re: Kobe Bryant has torn ligament in his shooting wrist

quote:

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There's no way we're gonna see Kobe play like himself this year. just no way. Between his divorce and this, there's no way he will be able to be as dominate as usual. Lakers are gonna be pretty average this year imo.

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Look, as much as I dislike Kobe, it does pain me to say that he's never going to 'play like himself' again.

Even looking semi-objectively at the past couple of years, there is some slippage in his game-- yes, he still shows from time to time, the ability to take over a game and be an MVP caliber player-- but those spurts of dominance have been fewer and further between than ever before.

I suspect he will overcome his ligament tear, but he's logged over 48,000 minutes of playing time. You don't get better returns when your odometer rolls over the 45K mark.

Maybe he'll still have a couple of great stretches in him, but I'm not going to expect them.