Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are coming off one of their worst seasons in franchise history. The franchise was a lottery team last year and in this year's draft they picked up a solid piece. Every team has aspirations to make the playoffs and win the championship and Kobe Bryant is no different from the rest. Bryant said something that might or might not shock people depending on how one looks at it.
“Whatever it is that you want to do, there’s always an opportunity to rise. Nothing is ever easy, nothing is ever perfect – especially the things that are worthwhile doing. There’s always going to be adversity, there’s always going to be challenges and those are all opportunity to rise above it.”
“Championship. Always. Always. That’s the ultimate. When you stand at the bottom of the mountain your goal is to get to the top of the mountain, you don’t just want to go half way. So, it’s always championship.”
Kobe, come on, let us be realistic. The Lakers, at best, are a 7th or 8th seed. The West is too packed to talk about winning a championship, but that is because Kobe has a championship mentality. The Lakers have the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and the Portland Trailblazers to worry about. In the past seasons, the Lakers have lost in the Western Conference Semifinals twice and lost in the first round. Last season, they did not even make the playoffs and were a lottery team that added a solid piece in Julius Randle at the 7th pick.
This season is set to be different. Different coach and assistant coaches. How will Kobe come back from his injury? How will Lakers be without Pau Gasol? Many questions have yet to be answered for this team.