Jordan Clarkson A Lock To Remain A Laker Beyond This Season?

The Lakers may have a way of getting more value out of Kobe Bryant’s $25 million contract: Fire Byron Scott and make him interim coach for the rest of the season. Julis Randle had a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, Louis Williams had 19 points but it was the rookie, D’Angelo Russell who scored 23 points off the bench but missed an opportunity to win the game late. Russell is finally showing the qualities as a point guard that make him such a special prospect and paint the picture of his enormous potential.

The Spurs came away victorious, 109-87, remain undefeated at home and improve to 19-5 on the season. The problem is that Scott seems to be more of a Kobe fan than his coach and will allow Kobe to do as he pleases in regards to his minutes.

Friday night’s game will be the Spurs’ first against the Lakers since Bryant, one of the best players in National Basketball Association history, announced he is retiring at the end of the season. He’s been around a long time and we just did the polite thing.

So Scott was asked a curious question Wednesday – how would Bryant have done on the 1980s Lakers? “I know they watch me and support me through TV and stuff”. When you’re playing with a whole group of new players, it takes time to understand where your place is. With stars like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili nearing the end of their careers, they have gotten young blood with the combination of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge who have been excellent this season. “He’s done, even beyond his play on the floor, he’s played as great a role as anyone in global expansion of the game”.

For many years the BBoyz and I would fight over Kobe, me expressing a dislike for his selfish cockiness and them pointing out his greatness, feistiness and singularity of will. My initial disdain grew into appreciation for the plethora of qualities the Black Mamba had without an apparent rival. What will ensure Russell a permanent starting spot?

“I’m just going along with it”, Russell said.

“It’s cool to come back here and let them see what I do on a daily basis”, Clarkson said.

“You’re never going to be thrilled about it as a competitor but it’s not in our control”, added Randle.

James Harden, Klay Thompson, and Gordon Hayward are names that, for me, should be looked at way before thinking about selecting Kobe as part of the final 12 that will be on the plane to Rio next year. The idea of the event is to have the league’s best players on the court together. However, the results are relatively inconsequential at this point as the Lakers have seemingly (or hopefully) moved to the next phase of this season. Even with the losing, however, many have been extremely critical of how the team has handled Kobe Bryant. But the priority for the Lakers moving forward should be on developing the young players and setting the stage for life after Kobe.

Meanwhile, Lakers second-year forward Julius Randle picked up four fouls before finishing with four points on 2-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.