The lockout has put the former NBA champion Lakers hopes for redemption on hold for the moment, and Bryant's surgery in Germany has been viewed as an innovative attempt to get himself healthy by some and a last ditch effort to retain his status as an elite player by others.
I don't really know enough about Bryant's surgical procedure to make a judgment as to where his motives may lie, but I do know that the lockout could actually help Bryant in that regard, as well as his aging teammates.
Bryant will need time to get healthy, and a shortened season would allow him all the time needed to strengthen his knee through rehabilitation and work himself into playing shape.
The time off would also help Bryant's talented but equally old teammates, with the exception of Andrew Bynum, conserve some of the energy that was clearly lost during the 82 game NBA regular season of 2010-11.
The Lakers peaked right after the All-Star break, at one point winning 17 out of 18 games before running out of gas down the stretch and eventually folding against Dallas in the postseason.
Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest and Bryant shouldn't have to worry too much about fatigue over the course of a lockout-shortened 50 game season, and it should be easy to stay motivated when the window for success is reduced.
New head coach Mike Brown is definitely the wild card in any instance, because the Lakers will also have a much smaller period of actual game time to adapt to Brown's strategies.
Players are not supposed to have any direct contact with the team during the lockout period, but I'm sure Brown's playbook is circulating throughout the Lakers roster,...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
