In part out of necessity, Kobe Bryant is putting up a lot of shots to start the season. A lot of shots.
Bryant's currently using 37.9 percent of the Lakers' possessions when he's on the floor, one of the highest rates of all time, and is taking a field-goal attempt every 88.2 seconds, the 16th-highest rate since 1946-47. He toned it down some on Tuesday, taking 18 shots in 37 minutes, scoring 28 points and joining the NBA's 32,000-point club in the process.
Not only is Bryant just the fourth player ever to score 32,000 career regular-season points, he's just 291 points back of Michael Jordan for third on the league's all-time scoring list.
That chase - one that has an inevitable ending, barring injuries - has led some to believe Bryant isn't shooting so much out of circumstance, but out of a desire to pass Jordan quickly. If that sounds like a difficult thing to surmise from outside Bryant's psyche, well, allow him an elongated eye roll:
There’s always something. Especially with me. First it’s, I can’t come back and play. Now I’m playing and now it’s, well, I’m not playing well enough. Well, you just said that I’d be in a wheelchair and I wouldn’t be able to play at all. So there’s always something. I don’t even waste my time trying to shut people up.
At his current per-game scoring pace, Bryant will pass Jordan in the second half of the team's Dec. 9 home game against the Sacramento Kings. On a per-minute basis, Bryant is about 373 minutes of action away, making it a near certainty to happen in 2014.
But don't waste his time asking if Jordan's the reason he's been shooting like he's Billy the Kid.