BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) When the NBA season opens Tuesday night, Kobe Bryant may not be totally ready. But he apparently plans on playing anyway.
Still recovering from offseason knee surgery, Bryant reportedly is probable to play when the Los Angeles Lakers open at home against the high-powered Phoenix Suns.
The Lakers-Suns matchup is one of just two games on the schedule, both rematches from the first round of last season’s playoffs that will be televised by TNT. In the early game, superstar Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat will receive their championship rings before hosting the new-look Chicago Bulls.
Coming off a spectacular season in which he scored a staggering 81 points in a game against Toronto and led the NBA at 35.4 points per contest, Bryant had surgery on his right knee this summer, forcing him to miss the World Championships.
The rehabilitation process initially was not believed to keep him off the court once the season began. But Bryant###who will wear No. 24 this season instead of No. 8 did not play at all in the preseason.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday on its web site that Bryant practiced Monday, saying afterward that he felt “really good.”
The last memory of Bryant on the court is not a pleasant one. Facing Phoenix in Game Seven, Bryant seemed to defer to his teammates in the second half of a 121-90 rout that completed a collapse after Los Angeles had opened a 3-1 series lead.
“Everybody is excited about the opportunity that we have,” Bryant said during the preseason. “We felt like we did something very positive last year. It was an extremely young team, we have the core coming back, we have one year of the triangle offense under our belt, so we’re excited about it.”
Although Bryant may play, other Lakers will be sidelined. Big men Chris Mihm and Kwane Brown also are out, making 19-year-old 7-footer Andrew Bynum the starting center. And coach Phil Jackson just recently returned from hip replacement surgery that may prevent him from making some road trips.
“Last year, it was getting into the triangle offense and getting everybody on the same page in this system that we run,” Jackson said before his procedure. “This year, we’re trying to get focused on what we can do better as a team defensively in using our offensive flexibility (and) mobility to the best advantage we have.”
Western Conference finalists the last two seasons, the Suns also have a star player coming off knee surgery fearsome forward Amare Stoudemire, who missed all but three games last season while recovering from microfracture surgery. Stoudemire is expected to play, but there are questions about his effectiveness.
The Suns will still be looking to run at every opportunity, with two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash at the controls of the league’s most dangerous offense. In the offseason, the Suns added forward Jumaine Jones and guard Marcus Banks, who should thrive in an up-tempo attack.
The first matchup of the 1,230-game schedule has the Bulls and new center Ben Wallace visiting Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the Heat, who will receive their rings and hoist a championship banner to rafters of AmericanAirlines Arena.
Wallace, who won four Defensive Player of the Year awards and a championship in six seasons in Detroit, signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Bulls in the offseason. He joins a team that led the NBA in field-goal percentage defense last season and should provide a backbone of veteran leadership for a young, talented squad.
In the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Bulls split four games with the Heat before O’Neal asserted himself with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in Game Five and 30, 20 and two in Game Six.
“Just because we were close, we know we still have a long way to go,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said during the preseason.
That’s where Wallace comes in. Despite giving up four inches and nearly 100 pounds, the 6-9, 240-pound Wallace has had some success defending O’Neal, most notably in the 2004 Finals when the Pistons stunned O’Neal’s Lakers.
However, no one has had much success slowing down Wade, who has emerged as one of the game’s true superstars. He averaged 34.7 points in the Finals, when the Heat became just the third team in history to erase a 2-0 deficit and win the championship, vanquishing the Dallas Mavericks in six games.
The Heat did not do much in the offseason. Pat Riley, who took over for Stan Van Gundy during last season, decided to return as coach, and veterans Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning were re-signed. Payton likely will start at point guard as Jason Williams is out until Thanksgiving following knee surgery.
“We are the world champions and we are proud as hell of it,” Riley said in training camp. “We are going to defend it.###We are not going to look back with nostalgia. It has been won, experienced, and enjoyed. Now we are back to work.###That’s what happens with every championship team and now we are trying to defend it.”
Fans should keep their eyes and ears open. The league will be using a new ball for the first time since 1970, replacing the conventional leather ball with a composite ball that is said to have a more consistent feel and better grip but has drawn complaints from some players during the preseason.
There also is a new “no-tolerance” policy regarding complaints calls. Players given to outbursts and demonstrative disagreements to referees’ rulings will quickly be assessed technical fouls.
The season gets into full swing with 13 games Wednesday night, including the debut of top overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani when the Toronto Raptors visit the New Jersey Nets.
On Thursday, the Mavericks entertain the 2005 champion San Antonio Spurs in a reprise of last season’s seven-game conference semifinal series that was one of the best in NBA history.
