Sports Central / Original Sports Fan Commentary Since 1998

The Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble. And it's the fault of Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak.

A quarter-way through Season One of "Kobe Goes it Alone," the NBA has discovered that the once-mighty Lakers are anything but a lock for the playoffs. Sure, they're 12-9, which places them seventh in the Western Conference, safely in the postseason picture. But a check of their schedule and the state of their star player shows that for the Lakers, 2005 looks bleak.

The Lakers have 12 wins. Two of those wins came against New Orleans, a team that is 2-19; one came from the Hawks, who are 4-18; they've split with both the Grizzlies (9-15) and the Bulls (5-15); they have managed to sweep the 6-13 Bucks in their two games this season; and the Lakers have also bested Golden State (7-15) and Houston (10-12), by a whisker.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles has been blown out by 26 points by the sub-.500 Jazz, and they are 1-5 against Western Conference playoff teams, with their only win coming against Denver on opening night. They have proven to be far inferior to the likes of Phoenix, San Antonio, Sacramento, and most recently, Seattle, in a much-hyped contest following the feud between Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen.

So 12-9 might look fine now, but not when the Lakers have already played their softest-quarter schedule this season. Tougher games lie ahead, and as of yet, the Lakers have not proven able to handle the most skilled teams in the Western Conference.

Buss, the man with the means, and Kupchak, the man with the plan, begrudgingly agreed, at the request of Kobe Bryant, to dismantle the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers roster, a roster that was made up largely of players who delivered three more NBA championship titles to the storied Lakers franchise.

Phil Jackson, the mastermind who owns nine NBA championship rings as a coach, claimed that he could no longer be at the helm of a team that featured Kobe on its roster. Shaquille O'Neal, the most rare type of athlete a sport can produce -- one who necessitates an alteration of the rules because of his domination -- echoed Jackson's feelings on wearing the same uniform as Bryant, and demanded a trade if Kobe, a free agent last summer, was to be re-signed. It was Kobe or them.

Buss and Kupchak chose Kobe. O'Neal and Jackson were gone.

Kobe, in what has become his trademark "me-first" fashion, showed his appreciation by nearly signing with the Clippers, even after the Lakers' brass had traded O'Neal and let Jackson go as a concession to Kobe's demands. Seven years, $136 million, and a signature later, however, Kobe was on the Lakers, for better or for worse.

Since that fateful July day, Bryant has had the sexual assault charges against him dropped by his accuser, though he still faces a civil suit in the case. He has traded barbs with Jackson and O'Neal: Jackson, after the coach criticized Kobe in his recently-released book, calling Kobe selfish, and O'Neal, after Shaq attacked Bryant in a rap lyric on his latest album.

Later, it was Ray Allen who got involved with Kobe, criticizing him for wanting to do too much on his own at the expense of his teammates, while Kobe shot back, "Don't even put me in the same sentence as [Ray Allen]." Then Kobe drew the ire of Karl Malone, who was peeved after Bryant claimed that Karl probably was not going to come back to the Lakers this year. Malone took it as an affront, and vowed not to go back to the Lakers since it is clear that it's Kobe's team, and that Kobe wants nothing to do with Malone.

Soon thereafter, Bryant's agent announced (conveniently) that Malone had made a pass at Kobe's wife almost a month earlier, and that the two had a falling out over the incident, despite being close friends beforehand.

Throughout this ongoing drama that follows Bryant around like a bloodhound, Kobe has led the league in scoring, with over 27 points per game, and triple-doubles, a good statistical measure of the all-around player.

But there are other telling numbers in Kobe's stat line that raise red flags. The first is his minutes played per game. Bryant leads the NBA in that category with 43.1, meaning he's on the bench for less than five minutes a night. Last year, Kobe played just over 37 minutes a night, and for his career, he averages 34 minutes per contest.

Kobe's shooting percentage is the lowest of his career, an abominable 39.7 percent. How much has the increased minutes affected Kobe's shooting percentage, a statistic strongly linked to player stamina? And will playing 43 minutes a night for the next 61 games leave Bryant with anything left in the tank during the season's final stretch, especially considering the constant off-court issues he has faced each day for the past year and a half? And will Kobe ever decide to let Shaq's replacements from Miami -- Lamar Odom and Caron Butler -- carry some of the burden that Kobe incessantly insists upon shouldering each night?

The answers to these questions should dictate the success, or more likely, lack thereof, of this Lakers squad. Buss and Kupchak have handed the keys to Kobe in hopes that he will become the franchise player that his immense talent should allow him to be. As yet, Kobe's massive ego and knack for spats, and not his greatness on the court, have circumscribed this Lakers season, one which is far gloomier than their record suggests.