Kobe Bryant: Why Los Angeles Lakers Superstar's Career Is on Decline for Good
Kobe Bryant is still one of the most electrifying scorers in the NBA. So with a supporting class perhaps even better than last year's, Phil Jackson's boys looked to be in prime shape for yet another championship.
But the Lakers are "just" third in the Western Conference at 21-8, and don't look like the team supposedly destined to meet LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA finals.
And much of that is due to Bryant playing much worse than expected.
He's shown signs of being on the decline ever since his 35.4 ppg season in '05-'06, but has put critics to rest year-after-year.
But, after 14-plus seasons, it's safe to say that while he still is a star, Kobe Bryant's career has already hit its peak, and is all downhill from here.
It will be a long trek down, though.
Here are 10 reasons why Kobe is on the decline for good.
10. Phil Jackson
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Bryant averages 36.5 minutes per game over his career (with five years averaging 40-plus), and averaged 38.8 as recently as last season.
But that number is down to 32.9 this season.
It's certainly a smart move by the legendary coach to keep Kobe as fresh as possible, but his stats are slipping as a result.
So even though his per-minute numbers are relatively unchanged, Bryant's overall numbers are down, and will stay down as long as Phil keeps making smart decisions.
9. He's Been Shut Down, a Little Bit
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Kobe's lowest-scoring game to this date last season: 16 points.
This year?
He has a 12-point game, and a 9-point stinkbomb.
8. The Team Around Him
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Even though they are still third in the West, the Lakers have played the league's easiest schedule and simply aren't as good as last year.
Ron Artest hasn't given the team anything, and there's no guarantee Andrew Bynum will ever be able to stay on the court long enough to make an impact.
Shannon Brown's emergence and the addition of Steve Blake help, but the fact is that the Lakers are not the clear-cut favorites like last year.
So even if the Lakers do pull it all together and win a title, they aren't dominating the regular season.
And that's a step down from last year for Kobe.
7. LeBron James
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Kobe used to be the face of the NBA.
Not anymore.
As much as people hate LeBron, there's a reason he's all we hear about. He's passed Kobe.
And with more up-and-comers like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose coming close to passing Kobe, the future Hall-of-Famer will just keep moving down the list.
6. Boston Celtics
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If Kobe wants another title this year, his Lakers might have to take out the Celtics yet again.
And with how well they're playing of late, that won't be as easy as last year...and it wasn't easy at all last year.
Things are looking down for Kobe...
5. The Potential Miami Heat Dynasty
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Clearly, there's another team out east that poses a threat to keep Bryant and the Lakers from staying at their peaks.
The Heat might not be the best in the East this year (although they might be), but it's pretty clear that they aren't going anywhere.
And while their prediction of seven titles might be a bit far-fetched, it's going to be tough for the aging Bryant to keep up with the Heat in the latter stages of his career.
That means Kobe might end his career with a mere five titles. Bill Russell would be ashamed.
4. Wear and Tear
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Kobe Bryant is 32, which is already fairly old for an NBA player.
But after you take into account that his career started at 18, you'll see how old Kobe is in basketball years.
He's played 38,339 career minutes to date.
For comparison's sake, Michael Jordan played 41,011, and that's counting the 5,000-plus that came in his subpar years on the Washington Wizards.
So, Michael really dropped off around 36,000 minutes, and Kobe is ahead of that.
Granted, Jordan's situation was different with his quasi-retirements and a little break to play baseball, but the point still stands.
Kobe is older than he seems.
3. He Isn't Dominating Like He Used to
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Remember just a few years ago, when Kobe was a threat to drop 50 in any given game?
Even though he's still averaging 25.7 ppg this season, he isn't having those monster games that used to be routine.
He's only topped 40 points once this year.
And while that might be good for most players, this is Kobe we're talking about.
At this time last year, he had already put up six 40-point games.
2. The Lakers Are Losing To Bad Teams
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The Lakers aren't beating up on bad teams like a team with their talent should be.
Their eight losses have come to teams with a combined 118-105 record.
Last year's Kobe would have never stood for that.
1. He Has Nowhere To Go But Down
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Kobe Bryant has five NBA titles, two finals MVP awards, a regular season NBA MVP award and is a 12-time all-star.
He had a great year last year at 31 years-old, and lets face it: after a great year and a championship, there's nowhere to go but down for Kobe.
At his age, coming off such an incredible year, it's all downhill from here.
But as high up as he is right now, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Matt Rudnitsky is a student at the University of Michigan and a Featured Columnist/writing intern at Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Mattrud
