Kobe Bryant Excited To Play In First NBA Game Since December 2013

Riddled with injuries in the latter part of his NBA career, Kobe Bryant is excited to be back playing basketball as the Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets on Tuesday when the 2014-2015 NBA Season tips off.

“It's step one of a long journey," Bryant said via ESPN Los Angeles. "I'm excited to get back out there. I can't say I haven't missed the game. I've missed it so much.”

The good news is that Bryant would be finally be back in the popular purple-and-gold uniform but the bad news is that he’s playing for a Lakers squad which is coming off the worst season in the franchise history in Los Angeles after a challenging 2013-2014 season when the Hollywood squad went 27-55, one of the worst records in the entire league.

In limited games— playing just 6 games— the 36-year-old Bryant averaged career-lows since his rookie season of 13.8 points per game although he had a career-high in assists dishing out 6.3 dimes per outing. Bryant did improve in those numbers in preseason action as the Lakers prepared for the new season logging in 19.0 PPG and 4.0 APG in 6 preseason games.

For such a proud franchise which has a total of 16 league championships, the Lakers led by the veteran Bryant, wants nothing less but a bounce back season where they make the NBA postseason. Their mission to get past mediocrity begins Tuesday night.

For the Lakers to be successful, they need more than a Kobe Bryant explosion. Los Angeles needs to see a consistent Jeremy Lin (12.5 PPG and 4.1 APG with Houston Rockets in 2013-2014) especially after Steve Nash announced days ago that he’ll be missing the entire NBA regular season because of bad back.

Los Angeles needs to have contributions from other veterans like Carlos Boozer (13.7 PPG and 8.3 RPG with Chicago Bulls in 2013-2014) and Nick Young (17.9 PPG)— much-maligned players for their lack of defensive intensity and questionable decisions on offence. Los Angeles also hopes that the young guys, particularly 2014 rookies Jordan Clarkson (46th overall pick, 2014 NBA Draft) and Julius Randle (7th overall pick, 2014 NBA Draft) are NBA-ready right off the bat and more importantly, establish chemistry early with Bryant, who is still expected to lead the team in scoring despite the recent surgeries and old age.

Los Angeles will also have new head coach at the helm in Byron Scott, a former Lakers player, who has a rich NBA coaching experience with stints at the New Jersey Nets (2000 to 2004); New Orleans Hornets (2004 to 2009) and Cleveland Cavaliers (2010 to 2013).

Kobe Bryant, perhaps a little bit jittery after a long lay-off, is not the same player anymore but he’s still one of the most dangerous scorers in the league despite the advanced age. Their NBA opening game versus the Houston Rockets featuring stars Dwight Howard and James Harden will be just be the start of the long 82-game journey.