It's Time for LA Lakers, Byron Scott to Play Kobe Bryant off the Bench

LOS ANGELES — Overshadowing the sometimes stumbling, sometimes steady development of D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, and a defense that deserves no single-word explanation other than "wow" to encapsulate how terrible it's been, a crumbling Kobe Bryant is so far the most noteworthy theme of this Los Angeles Lakers season.

Questions about the 37-year-old's surreal load whiz past head coach Byron Scott's face every day like immortal mosquitoes. But he bats them away as if nothing's wrong and nobody should ponder why the Lakers still prioritize Bryant's wishes above all else, regardless of his negative on-court effect or what all this early-season exertion is doing to his body.

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In what's more than likely the final season of a truly illustrious career, Bryant's minutes, in a vacuum, are not without precedent. According to Basketball-Reference.com, there have been 12 other players, spread throughout 19 seasons, who at the age of 37 (or older) averaged at least 31 minutes per game.

Bryant was barely over that benchmark before he only played 25 minutes in a 34-point loss against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night, which pushed him down to a 30.5 minutes-per-game average. But contextually, that's beside the point; all this is nonsensical. The Lakers have young players to develop and long-term expectations to worry about. Bryant's tendency to stop the ball and hoist hasty attempts early in the shot clock is damaging the team's present-day and immediate future.

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The minutes should concern everyone involved, but they don't appear all that much of a worry to the only person whose opinion really matters: Scott, Kobe's coach, who let the longtime franchise cornerstone dangle for 37 minutes in an 11-point loss to the Toronto Raptors last week.

"I know the minutes, that was big for him tonight," Scott said after that game. "But, again, I'm not worried about it. I just let him out there because I know we needed him out there." He continued, "At the time when we're trying to win the basketball game, you try not to worry about it. But obviously, after the game, you worry about it."

Right. Bryant is shooting 31.1 percent from the floor and an unthinkably poor 19.5 percent behind the three-point line (on seven attempts per game!). He's isolated on 41 possessions (13th-most in the league) but ranks in the 21st percentile, averaging just 0.59 points per possession, per NBA.com's Synergy Sports stats.

These numbers are just a bite-sized portion of how Bryant cripples L.A.'s rhythm and shatters any hope of offensive flow. His PER, true shooting percentage and free-throw rate have never been lower, according to Basketball-Reference.com. His three-point rate has never been higher.

Bryant acknowledges that syrupy ball movement is an issue, but he does little on the court to massage it through. He shackles an offensive system that needs no help doing so. According to NBA.com's SportVU stats, Bryant is averaging 29.8 passes per game, fewer than Enes Kanter, Mason Plumlee, Jordan Hill, Kevin Garnett and a very long list of guys who don't play as often and/or aren't the focal points of their teams' nightly game plans.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

While Scott blames the Lakers' trickling flow on a lack of trust, Bryant is less than convinced. Standing at his locker Sunday after a 14-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Lakers' all-time leading scorer was asked how far L.A.'s ball movement was from where it should be. "Pretty far," Bryant responded. "You know we have games where we do much better and games where we don't. It'll be a constant process."

These myriad problems figure to regress before they improve, and the only logical solution is a drastic minutes cut, a dramatically reduced role or retirement. Since none of those options is imminent or remotely realistic, the next best thing for Scott to do is stagger Bryant's time so that a vast majority of his on-court experience is against inferior competition—bench players who won't give him as much trouble one-on-one or make him exert the little defensive effort he has left to offer.

It's an extremely depressing reality, spawned by pigheaded denial, but Scott, Bryant and the Lakers have selected this road, and no party shows the slightest sign of retreat. Six of Bryant's previous 19 seasons have a lower usage percentage than what he's at now. Six! According to Basketball-Reference.com, he sits at 29.5 percent—his career average is 31.8, fourth-highest in NBA history, by the way—which is higher than John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard and the list goes on and on and on.

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that Scott was already playing Bryant beside four bench players at the beginning of most second and fourth quarters earlier this season. The bad news is he shortened his rotation Sunday night before things went haywire at Oracle Arena.

The future is unclear. What's not is Bryant's relatively impressive production when facing opposing second units. According to Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus, Bryant's effective field-goal percentage against starters (lineups that feature four or five members of that team's original starting group) is 35.7 percent. His effective field-goal percentage against bench players (lineups that feature between zero and two members of that team's original starting group) is 48.8 percent.

These numbers were lifted before Tuesday's 1-of-14 debacle, and there's a notable discrepancy between the two sample sizes. But it only makes sense for Bryant to shoot better in these situations, and it's wise (again, relatively) for L.A. to embed him there as often as possible.

From everything seen on the court, bringing Kobe off the bench makes more than enough sense. Not only will he be able to perform as his most efficient self (hopefully), but (some of) his many defensive deficiencies will be masked as well.

Per ESPN.com's real plus-minus statistic, Bryant is the 381st-best player in the league right now. Something has to give.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

It's clear after every game: The most important number isn't how many points Los Angeles scores or allows; rather, it's how many seconds its oldest player stands on the court. It's increasingly sad and entirely too predictable.

Long hoisted as a symbol of hope and supreme authority, right now Bryant is pushing the Lakers deeper into a tar pit that's already up to their forehead.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.