Who's Going to Help Kobe Bryant with Los Angeles Lakers Offense?

Here's what we (think we) know about the Los Angeles Lakers just over a week into the 2014-15 NBA season: Kobe Bryant's still really good, the defense is really bad, Steve Nash and Julius Randle are out for the year, Nick Young will be back at some point and the team is still searching for its first win after an 0-5 start.

What don't we know? Well, for starters, how the heck is this team going to win any games?

So far, it seems safe to say that won't happen on the defensive end—not if head coach Byron Scott is counting on longtime matador Carlos Boozer to step up as a stopper. The Lakers already rank at or near the bottom of the league in a number of key defensive categories, including an NBA-worst defensive rating of 117.4 points allowed per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.

Not even an uncharacteristic effort on that end from Captain Yell Crew himself is likely to put much of a dent in those depressing stats.

The point is, if these Lakers are going to win any games, they're going to have to do so by outscoring their opponents.

To that end, L.A. already has a solid foundation on which to build. With his lost 2013-14 campaign behind him, Bryant is back to his high-scoring ways, pouring in 27.6 points per game—the second-highest mark in the Association, behind only Klay Thompson's 29.7, through Nov. 4.

Some good that's done the Lakers, though. They're winless all the same, albeit after facing four Western Conference playoff hopefuls (i.e. the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns twice).

Clearly, Kobe can't do it all on his own, though that's not likely to stop him from trying. Bryant did his darndest during the Lakers' latest game against the Suns, with a 39-point, nine-rebound performance that placed him in some rarefied air among the NBA's all-time elder statesmen.

Trouble is, the Lakers still lost, 112-106, and Bryant wasn't particularly efficient. He shot the ball a whopping 37 times—more than L.A.'s other four starters combined (35)—making 14 in his 44 minutes.

"Can I shoulder the load and these minutes consistently? Probably not," Bryant said after the game, via ESPN Los Angeles' Baxter Holmes. "But every now and then it will be necessary." 

Added Scott: "As far as [Bryant] carrying the load, he's going to do whatever he thinks he has to do for us to win a game. I think the other guys, they know they have to step up." 

No kidding. But who exactly are those "other guys" going to be?

Jordan Hill has done an admirable job of filling the box score in the early going. His 14.8 points—second best on the team—would double as his career high over the course of a full season by a city mile.

There's a reason for that, though: Hill is anything but a scorer by trade. Rather, he's a scrapper who does most of his damage off other people's misses.

According to NBA.com, Hill ranks 18th in second-chance points (4.0 per game) and third in offensive rebounds (4.8 per game). He's flashed a passable mid-range jumper, though his aim from that range (41.7 percent) isn't yet true enough to be considered a bona fide weapon.

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

In years past, Boozer would have been a viable No. 2 option up front. But the soon-to-be-33-year-old isn't even the player he was three or four years ago, when he was a reliable pick-and-pop shooter and low-post operator for the Chicago Bulls, much less the two-time All-Star he was with the Utah Jazz back in 2007 and 2008.

Boozer's currently on pace for career lows in rebounds (5.6) and field-goal percentage (.440), with a scoring average (10.4 points) that's barely outpacing his previous nadir as a rookie (10.0).

It may only be a matter of time, then, until the younger, hungrier Ed Davis usurps Boozer's starting spot. The 25-year-old forward is already matching Boozer's point production, thanks to a much higher field-goal percentage (.667), and snatching up more rebounds (7.2) despite playing fewer minutes and launching fewer shots per game.

Of course, it helps Davis' case that all but two of his shots have come in the paint, whereas Boozer's launched more than 40 percent of his attempts from outside the painted lane:

Credit: NBA.com/stats

Credit: NBA.com/stats

Still, Davis would appear to be the superior option at power forward so long as the Lakers can find enough floor-spreading shooting elsewhere.

