The Los Angeles Lakers have been struggling all year, and with injuries, poor performances and a general lack of their usual character having been frustrating all season it appears that star shooting guard Kobe Bryant as had enough. In an interview with ESPNBoston's Jackie MacMullan on Feb. 7, 2013, the star has called out his fellow players and one in particular to show some urgency with a chance at the playoff's quickly slipping away.
Bryant's target over the need for urgency was the heavily scrutinized forward, Dwight Howard. Howard made a blockbuster move to Los Angeles over the summer, but so far he has not shown to be worth the massive effort that got him to the Lakers.
In his interview with MacMullan Bryant laid it all on the line for Howard to respond:
We don't have time for [Howard's shoulder] to heal. We need some urgency.
Dwight worries too much about what people think.
I told him, 'You can't worry about that. It's holding you back.' He says, 'OK, OK, OK,' but it's always hovering around him.
He just wants people to like him. He doesn't want to let anyone down, and that gets him away from what he should be doing.
What he should be doing is playing ball and not worrying about the thoughts of others. At 34, Bryant himself knows all to well that the need for getting the job done this season is more important than worrying about if there is another to follow or if everyone is a fan of you getting the job done.
Howard has some lessons still to learn, but how he responds to his veteran leader calling on him to step up his game will be interesting to see in the coming few weeks now that Pau Gasol has been ruled out for the next four to six weeks with a torn ligament.
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