Kobe Bryant on managing his minutes: 'You can't resist nature'

Kobe Bryant is entering his 19th NBA season, and at 36 years old with more than 54,000 minutes logged between the regular season and playoffs, no one knows how his body will respond.

That includes Bryant himself.

Bryant's comeback from a torn Achilles lasted just six games last season, at which point the 36-year-old suffered a knee fracture. Those six games represent his only game action over the last year and a half.

With all that said, cutting down on Kobe's minutes this season would probably be a good plan for new Lakers coach Byron Scott. At media day Monday, Bryant admitted he'll have to be more disciplined about getting off the court.

"You can't resist nature. You can't fight that," Bryant said. "You have to be smart and be patient and accept that as a challenge."

"I don't think it's a big deal," Bryant added. "The misinterpretation is I'm hellbent on playing. No, I'm hellbent on winning."

He also noted that getting to know his teammates will be of greater importance than worrying about his individual game. "Individually, my game's going to be fine," Bryant said.

"The important thing is getting to know the guys that I'm playing with and helping them to find that inner beast - how to think through situations and how to mentally prepare themselves. That's really the key for me this year."

Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Ed Davis and No. 7 overall pick Julius Randle are just some of the new Lakers entering training camp.

Bryant's most talked-about media day comments, however, were in regards to former Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni.

Considering the Lakers went 27-55 last season and didn't do much to improve over the summer, Bryant should realize soon enough that the 2014-15 season will likely fall under the "waste of time" category.