Wayne Ellington could eventually be an asset in that regard, though he's hit just 30 percent of his threes thus far and isn't likely to play big minutes since he and Bryant man the same position. Wesley Johnson and Xavier Henry might help from the other wing spot, especially if Johnson can continue to knock down his treys at a 40 percent clip.

That notion isn't entirely fanciful in light of Johnson's year-over-year improvement as a shooter. Neither is the idea of Ryan Kelly helping to spread the floor now that he's back from injury.

Of course, it'd help if Scott was actually interested in having his players put up more than the 14.6 three-pointers (third fewest in the league) that they have to date.

That being said, if any other Laker is going to give the Mamba a helping hand from the perimeter, it has to be Jeremy Lin. Bryant has already spoken publicly about what he needs from his latest backcourt partner on multiple occasions.

"Lin was being more aggressive and taking shots. I think the biggest thing for him to learn is to play relentlessly," Bryant said after the Lakers' home loss to Phoenix, via the Los Angeles Times' Eric Pincus.  "The most important thing [for my teammates] is that they understand the relentlessness they have to play with.

"I'll go out there and I'll leave on the floor everything, and compete and not be fearful of criticism or fearful of not playing well or missing shots. That's the same way I want the guys to play, Jeremy in particular, because he's a really good player. He's just getting used to playing with that kind of effort and attitude."

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His performance thus far would corroborate that assessment. Lin's hit just 37.8 percent of his field-goal attempts while turning the ball over an unsightly 19 percent of the time—the fifth-highest mark among starting guards, per NBA.com.

Lin's certainly capable of filling it up from time to time. In fact, the Harvard grad established his current career high when he torched Kobe's Lakers for 38 points back in Feb. 2012 during the thick of his "Linsanity" with the New York Knicks.

The Lakers' burden of scoring in support of Bryant should ease somewhat once Young returns from thumb surgery. The original timetable pegged Young's comeback for early December. Until then, they'll have to make do with the 17.9 points per game that the L.A. native added off the bench last season.

In truth, the Lakers, with their lackluster roster, aren't going to get the production they need out of just one guy not named Bryant. Rather, they'll have to get the job done by committee, as Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding noted:

"

The next step is to balance that with more from others, especially starters Jeremy Lin, Boozer and Hill. D'Antoni's expertise was floor spacing, and these Lakers have only briefly flashed any feel on that front.

Bryant is going to draw a lot of defensive attention, but what he needs to draw is less offensive attention. His teammates have to look for openings on the weak side and not force-feed him the ball.

"

Indeed, Bryant's teammates haven't made it much easier for him to pile up points. Without a Riggs to his Murtaugh, Bryant has had to contend with all manner of tight coverages from opposing defenses.

According to NBA.com, nearly 80 percent of Bryant's shot attempts have come with a defender's contest from four feet or fewer away. That includes the 31 such looks Bryant got against Phoenix on Tuesday of which he converted just nine.

"It's easy to look at it and say 37 shots," Bryant said, "but you don't see how hard I was working to get easy opportunities: offensive rebounds and transition shots and some of the easy ones that I missed. But when you play with a lot of energy and you play relentless, you'll get a lot of opportunities."

Bryant will get more than his fair share anyway simply because he is who he is, and, well, his teammates are who they are. And to be clear: Bryant's difficulties from the field (40.2 percent) can't be blamed entirely on the other Lakers. As the Los Angeles Times' Broderick Turner pointed out, the 36-year-old's struggles with efficiency might also be a manifestation of Father Time's impending victory:

"

After watching Bryant play the first five games of the regular season, it’s easy to see that the Lakers’ 36-year-old guard still moves well.

But Bryant has to work extra hard to get by his defenders.

His footwork remains impeccable. His ability to get to his 'sweet spots' on the court happens just enough.

But he has become a jump-shot shooter now, unable to get by defenders as often. He uses lots of pump fakes.

"

That's all the more reason, then, for the Lakers to forage for other scorers wherever they can find them.

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