His Second-Best Status Doesn’t Worry Bryant

In playoffs during which it is fashionable again to call him the best player in the game, or the next Michael Jordan, or Shaquille O’Neal’s very good friend, Kobe Bryant is on the All-NBA junior varsity, behind first-team guards Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd.

It doesn’t bother him, he said.

“It would be a nice accomplishment,” he said. “But, maybe next year.”

Bryant finished fourth in scoring, behind Iverson, Jerry Stackhouse and O’Neal. But, he was variously injured or ill and missed 14 games, and also fought the perception that he shot too much.

Bryant retooled his game for the final week of the regular season and into the playoffs, becoming a better all-around player just as the Lakers were becoming an object of national attention. His rebirth occurred in plenty of time to save their season, but too late for the MVP vote, in which he finished ninth, or to make the All-NBA team.

“I wondered about that,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “I didn’t hear about the teams, but one of my assistant coaches said he’d take the second unit to play the first unit any day. I don’t think players put a lot of credence in that. Obviously it’s an honor to be on either team. But, I think most everybody knows that to start a team in the NBA, you’d probably pick Shaq and Kobe, maybe one and three.”

Presumably, Jackson saved a spot for Tim Duncan, a first-teamer along with O’Neal and Chris Webber. Jackson said it was possible voters simply had Bryant listed between positions.

“[Kobe] was considered maybe a swing man,” he said. “He’s not a guard, not a forward. Jason Kidd is a big assist leader. Iverson is the leading scorer and MVP. You wouldn’t want your MVP on the second unit, would you?”

The Lakers practiced harder Friday and have hired referees to work a more serious scrimmage today.

There was significantly less frivolity on the floor by early Friday afternoon, when the basketball drills ended and the running began.

With five days left before the NBA finals, Jackson looked out at news cameras and various microphones and playfully shook his head.

“Why am I here?” he said. “I have no idea why I’m here. To talk about what? OK, let’s see, what can we talk about? Have you noticed that June gloom in California is great for basketball? When it’s foggy like this, guys come to play and they enjoy it here. I used to tell the players in Chicago it was one of the greatest places in the country to play because the weather was so bad that it was great to have an indoors place to go to work. No golf, anyway.”

Most agreed that Friday’s practice was better than Thursday’s, and when they start comparing the relative intensity of one practice to another, you can be sure it’s time for a game. Any game.

“I don’t know if it was a matter of focus,” Bryant said. “I think we had a couple of days off and came back to practice and everybody had so much energy, everybody was just running all over the place.. . . . Today, we got back to the basics.”