D’Angelo Russell: Kupchak understands Laker fans frustrations

When Kobe Bryant announced his retirement last week, his decision rocked the sports world.

LaVine was just a year old himself when Bryant broke into the league, and he remembers the odd feeling of sharing the court with a childhood idol in the 14th game of his rookie season last November.

There have been plenty of those at Target Center, as Bryant has terrorized the Wolves through the years, including powering the Lakers to two postseason series victories over Minnesota.

While Odom’s name has since become synonymous with the Kardashian family and drama, he was one of the most beloved members of the National Basketball Association family, and remains one of Bryant’s favorite teammates and closest friends.

It’s no wonder Kobe was rated as one of the most disliked players in the National Basketball Association in 2011, with a dislike percentage of 45 percent.

Cold weather, warm feelings toward Kobe Bryant.

Not so long ago, Garnett was one of the NBA’s most notorious, rabid-dog trash talkers, an intimidator who would butt heads, feign a chomp at Joakim Noah’s hand or say the most un-PC things on the court this side of Donald Trump.

None of this feels right.

Over the upcoming games, the Lakers attempt to figure out if Williams can potentially play as a starting guard, if Nance can remain productive enough to warrant 30 minutes per game and if Russell and Randle can find their rhythms with a second unit-where the ball does not simply gravitate to Kobe Bryant.

In a 102-93 loss, Russell and Randle played only 21 minutes while Bryant played 32, and isn’t that completely backward? Howard is soft as a player and poor as a leader, but quite frankly nobody wants to play with Kobe. Instead of the players learning from Bryant, they are being kept away from Bryant? “Absolutely fantastic”, Bryant said.

There is only one person who can fix this, and it’s not Scott, who has no choice but to cater to Bryant even if this could eventually cost him his job.

Be sure to check back with Lake Show Life for Lakers news, updates, analysis, and more. Getting a valued trade now might be the best move going forward. Mitch Kupchak recently said he understands fan frustration is stemming from a lacking focus on player development, and how this benching has been handled flies in the face of that very thing. The first and only time, thus far, came in Byron Scott’s first season as coach, i.e. previous year.

“We need answers this year”.

The Wolves have a -0.8 point differential while the Lakers sport a -9.2 mark through their first 20 games.