Although there's still uncertainty about when Kobe Bryant will return to the floor for the Los Angeles Lakers, general manager Mitch Kupchak isn't pushing for an answer.
Kupchak said Wednesday that the Lakers have "no real expectations" about the health of Bryant, and aren't concerned about pushing Bryant to rejoin the team until he's ready.
"I do believe that he'll get back and he'll play this season," Kupchak said. "You won't be able to look at him and say, 'He was hurt.' In other words, some guys - like myself, when I hurt my knee, I always had a limp. You won't be able to tell (with Bryant). He'll get back on the court. He'll be healthy."
Kupchak said Bryant was at the Lakers' training complex almost every morning this summer, working on making a return from mid-April surgery to his torn left Achilles tendon. Even at age 35 Bryant has made steady progress, but hasn't yet returned to the court for any basketball activies.
"I've looked out my window (above the practice courts) now for three months, and he has not been on the basketball court one day," Kupchak said. "But quite frankly, I'm wondering, at night, does he go to a gym somewhere?"
With Bryant being benched with injury the Lakers managed to finish seventh in the Western Conference, and because of their early exit out the playoffs they've been projected to not win another ring next summer-and with the surge of the Clippers there not even considered best in their own town.
"I guess you'd say there's a little bit of an underdog tag on us, low expectations contrasting to a year ago," Kupchak said. "It's night and day. ... It's hard to have expectations right now until we know when and how Kobe is going to return. You cannot sit down and pencil what you think your record may be until you know (when) one of the best players in the NBA is going to play and how he's going to play."
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