To put it nicely, the Los Angeles Lakers were not very good last season. After losing 61 games a season ago, the Lakers have revamped their roster this offseason in the hopes that with the new additions and the return of Kobe Bryant, they will be a much more competitive team. A few of the new additions the Lakers made were guards, which means that as of right now, they have a bit of an overload at the position. The plethora of guards available to head coach Byron Scott prompted him to reportedly say that Bryant might see time at power forward next season, according to ESPN.com.
Jordan Clarkson was the Lakers' starting point guard last season as a rookie, and he was very impressive, so the Lakers plan to start him again next season along with second overall pick D'Angelo Russell. Russell and Clarkson played a lot together in summer league and reportedly feel very comfortable on the floor together.
With those two young guns likely starting together at either guard position, that means Bryant will likely start at small forward. Now when you look at the guys the Lakers have coming off the bench, that is where Bryant playing some four makes sense. Lou Williams and Nick Young are both shooting guards who will come off the bench to provide some scoring punch, and when you add Kobe in, that makes five guards that will get regular minutes.
Kobe has been a shooting guard his whole career, but although he has basically no experience as a four, Scott seems to think he will be able to handle it even at his advanced age.
"There's some games, against some teams, where he'll probably play 4. With his tenaciousness, the way he guards people and when his mind is set, if I say, 'Kobe, you've got him,' he takes that as a challenge. You know how he is. He'll compete," said Scott.
Based on Scott's comments, it doesn't seem as though Bryant will be used regularly as a power forward, but it could happen and when it does, he will be guarding guys much bigger than him and will have to fight down low for rebounds. Coming off two straight seasons that were cut short due to injuries, Kobe would probably be best served to not play down low but Scott sees it as a potential advantage on offense and with all of the talented guards they have he might as well give it a shot.
