Kobe Bryant

The Los Angeles Lakers are facing a crucial offseason. After missing the playoffs — and not even whiffing them — for two straight seasons, they’ve got a lot of work to do if they’re going to come close to living up to their dazzling franchise legacy.

 

A little more than a decade ago, two of basketball’s most storied legends almost created a one-team bridge, from one generation of superstars to the next.

 

"You know him," Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott said to reporters Monday — and there was no doubt about who he meant by him. "It's real difficult. He's such a competitor. He wants to go out there and play every minute that he can. The mind is willing, but sometimes the body is not.”

 

Kobe Bryant has made quite the career out of impersonating Michael Jordan. Bryant’s studious, obsessive emulation of MJ’s form of isolation basketball has made him the league’s most famous, prized hero-baller since His Airness hung up his ever-famous shoes (for the third and final time) in 2003.