This Is What You Waited For

Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press

I got a lot of friends who are Laker fans. Lots of them...

And I'm sure most of them, if not all, were tuned in one way or another to NBA TV on Sunday to watch what could be the biggest reason they're fans of the purple and gold.

This man...

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

Kobe Bryant has been out eight months with a torn Achilles, but all that was behind him on Sunday and the NBA's fourth leading scorer of all-time made his way back into the Staples Center donning the Los Angeles uniform.


Now that we've got it out of the way, let's talk about some of your expectations for Kobe. Some of you...not all of you...expected Kobe to come back and be dominant in Game 1. Right out of the gate. No questions asked. Nothing. Just coming back and balling out.

Well, that didn't happen. Kobe came away with nine points and eight rebounds in his season debut. Nine points is very uncharacteristic of the former Charlotte Hornet draft pick and even Kobe wasn't pleased with his effort against the Toronto Raptors.

"I'm just insanely critical," Bryant said according to ESPNLosAngeles.com. "There was a bunch of things that I completely messed up on."

Let's cut the man some slack. Kobe's not even in game shape right now. He played 28 minutes which was a lot more than I initially expected out of his return. But make no mistake about it. Kobe won't take that long to get back into game shape. He will work extremely hard. Always has. Look at how quickly he came back from the Achilles injury.

He'll be ready...and he'll probably win the Comeback Player of the Year award. That's all well and good, but let's not get carried away. I'm no gambling man, but I'd bet that the Lakers (with Kobe at full strength) do not make the playoffs.

Photo Courtesy of USAToday.com

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