The off-season will be a bit different for Kobe Bryant this time around. Of course, he has had his fair share of injuries in which he typically addresses in the summers, but this time he is dealing with his biggest challenge yet.
As we all know, Kobe went down (literally) with a completely ruptured Achilles tendon in the third to last game of the Lakers’ 2012-13 season against the Golden State Warriors. He followed that by having surgery to repair the Achilles the very next day, something that has a chance of cutting down his recovery time.
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Since then, Kobe had his stitches removed, was placed in a walking boot and posted one of the most gruesome photos of his foot opened up during surgery (thanks for that Kobe). While he still has some time until he can return to any sort of basketball activities, Kobe remains steadfast that he will take on this challenge head on and return to the court ready to go.
Per Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, Mike D’Antoni shares Bryant’s confidence that he will return to full strength, saying:
“With his determination and his brain, he’s got a good chance at it,” said D’Antoni to SNY.tv. “I know he’ll be effective and good.”
“We’ll just see, see how the summer plays out, but Kobe will be fine and he’ll be back 100%,” D’Antoni said.
Kobe’s recovery time has been set at six to nine months. Therefore, there is a real chance that he could be ready to return by the first game of the Lakers’ 2013-14 season. In fact, that is the plan for Kobe, and we should all know by now to not underestimate Kobe’s determination.
While this off-season is completely about recovery for Kobe individually, that won’t stop him from trying to get the team in form to be contenders next season. He has already stated that he plans to talk to Dwight Howard and convince him to re-sign. Also, he plans to talk to management about keeping Pau Gasol.
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