Why Kobe Bryant Is Poised to Silence the Doubters

Pipe down nonbelievers, Kobe Bryant is in the middle of proving you wrong.

The heart and soul of the Los Angeles Lakers organization is nearing his return to action, almost eight months after going down with a gruesome Achilles injury.

Now over the age of 35 and assuredly human, it's clear even he has his limits. But what are they? Was this injury it? The end of the Black Mamba as we knew him?

It wasn't; it isn't. 

There is still fight left in Vino. We saw it last season. All of last season. We saw it after he went down. We're seeing it now.

And we'll continue to see it long after he's officially back.

Silencing Doubters Is Kind of His Thing

Before the Achilles injury, there was a dominant Kobe. Where there should've been a declining Mamba, there was a transcendent force tearing up a league brimming with younger, allegedly more athletic superstars, some of which were more than 14 years his junior.

And still, Kobe fought. Clinging onto an era that should've been lost, Kobe fought. He battled time, he resisted age, he combated routine trajectories. There was no downturn. Pratfalls were nonexistent. The brilliance of Kobe lived on because, as Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski says, the Mamba wouldn't let it die:

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The genius of Bryant has forever been in the details, the hours upon hours of repetition, the preparation of mind and body, the understanding of edges large and small that separated him and everyone else. He isn't chasing a championship this season, as much as he's chasing his own basketball mortality. At 35 years old, Bryant should've been on a steep decline a year ago. Only, he had been playing at the highest of levels. He defied everything, defied everyone – until that Achilles' snapped in April.

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Nearly two decades into his career, Kobe was doing everything he's always done—shooting, scoring, facilitating (yes, facilitating) and playing with a sense of incorruptible resolve. The Lakers spent most of 2012-13 in shambles, but Kobe helped put them in a position to make the playoffs. At 34. 

Playing at a time when age was supposed to get the best of him, Kobe got the best of age. He became just the 11th player in NBA history to average more than 38 minutes over a full season after his 34th birthday. And he's currently the oldest player ever to average at least 27 points, five rebounds and six assists per game for an entire year.

History shouldn't be made at 34. Bodies should break down. Careers should be slowed by injury and natural regression. Players should languish in a decaying status. But not Kobe.

One need not plunge deep into the past to find a defiant Kobe, an unsubmissive Kobe. They only need look to last season and all the critics he silenced. All the doubters he gagged.

Insurgent performances have been the foundation of his character for 17-plus years. His rebellious campaigns were alive and well through last season, long after age should've caught up with him. 

Why should we believe that attitude, that ubiquitous will is poised to fade now?

Already Exceeding Expectations 

From the moment Kobe went down, his insubordination to fate continued.

Ruptured Achilles and all, he brought himself to his feet, walked to the foul line and sank two huge free throws. After that, nothing changed.

Bleacher Report's Will Carroll wrote that the "normal time lost to an Achilles rupture is 10 to 12 months." Come August, not even four months after suffering the initial injury, NBA.com's Jonathan Hartzell brought word that Kobe was shattering that timetable.

Barely three months after that, Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding informed us that Kobe officially had "full medical clearance," and could participate in all basketball-related activities. Not even eight months into his recovery, Kobe was practicing. Shooting. Passing. Scoring.

Prior to his arrival at practice, Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni preached caution, making it clear Kobe wouldn't be Kobe right away.

"There’s no way that (Kobe) comes back with everything, but at the same time, his 10 percent is better than most people," coach Mike D'Antoni said, according to ESPN Los Angeles' Dave McMenamin.

A couple Mamba practice displays later, Magic Mike was left surprised at how far Kobe had come in such a short time.

"He hasn't played since April but he looks pretty good," D'Antoni admitted, via ESPN Los Angeles' Ramona Shelburne. "I don't know why that surprises me, but it does."

More surprises. More defiance. Kobe hasn't stopped pushing the limits of himself, of traditional timetables. Lakers.com's Mike Trudell praised him for his ability to twist, cut and stay competitive at practice, writing that "Bryant looked like ... well ... Kobe Bryant."

Pretty much ruled out for the Lakers' next game against the Golden State Warriors, the team he injured himself playing, Kobe was asked if he could envision a November return.

"Yeah, I can," he nodded, via Trudell.

More surprises. More defiance.

Returning before December puts Kobe roughly two-to-four months ahead of that 10-12 month timetable. Where coaches, pundits and skeptics have talked of patience and restrictions, Kobe has been unwilling to wait. Refusing to conform. 

He was always going to shatter this timetable. When talking about Kobe, that's a given. Tell him he cannot do one thing, and he'll try to do it. Inform him he cannot sit out fewer than 10 months, a year or longer and he'll attempt to do just that.

Soon, when he inevitably takes the floor early, he'll have done just that.

This Is Kobe

Who is Kobe? 

A warrior? Future Hall of Famer? Unapologetic chucker? Yes, yes and yes. But he's something more, too.

He's perpetually resilient, almost to a fault. In injury, he's truculent, spitting in the face of what he knows. He won't yield to circumstances, to pain or to diminished expectations. He plays on, forming his own rules on age and physical limits.

This is Kobe. This is what he does. Well before his injury, and during his recovery process, he kept proving those who didn't believe wrong. And the ones who still don't believe, they're his motivation. He exists only to shut them up.

ESPN ranked Kobe the 25th-best player in the NBA. You better believe he's not going to accept his placement. He's already refused to accept it.

It also projected the Lakers, his Lakers, to finish 12th in the Western Conference. He's not going to stand for that, either.

If he could, he wouldn't playing. He wouldn't be on his way back. He wouldn't be on that floor, in practice, competing if he couldn't return better than the nonbelievers suggest. If he couldn't use their doubt as a means to better himself.

"Just thinking about some of the guys that I take advantage of now, taking advantage of me later – that doesn't sit too well with me," Bryant told Woj.

This is Kobe. Always striving for more. For greatness.

Forever defiant.

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*All stats used in this article are from Basketball-Reference and accurate as of Nov. 20, unless otherwise noted.