In Leanest of Lakers Times, Kobe Bryant Finds Meaning in Process, Not Results
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant won, but he wasn't too happy about it.
It was evident in the matter-of-fact way he walked off the Staples Center court Sunday night amid gold streamers in the background, in the muted manner in which he plowed through the task of answering postgame questions about the Los Angeles Lakers shaking the winless monkey off them.
"You've got to start somewhere," Bryant said upon the Lakers reaching 1-5.
Given how little has gone well for the Lakers and how much Bryant aligns himself with winning, were you surprised that Bryant didn't savor the 107-92 victory over the Charlotte Hornets more? After all, just a week and a half ago, after the Lakers dropped to 0-2, Bryant considered his health and then said, "I enjoy playing, but the fun is when you win."
So why wasn't it more fun for him to win this first game?
For as many games as Bryant has won and lost, and considering the spotlight has shone down so long on him that he has seen his hair come and go, it's remarkable that the outcomes can still unveil new aspects to him.
Maybe not so much new aspects as just clarifying which aspects are the ones he holds most dear.
Bryant's choices aren't all the right ones, but the reason he has such unwavering support from his sect of fans is this: Just like the "code hero" of Ernest Hemingway's books, Bryant the basketball player has rules he lives by—to the extent that Kobe has become a character who shows Hemingway-like honor in fighting and persevering in the face of pressure, danger and deficit.
Some misinterpret Bryant's code as a win-at-all-costs mentality, because it is largely like that during the games, but it's far more of a never-say-die attitude.
Before the winning comes the trying.
And we're being reminded now that what is more important to Bryant than winning championships is staying true to the mindset that wins championships. That is what he can hang on to, no matter who is or isn't on this Lakers team, and that is what he can take pride in even if he never gets to play another playoff game.
To that end, one freakin' November victory over the ho-hum Hornets—no matter how much the Lakers needed it given how tough their schedule remains throughout the season's first month—is not going to be some whoop-de-doo moment in Bryant's world.
If he accepts that it is, if he lowers his standards to the point that he is legitimately happy just to win the occasional game, then it's over.
Then there's no going back—for the team's hopes of a surprise season and for him in doing his job with an uncommon pride.
Bryant has to believe, whether it is naive or valiant.
So he has to answer the questions about making the playoffs by deflecting and saying it doesn't matter what he says about that because people aren't going to believe the Lakers will make it anyway. He might not rationally expect the Lakers are going to, but he has to operate as if they can.
Anything else would be not even trying.
It would be closing the door on the possibilities. It would be taking the easy way out.
It would be going against the code.
If the Lakers take the proper steps and get better every day…if they develop a core confidence that lets them win the games when they position themselves to win them…if injuries keep hitting all the other teams this hard…
What Bryant holds so dear is making sure he is prepared for opportunity. Then he can't have too many regrets—even if plenty of others second-guess his decisions.
It's the same thing when it comes to Bryant's health. He could get hurt again at any time; he knows the odds of it happening at 36 and in his 19th NBA season are greater than ever. The Lakers are actually in Memphis on Tuesday night, where Bryant's left knee cracked without contact on the FedExForum court last December.
Bryant prides himself on not only having an awareness of the risk, but even making sure his daughters have similarly and honestly accepted the probability that he will be hurt in his line of work.
With that awareness comes freedom and, ironically, fearlessness.
So if you're prepared, and if you try, then you've adhered to the code. Why do you think Bryant speaks so glowingly of Lakers management in these woebegone times? Yes, they're paying him luxuriantly, thank you very much, but he knows they keep carefully saving salary-cap space so they can go big or go home in free agency—and that's a philosophy Bryant respects.
The many folks expecting Bryant to freak out any day now are still missing the point of Bryant's trade-me meltdown of 2007: He didn't believe the Lakers were trying to build a champion anymore, mistaking Jerry Buss' patience for ambivalence—this after Buss had promised Bryant he would not be left hanging if he returned to the Lakers in 2004.
Bryant thought Buss had breached the code. Things got ugly.
You get in Bryant's way, obstruct his will to better himself and even infect him with your virus of underachievement—whether you're Shaquille O'Neal early on, Smush Parker in the middle or Dwight Howard more recently—and Bryant will fight like crazy to stay his course.
As ludicrous as it might seem to grandstand about having a winning attitude on a team with as little potential as the current Lakers, it is Kobe.
It is Kobe trying to do the rightest thing he knows.
Kevin Ding is an NBA senior writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @KevinDing.
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