FEEL THE GAME

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BOBBY MOTUS
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Monday, November 20, 2017
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What number will outshine 24 in LA?

WHEN No. 24 – then wearing No. 8 – debuted with the Los Angeles Lakers 21 years ago at the age of 19, we noticed an air of arrogant confidence enveloping the persona.

Kobe Bryant displayed a cocky strut during his early years and his work ethic was misunderstood by most as being selfish. Eventually, like Magic Johnson before him, he became the face of the franchise.

He had a good basketball pedigree as his father Joe, popularly known as Jellybean, also played pro ball with the Philadelphia 76ers and played for the NBA title alongside legends Julius Irving, George McGinnis and Doug Collins in 1977, losing to Bill Walton and the Portland Trailblazers in six games.

Joe lasted eight years in the NBA, playing for three teams and continued playing in the Italian league Serie A until he retired in 1992. It was in Italy where Kobe spent most of his childhood and where he became fluent in Italian.

After 20 years in the league Kobe said arrivederci. He had given the Lakers five titles and gotten for himself multiple league and franchise individual records. It would take someone with comparable if not exceptional ability to surpass his achievements and that someone sporting one of the league’s eyebrow-raising hairstyles is being hyped as the heir to Kobe’s throne. As a line in Filipino goes, “Marami pang kakainin na bigas,” whoever he may be.

Personally, the Laker No. 2 will always belong to Derek Fisher. As an important contributor to five Laker titles, the number should have been retired. But the one with the differently talented barber is wearing the number. I must reluctantly admit that, so far, he had given justice to number once worn by a Laker great.

Lonzo Ball became the NBA’s youngest player to record a triple-double in a losing effort against Milwaukee Sunday last week. His point production is suspect but his overall basketball IQ is superior that coach Luke Walton is confident in his ability.

He doesn’t have the swagger and the arrogance of the Kobe of yesteryears, neither does he have the fine basketball lineage from his father Lavar, whose rise to fame is being gifted with a mouth having a cyclic rate of fire faster than a helicopter gunship’s Gatling gun. Lonzo had been quiet and let his balling do the talking. The noise was created mostly by the American sports media that his game is scrutinized every time.

He’s still 20 years old yet Lonzo is already given the superstar status by the Laker faithful. He wears his own signature shoes and apparel and his jerseys now outnumber the Kobe jerseys during Laker home games. I suppose Laker Nation is welcoming and embracing the Ball era, disregarding his inconsistent game.

Kobe already took off his Nikes but, like Michael Jordan and LeBron James, he probably also has a lifetime deal with the shoe company. We might be seeing fewer fans wearing the No. 24 jersey but his shoes are very popular with the younger stars like DeMar DeRozan and Giannis Antetokounmpo that as per research, 58 current players are wearing Kobe’s signature shoes, probably because they grew up watching him play. That same research also said that Kobe has overtaken the Jordan shoes in popularity, with the Nike Kobe Ads the most popular among players.

Lonzo never signed a shoe deal with the big brands and that’s the beauty of being independent, as he can wear, aside from his own Big Baller Brand, any shoe brand on any playing day. But to have 3B compete with the big players is but a dream – wilder than a storm signal No. 5.

He was a non-factor in their loss to Philly last Thursday and rode the bench most of the time.  Instead, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram were on fire, both scoring career highs.

Shoes and storm signals aside, the Lakers got the biggest steal of the rookie draft in Kuzma, and there is a strong chance that he’ll get the rookie of the year honors. And if Lonzo Ball won’t do something with his shooting, the young man wearing jersey No. 0, along with Ingram, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle, could be vying for top billing in the search for the LA Lakers’ next image model./PN
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