Why Kobe Bryant should not rush his return to the LA Lakers

Kobe Bryant may return to the Lakers squad by November end.

It’s been seven months since Kobe Bryant injured his Achilles tendon in a game against the Golden State Warriors. As basketball fans watched in dismay when the star hobbled off the court in obvious pain, everybody feared the worst. A ruptured Achilles tendon usually takes at least a year to heal. And for a player in his mid-30s, not many counted on Kobe making a comeback until 2014. And even if he did, would he be the same alpha dog ‘Black Mamba’ that he used to be?

Nobody was as frustrated with the injury as Kobe Bryant himself. In his words, “All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I’ve done millions of times!” Bryant opted to have a surgery to repair the damage as his Lakers silently, and expectedly, bowed out of the 2013 Playoffs to eventual finalists San Antonio Spurs. The surgery was a success and the road to recovery began – a journey that was expected to last about nine months.

It’s exactly seven months since the injury and we have just seen Kobe Bryant return to Lakers practice! And not just a normal shoot around or the requisite exercises to get back into shape either, but actually out on court with his team mates. In the past few months he had stepped up his recovery process to ensure that he would return before the turn of the year.

But a return by November end? Bryant did say that he would need a considerable amount of practice before he could think about playing. He was cleared for basketball activities on Saturday but a return to the court in the world’s toughest basketball league within a couple of weeks is nothing but a risky move.

Should Kobe fast track his return?

Here’s the thing with Achilles tendon injuries – they have ended the careers of many athletes, especially in the NBA. In a study conducted between 1998 and 2011, 18 NBA players suffered ruptured tendons, seven of whom never recovered to play again. The eleven who did return to the game were never the same. Their career graph went down and their Performance Efficiency Rating (PER) decreased by an average of four points.

Even if they do come back, they don’t get the same elevation on their jump as they used to. They may be able to compete with their peers in terms of racking up stats on rebounds and shots, but they will never play to their full potential like they did pre-injury.

Isiah Thomas brought forward his retirement after a similar injury. Chauncey Billups took almost a year to recover and has never been the same. Elton Brand never recovered well enough, especially on the scoring end. But at the exact opposite end of the spectrum, there is Dominique Wilkins who tore his Achilles tendon when he was 32 years old. He came back stronger than before and put up amazing numbers for a player well into his 30s.

To Wilkins, it was a mental barrier that he had to break through, “If this thing is going to pop, it’s going to pop. But I’m going to play hard. I’m going to go off of it hard. I felt funny mentally. But physically, it was repaired better than ever. In fact, it was three times stronger than my other Achilles.”

So when Bryant does come back (it is an eventuality more than a question), he may not be 100%, but being the tough competitor that he is, he is going to find a way to compete on court. We may not see the Mamba of old, but more likely a reformed Vino. Eventually, it all depends on how his Achilles tendon holds up. His work ethic has never been questioned and his fierce competitiveness will come to the forefront more than ever.

Do the Lakers need Kobe Bryant back right now?

We’re in November. The season is barely a month old and most of the teams have barely got a foothold in the NBA, let alone begun contending for Playoff spots. At the moment, the LA Lakers are about 5 games behind the eighth and final Playoff spot in the Western Conference. Although it is not the start that is expected of a storied franchise like the Lakers, if you think back to last season, it could have been a lot worse.

This is a new team trying to adjust to the Mike D’Antoni offense. With the absence of an injured 39-year-old Steve Nash, the burden has fallen on the likes of Jodie Meeks and Nick Young. Pau Gasol hasn’t stepped up as much as fans would have liked with a Field Goal % of less than 40; terrible numbers for a front-court player with 12 years of experience in the NBA. Meeks, on the other hand, is shooting at well over 50% and Nick Young is shooting at 45%. Together, the two have done the bulk of the scoring, most of the time from the bench.

Jordan Hill has impressed, a career-high 24 points and 17 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons being the highlights. He is a beast – especially on the offensive end, grabbing twice as many offensive rebounds as Gasol, thereby giving the Lakers an adequate big presence in the paint. Others like Steve Blake, Chris Kaman, Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson and Jordan Farmar have put up decent numbers, especially from the bench. What was once a bench that was at the bottom of the league last season is now starting to contribute on the floor (remember the 76 points against the Clippers?).

By no means is this a championship team – far from it – but the Lakers can make the Playoffs. The only missing ingredient is a special player with vast experience to control the offence. With Nash injured and Gasol not firing, Kobe fits the bill. But when he returns, he will have a completely different role. The Lakers do have enough fire-power to stay afloat till Christmas; they may not trouble the bigger teams, but that would give Kobe enough time to recover.

If his Achilles does not allow him to do what he has mastered over the years since 1996, he will have to draw the defence and turn provider for the team. While that is a laughable tactic, more so because of Kobe’s tenacity to get to the ring, it might become an inevitable consequence of the injury. Statistically, players who return from Achilles injuries are prone to seeing their numbers drop. And for someone who shoots as much as Kobe does in a game, he may have to cut down on creating his own shots once he returns, and trust his team mates more to get the job done.

The Lakers will need veterans Bryant and Gasol to fire if they are to make the Playoffs this season.

So what next for Kobe?

“There’s certain things that I used to do that I can’t do now, I won’t try to do them. You’ve got to figure out other ways.” – Bryant

Bryant had once talked about playing another two seasons more before calling it quits (I know, never say never and all that). 18 seasons in the NBA is no small number. Kobe, now 35 years old, may not like what he sees when he returns – no amount of work on the treadmill and rehabilitation can help an ageing body rack up numbers like he did in his prime.

He will see lesser minutes and the sooner he accepts that, the better for his career and his chances of playing another couple of seasons. He may no longer clock 40+ minutes a game, he may never regain the athleticism of old, he may not exploit weak defences and he may not beat opponents with a crossover on the baseline.

But this is Kobe Bryant we’re talking about. And we all know that he has the tendency to prove to himself that he can play in the NBA, and then to prove everyone else who thinks otherwise dead wrong.

.@kobebryant is back on the practice floor. #GoLakers pic.twitter.com/ZwTpKzmK6k

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 19, 2013

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