Things aren’t going the way the Lakers were expecting this season. The team is currently sitting at 15-17, and after a rather embarrassing performance (despite a close final score) on Friday night against the Clippers, things are getting even more uneasy in El Segundo.
At Lakers practice on Saturday, ESPN Los Angeles reporter Ramona Shelburne got some interesting quotes from Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, both of whom may want to be the leader of this team.
I asked Dwight Howard if the Lakers liked each other. He said, “We have play like we like each other.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 5, 2013
Dwight: “Even if we don’t want to be friends off the court, when we step in between the lines, we have to respect each other.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 5, 2013
Dwight: “It really starts off the court. I think you have to have that relationship and that chemistry off the court.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 5, 2013
So from these quotes, it seems like there might be some distance between some of the players on the team. But who is Howard referring to when he says these things? It seems that he cleared that up later on, in a somewhat subtle (but not really subtle at all) manner.
Dwight: “If you’re an alpha male, you don’t have to always show that you’re the alpha male. Just be who you are.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Dwight: “It’s not about making your mark or going around pissing everywhere. You don’t have to do that.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Dwight: “My presence is felt every day and I don’t have to come here and growl and snarl at people.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Dwight isn’t directly talking about Kobe, but what other potential alpha males are on this team right now? So, if we can make the assumption that Howard was indirectly talking about Bryant, what sparked these comments? Well, thankfully Shelburne got the chance to talk to him as well.
Kobe: “Myself and Dwight we’re finishers. I think that’s how it should operate.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Bryant then went on to talk about the dynamic between himself and Howard and how it compares to the relationship between himself and Shaquille O’Neal during the seasons those two were running things in Los Angeles.
Kobe on alpha male dynamic with Shaq: “I sacrificed quite a bit with individual numbers and MVPS and NBA Finals and all this other stuff.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Kobe on playing with Dwight/Shaq: “Shaq and I were a different dynamic. You’re not going to find another duo like that ever.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
Kobe: “Those are things I was willing to sacrifice. You have to have that sacrifice to make that dynamic work.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 6, 2013
This isn’t exactly looking encouraging right now for the Lakers. If their two best players are at odds, which from these quotes it appears may be on the verge of happening, the team’s struggles aren’t going to dissipate anytime soon. While the team continues to rack up losses and offer more questions than answers, situations like these are going to make more and more headlines until they can get themselves out of this funk and back on the right track.