Kobe & Dwight: Trouble in Paradise

The reported scuffle/almost physical altercation ( Yahoo! ) between Lakers’ stars Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as everyone inside the Lakers organization is denying that it ever happened.  However, if the report is true, and the two superstars needed to be restrained from each other following a recent loss to Philly, would it be that surprising? 

The short answer is no, and that says something.  

The Lakers have been struggling (understatement) all season, after many expected the additions of Howard and Steve Nash to fuel another Finals run for the purple and gold.  Injuries, age, and a lack of depth have doomed the Lakers thus far, and unless drastic changes are made, a June appearance for the Lake Show seems pretty doubtful.  Surprising?

Not really.  Bryant and Howard seemed ill-suited from the start; one, a tenacious competitor who puts winning above all else, and the other often criticized for his lack of killer instinct and playful demeanor on the hardwood; not exactly two peas in a pod.  For all the turmoil between Bryant and the horse he rode to his first three titles, there was always a level of respect between him and Shaq.  Shaq was going to bring it each night and Kobe knew that.  When they did get into their battles between each other, it was for reasons other than Shaq’s effort and toughness.  Thus, the two sides found success.

At no point in his career has Dwight consistently shown the ability to stay serious and be the dominant go-to-guy for his team, as the Lakers had hoped maybe he would in order to take some of the leadership load off of Kobe Bryant.  Instead, Kobe has had to force his will onto the offense as much as ever, and there is no on-court proof that Bryant trusts his newest big with the game hanging in the balance. 

At this point in his career, Steve Nash is a little too old, hobbled, and defensively-challenged to be the centerpiece to a championship-caliber team, as many assumed when the Lakers signed him this offseason.  Thus, it was known that Nash would be used largely as a facilitator, a kind of conductor of the offense, and that the purple and gold would truly go as far as the Bryant-Dwight dynamic could drag them, which up until this point, isn’t even a playoff spot. 

Recent injuries to Dwight and Pau Gasol make things even more challenging for L.A.’s second best team this season, as the Lakers have already dug themselves a hole in an extremely competitive Western Conference.  All is not lost, as there is still an opportunity for the team to get itself together, turn things around in the second half of the season and make a playoff push.  However, in order for that to happen, the team’s two biggest stars need to develop some repertoire on the court and some respect off of it, or else it will continue to be a long season in Laker Land.