Through five games this season, no player has shouldered a larger offensive burden than Kobe Bryant. When the final buzzer rang in the Lakers’ loss to the Phoenix Suns Tuesday, Bryant had unleashed 37 shots, two more than the rest of L.A.’s starters combined.
Though the 16-time all-star finished with a game-high 39 points, head coach Byron Scott says that Bryant’s teammates can’t simply give the ball to their superstar and hope for the best.
Said Scott: “I think there was a timeout last game where I pointed at Kobe and said, ‘I know how great this guy is, but you guys gotta play basketball. You can’t look at him every single time and try to give him the ball. You gotta take shots that are there. You can’t pass up shots.’”
Bryant’s workload has not been limited to Tuesday’s game. Among players that have logged at least 45 minutes, Bryant leads the league in usage percentage, having used 37.9 percent of the Lakers’ possessions while on the floor.
According to Scott, Bryant has “done his share” of trying to get his teammates involved. The head coach maintains that the other Lakers “can’t be afraid to fail” and take their own shots.
“Guys got a tendency to look for Kobe and not look for their own shot or stay aggressive themselves,” said Wayne Ellington, who had eight points on seven attempts Tuesday. “I think that’s important in order (to keep) a defense to be honest. You gotta continue to be aggressive.”
Though Bryant leads the NBA with 27.6 points per game, his individual scoring hasn’t eased his frustration with being winless. Bryant has fired a league-high 24.4 shots per game, and he wants his teammates to be a bigger part of the offense.
“I think we’ll use a lot of the guys – (Carlos) Boozer and Jeremy Lin – to create opportunities,” Bryant said, “which means running through them a lot and moving me off the ball and getting picks off the ball as opposed to me initiating the offense and then controlling everything from there.
“I think it has to be Jeremy and Boozer and those guys making plays, and setting picks off the ball keeps them involved.”
Lin and Boozer are certainly capable of handling more offensive responsibility. Though it is through a small sample size, Lin’s usage percentage (18.9) is his lowest since his rookie season with Golden State in 2010-11. Boozer’s (21.1) has not been this low since playing for Cleveland 11 years ago.
Still, there are other ways for the Lakers to keep the offense flowing that aren’t calculated in usage percentage.
“I’ve heard (Bryant) say numerous times: ‘Don’t watch,’” Ellington said. “Even if he has the ball: cut, set screens, try to move without the ball. And I think that’s very key for us to be successful on the offensive end.”