single moment of his career.

There is no denying one thing about Kobe Bryant: every time he stepped out on the court something special could happen. And while the NBA has had its fair share of players capable of such feats (and still does), the unique brand of basketball that is Kobe Bryant will soon be coming to an end. Love him or hate him, just make sure that you enjoy Kobe while you still can.

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