Bryant Still Trying To Master Teamwork

Kobe Bryant is keeping it simple … for now.
For how long? Could he really do it all season? Even in a circus-atmosphere career in which Bryant has always climbed to the highest wire and preferred the drama of no safety net, this would be the biggest surprise of all: Successfully leading a team he didn't even want to play for and didn't think could be good enough to a super season – and then probably winning his first NBA MVP award.
If there's one thing Bryant has proved in his career is his ability to focus on his individual tasks amid unprecedented distractions. What he is still figuring out is being the best teammate and leader he can.
There were supposedly already happy endings regarding Bryant learning to be a good teammate in 2000, 2002 and even 2006. Yet unlike the athleticism, competitiveness and work ethic that are inherent in him, Bryant isn't a natural here. So he keeps making mistakes – sometimes cataclysmic ones such as his offseason declarations that came across as him being basically too good for his loser Lakers teammates and loser Lakers management.
The thing about it is that everyone who has been around Bryant in the Lakers' organization knows his will is such that he wants what he wants – and sometimes he really, really wants it now. Call it terribly childish or brilliantly focused, unfair to others or responsible for one's self, it is rooted in a me-first attitude.
Many of us struggle stepping out into someone else's shoes and truly appreciating the complexities of another's world. And if your shoes are personally designed by Nike, engineered to your precise specifications, there's even less reason to step out of them, right?
Beyond that, Bryant reached the NBA with just a high-school idea of team: Be the man and have your teammates rally around you. It led to a young Bryant failing even to realize that he might be disconnected from the Lakers because he didn't know what the caring connections were supposed to be like.
With Phil Jackson's help, Bryant gradually let that snake-hold on individuality loosen. But what Jackson learned about Bryant early on was that it would take him repeated times to learn from mistakes. He'd have to be told things over and over. He didn't learn like a sponge. He was more like the hand inside the rubber glove that holds the sponge warily.
Eventually, if merited, the sponge could be trusted and the protective glove could come off. Even then, it could always go back on, too.
So it's no surprise that on Bryant's most troublesome issue – team vs. individual – he's still learning now.
Jackson, who as a youth was more talented as a baseball pitcher but gravitated toward the community style of basketball, is teaching a student still different from him. Jackson fundamentally can't make sense of someone who, to use Jackson's very strong words, "wants to bail out or jump ship."
Jackson advised that Bryant never could do his job if he was eyeing the horizon. So Bryant vowed to keep it simple and singularly focused. He entered training camp prepared to focus on his best leadership plan yet: by personal example and personal instruction.
Bryant gave out inspirational Colin Powell quotes to teammates ("A dream doesn't become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work") to set a tone about demanding more from everyone. Then Bryant lost focus, especially after Jerry Buss revealed to reporters what Bryant thought were trade discussions they'd agreed would stay in the vault.
It led Jackson to be vague about his plans for team captaincy – he spoke on the topic during Bryant's two-day absence from the team – citing only Derek Fisher as a definite captain for this season. But Bryant and Fisher have been the two Lakers at center court for the pregame meeting with referees, and striking victories in Phoenix and over Utah have been proof that a lot of good work was getting done behind the Bryant trade headlines.
"Some players individually worked hard (last season)," Bryant said Sunday night. "But now every man is really coming to practice with a sense of purpose and understanding he has to work hard every single day. It's not just me; it's not just Luke (Walton). It's every single person coming in here."
Contrary to general belief, Bryant's teammates don't hate him and he doesn't hate his teammates. Few hear him instructing Andrew Bynum on how Shaq would do it or cursing at Ronny Turiaf to wear the pad to protect his heart or even cultivating a relationship with training-camp temp Larry Turner, whom Bryant called "T.O." for a resemblance to Terrell Owens.
"He starts everything," Jordan Farmar said of Bryant. Behind the almighty individual power, there is hope yet for a team.

by Kevin Ding
OC Register