Why Kobe Bryant Will Have to Adjust More Than Any Other L.A. Laker in 2012-13

Dwight Howard has to play defense and score at the rim, like he always has. Steve Nash has to find his teammates open shots and continue to score efficiently, like he always has. Pau Gasol has to stand 12 feet away from the basket, knock down jumpers and play some finesse game here and there, like he always has.

There will be few issues between those three as the Lakers adjust to their new teammates. Kobe Bryant, however, is a horse of a completely different color.

Generally speaking, there are around 80 shots to go around in a typical 48-minute basketball game, which means Kobe Bryant has accounted for at least a quarter of his team's field-goal attempts every season since 2001, save 2004, when he shot just 18 times a game.

In other words, Kobe is a shooter first, second and third, and that's just the way he has played his game for a decade. That's pretty common knowledge.

Let's take a look at the top guys on the Lakers and how many times they shot the ball last season. Kobe put up 23 per game, Pau Gasol shot it 14 times, Dwight Howard shot it 12 times, Steve Nash nine times and Metta World Peace seven times. Oh, and Antawn Jamison 16 times. That's 81 shots right there from six guys.

Obviously, Jamison is going to be taking fewer shots coming off the bench, but otherwise, nobody else is really in a situation to give up shots, save for World Peace. That leaves Kobe.

It's not like Bryant is going to have to go from shooting 23 times to 15 times, but he's probably going to have to go somewhere in between, which would put him close to his low point over the past decade.

Just four fewer shots per game would mean a difference of more than 300 shots in a full season. That is a huge reduction in shots, even if it doesn't seem like it on a game-to-game basis. The worst part is, that probably won't be the biggest change that Kobe's going to have to make.

Kobe has never played with a ball-dominant point guard quite like Steve Nash. Derek Fisher has been the main point guard alongside Kobe in the backcourt for most of the past decade, and Fisher was used as more of a balance to Kobe, facilitating when Kobe wasn't the main offensive option.

Now Kobe is going to have to learn to hand the game over to Nash, for better or worse, for most of the game. He'll still have the ball in his hands late in games, but the days of him leading the league in usage percentage have to end.

Lakers fans are used to seeing Kobe be the savior of the team, which is why they've grown so attached to him over the years, defending any attack that may come his way. Ever since Los Angeles' last championship (which was over two whole years ago), Kobe has played with a streaky Andrew Bynum and a fading Gasol. He's learned to trust those two less and rely on himself more, but he needs to get rid of that mentality.

For the good of the Lakers, Kobe simply cannot devolve into his one-on-one self possession after possession, especially if it's not working. He's got to learn that he can rely on his teammates; they're the best squad of guys he's played alongside in two years.

Moving forward, the Lakers' success is going to be the same as it's always been, meaning it's going to lean on what Kobe does. Instead of it all depending on his scoring, however, it's all going to depend on how well he trusts his teammates.