Kobe Bryant has earned many things: five NBA championships, three MVP awards, 10 first-team All-NBA selections and apparently the right to tell people to stop talking.
Bryant and the Lakers are off to an 0-2 start which has caused fans in the Greater Los Angeles area to hit the panic button. The high-profile imports of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard over the offseason set the bar extremely high and Bryant wants everyone to relax and let the Lakers grow.
"I've won so I can [tell people to shut up]," Bryant said, according to ESPN Los Angeles. "For Mike [Brown] it
might be a little tough to say that so I'll say it for him, 'Everybody
shut up. Let us work. At the end of the day, you'll be happy with the
result as you normally are.'"
Brown has adopted principles of the Princeton offense into his O for his second season with the Lakers and the results have been less than spectacular. The offense is based on reading and reacting to the defense with cuts and off-ball movement, which completely neutralizes Nash.
With the ball being out of his hands so much and the pick and roll being taken out of the offense for the most part, Nash's numbers have dropped to 4.5 points and 4.0 assists. Bryant has faith, however, that with time everything will work itself out.
"The essence of the offense is everybody sharing the spotlight. Everybody
being able to read and react and working as one. That takes time to do," said Bryant. "Nobody is used to playing that way. You kind of think the Princeton
offense is, in some regards the triangle before Chicago ran it, was
something that was reserved for guys who ran around in little itty-bitty
shorts that have no talent.
"But the reality is, when you have talented
players that are willing to sacrifice their game and to play within a
structure, it makes you unstoppable."
If Bryant is right, then the rest of the league better watch out. With Kobe, Nash and Howard clicking in an "unstoppable" offense, those sky-high expectations become reachable.
