After the Los Angeles Lakers being ranked the 12th team in the NBA and Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant himself being ranked 25 in the NBA, Kobe changed his twitter avi to just the number “1225.” We can all assume that it’s Kobe’s way of showing ESPN what he thinks about it.
Kobe Bryant was injured last year before playoffs; he tore his Achilles’ tendon. The injury is one which often prevents athletes from coming back quickly, or even from coming back at all, but it is not stopping Kobe Bryant. He plans to come back this year, sooner than later. But will he put up huge numbers such as he has his entire career?
Knowing the type of person Kobe is, we know he would rather stop playing pro basketball than to let us watch him fade away due to age and injuries. Bryant wants to be remembered as a legend who went out on top and not be remembered as a legend that once put up 30 PPG only to become insignificant. He has already built his legacy but he doesn’t want people using his age as a excuse as to why he’s not winning or putting up high numbers.
It’s clear to see why the Lakers were ranked 12th but it was surprising to most, even Kobe himself, for the star to be ranked 25th. In the 2012-2013 season, Bryant averaged 27.3 PPG, 6 APG and 5 RPG. Even after injury, Kobe was ranked 5th on the MVP ladder. There is no reasoning behind ESPN’s rank for Bryant. Kobe is injured right now, but he will be back, and who is to say that when he does come back, he won’t have his best season ever?
The Los Angeles Lakers are a team that is rebuilding and was surprising to some people that they were even ranked 12th out of 30 teams in the NBA. After Dwight Howard leaving, amnestying Metta World Peace, and Kobe being injured, it brought their team rank down a bit because all of these players are major factors into a winning Lakers team.
However, the reason the Lakers were ranked as high as 12 can be attributed to Kobe being back. Add to that, Pau Gasol is stepping his game up, Chris Kaman is doing extremely well aligning with Gasol and Steve Nash is, well, Steve Nash. Kobe is helping coach his team, and the Lakers as a whole are doing better than expected in the preseason. With all of this factoring in, the Lakers should find their way to the playoffs.
1225 is a number for everyone to remember because when Kobe Bryant steps on that floor again, he will assuredly remind us of that.
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