While I don’t think the Lakers should be in full blown panic mode, one of their problems is Dwight Howard that thinks everything is a joke.
While it is still early, the Lakers do have problems and telling Kobe to relax is probably not the best move. Here is his quote via Pro Basketball Talk and reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPNLA.com.
“I think sometimes as a team we got to be able to not really show our frustrations that much,” Howard said after L.A. fell to 1-12 with their preseason record included. “A lot of the guys look at me and Kobe and they feed off us, so we have to do a better job of keeping our frustrations on the inside and just playing through it so our teammates won’t get down on themselves. So, we just got to do a better job at that.
“I know [Kobe] was a little frustrated tonight. He wants to win just as bad as all of us do, but we just got to stay together, remember it’s a process, and stay focused.”
I get what Dwight is trying to say, because when Kobe gets angry it is at Hulk like levels, but Dwight isn’t the player that should be telling Kobe to relax.
He just got to the team and his reputation as a leader isn’t stellar.
The Lakers in my opinion will right the ship, but keep a close eye and Kobe and Dwight’s relationship. Kobe told Dwight to keep the clown act in Orlando and Dwight has ignored it, so we will see what happens.