Kobe Bryant fine with criticism by new Lakers coach Mike Brown – NBA Update
Los Angeles Lakers super star has rubbished talks of a rift between him and the new head coach Mike Brown.
Rumours of differences between the two surfaced when Brown did not hesitate in criticizing Kobe following the Lakers defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers. However, Kobe has said everything is OK.
In fact, he went one step further and gave his backing to Mike Brown, saying he was actually pleased that Brown spoke up about the team’s weaknesses after the game. Kobe said he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way because he
has to held accountable just like everyone else if the Lakers are to succeed.
"That's his job," said Bryant after practice Tuesday. "I'd be upset if he was just letting me skate through things. You make mistakes and the coach's responsibility is to point those out. If he can't point that out to me, he has
no chance of pointing that out to anybody else."
Brown took over at Los Angeles during the summer after the retirement of long term coach Phil Jackson. Although Jackson’s reign ended on a sour note last season, he is still arguably the best coach in basketball history and Brown
has his work cut out trying to fill such giant shoes.
There were concerns among the Lakers faithful that Mike wouldn’t be able to command respect from a dressing room filled with such big egos like Kobe, veteran point guard Derek Fisher, All-Star power forward Pau Gasol and not to
mention firebrand centre Andrew Bynum.
Those concerns though are slowly starting to evaporate as Brown stamps out his own authority over the players. Bryant has certainly been impressed by the coach, whose work ethic is second to none, something the star shooting guard
can relate with, and is quickly getting used to having him as the head coach.
"I can tell how much he wants to because you can see how hard he works," Bryant said. "In the film session, he's already gone over the film many times before. There's no wasted energy, there's no wasted time. He's in here working
and that makes you want to win for him that much more."
The Lakers hired Brown even though he wasn’t a front runner for the job and many considered him to be a weak man manager after his stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He impressed the Los Angeles executives with his thorough approach
though and they decided that his defensive credentials were also something the side needed in order to move in a new direction.
The Lakers have reached 3 of the last 4 NBA Finals, winning two NBA World Championships in the process. The side has largely been the same and the fans will be hoping Brown can take them to the promise land once more.
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