Kobe Bryant has skipped the Los Angeles
Lakers' practice to rest his aching right foot.
The Lakers announced Monday that Bryant's
foot is sore and bruised.
Bryant was injured during the third
quarter of the Lakers' 99-92 preseason loss to Sacramento on Sunday night. He
stayed in the game and scored 21 points.
Bryant has fought a handful of nagging
injuries in training camp this month. A sore right foot kept him out of an early
practice, and he missed a preseason game in Ontario, Calif., to rest a strained
right shoulder.
Forward Metta World Peace practiced on
Monday with a splint on his right middle finger. World Peace dislocated his
finger Sunday night, but popped it back in and kept playing.
When Dwyane Wade ended his association
with Jordan Brand only a few weeks ago, the assumption and reports of everyone
indicated that he would sign a new deal with emerging Chinese brand Li-Ning. It
was a big change for Wade, but also an opportunity for him to help establish a
new market force rather than help a preexisting power player. The only question
was if his new products would entice basketball fans to buy them.
On Tuesday, Wade revealed his Li-Ning
deal and "Way of Wade" shoes at an event in Beijing (the Heat are in town for a
few preseason games). While it may seem that Li-Ning got these shoes together
awfully quickly following the end of Wade's deal with Jordan Brand, Jonathan
Sawyer of Complex reports that Li-Ning had done prep work for a superstar's
sneaker and brought those preexisting designs to Wade. They also claim that Wade
is and will continue to be heavily involved in the design process, so we should
see some changes and new colorways for the "Way of Wade" shoes soon.
Wade's Li-Ning look is quite different
from the more familiar designs he wore for Jordan Brand, but that's not
necessarily a bad thing. The key will be for the designs to reflect his
sensibilities, and for the nation's consumers to care.
That last bit is where things get tricky.
Li-Ning has worked with a superstar before — Shaquille O'Neal represented the
brand from 2006 to 2010. However, as most basketball fans know, Shaq was nowhere
near his peak during that period, which helped ensure that Li-Ning didn't get
quite the sort of brand awareness they likely hoped for when they signed him.
While Wade is not especially old at 30 years old, there have been signs that
he's entering a new period in his career, one where he might not be quite the
league-altering player he once was. He's an All-Star, certainly, but also
clearly a level below his teammate LeBron James. It's an open question as to
whether he can still command the attention (and dollars) of the sneaker-buying
public.
However, those questions haven't been
answered yet, and Li-Ning has many reasons to be positive. In a few years, we
could identify Wade's launch as the moment when a new power emerged in the world
of basketball shoes and apparel.
Three-and-a-half years ago, Dwight Howard
slumped his shoulders inside Staples Center and responded sheepishly on the
issue of Shaquille O'Neal trashing him over and over.
"I can't tell you why he's said a lot of
discouraging things," Howard said to me. "I wish he wouldn't say it because he's
one of the few guys that we all look up to."
As a 23-year-old reaching the NBA Finals
against the Los Angeles Lakers, Howard was still an earnest young star searching
out the blessing that never came from Shaq.
For all the preaching Shaq had done about
paying respect to your elders, Howard never understood why his relentless praise
of Shaq was reciprocated with ridicule and scorn. Howard never understood why
Shaq didn't see it as flattering that an engaging, dynamic young center had
grown up idolizing, even emulating, him.
"Shaq played the game and he is done,"
Howard told reporters on Thursday. "It's time to move on. He hated the fact when
he played that older guys were talking about him and how he played. Now he's
doing the exact same thing. Just let it go. There's no sense for him to be
talking trash to me. He did his thing in the league. Sit back and
relax.
"Your time is up."
Howard doesn't need to respond to Shaq to
win over Kobe Bryant, because Bryant's already a believer in him. Bryant knows
that Howard will come to work every day, that he'll keep himself physically fit.
Those are things that Bryant could never count upon with O'Neal. Howard doesn't
need to stand up to Shaq for Kobe's sake, but his own.
Howard has come to the Lakers to win
championships, the way that Shaq did all those years ago. He's an iconic talent,
and Shaq's kidding himself to try to minimize Howard's dominance. The greatest
Lakers center before Shaq believed that, too – long before Howard made his way
to Los Angeles.
Outside the interview room that day
during the June '09 NBA Finals, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shook his head, and told me
of Shaq, "Sometimes I wonder about his maturity. He doesn't need to do that.
He's achieved so much. I don't know why he stoops to that."
Shaq is a forever star in the NBA, and
gets paid to deliver his opinions on television now. Howard has earned
criticism, absorbed it, and yet his talent is too immense for Shaq to believe
for a moment that Lakers fans will be longing for him over Howard this
season.
Dwight Howard might not make his Los
Angeles Lakers debut in the team's Oct. 30 season-opener against the Dallas
Mavericks after all. Howard is now hopeful he can return from back surgery
earlier than expected and possibly play in the preseason.
"Hopefully, I will be back for some
preseason games," Howard said following the Lakers' first practice on Monday. "I
think we are going to need it for chemistry and all that stuff."
When asked if his optimism was reason to
think he would definitely play on opening night, Howard was more cautious with
his words.
"All I know is we had a great practice
today," he said. "I don't know the date when I will return. But I'm looking
forward to tomorrow's practice to see how my body feels when I wake up. We can
only go by time right now and how I feel after practice. We are not in a rush.
These guys need me for the whole season."
Howard had been playing one-on-one games
against assistant coaches Darvin Ham and Chuck Person prior to the start of
training camp. Lakers coach Mike Brown said Howard took part in the majority of
Tuesday's lengthy practice that lasted about four hours, but Howard was given a
break during a drill to give his feet a rest. The Lakers engaged in light work
on the Princeton offense with Howard taking part in each first-team exercise.
Howard said he had no setbacks.
The Lakers play their first preseason
game Sunday against the Golden State Warriors in Fresno, Calif. Howard isn't
expected to be in uniform. But even if Howard doesn't play in the preseason, the
Lakers still have 23 practices scheduled before the start of the season, giving
him and Steve Nash time to build chemistry with their new teammates.
"As long as he's in practice and able to
go through things offensively, go through our system and stuff like that, I
don't think it will be an issue," Bryant said.
Lakers assistant coach Eddie Jordan spent
time at the end of practice working with the players on implementing the
Princeton offense. The Lakers averaged 97.3 points per game last season, a drop
of more than four points per game from what they averaged in the 2010-11 season
while running Phil Jackson's triangle offense.
Bryant, who has met with Brown and Jordan
about the offense, is excited about the change.
"The more talent you have, the more
imperative it is to have an equal opportunity system where you let the flow of
the game determine which shots come for me," Bryant said. "You just work to get
the best shot possible and really just read the defense."
