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After the ACL tear, an injury that has ended or greatly affected careers of athletes, many basketball fans wondered if we will ever get to see Kobe Bryant play as good as he was before. Even before the season started, many were awaiting for his return to see the answer for themselves.

Now, Kobe has already played two games. The first one was against the Toronto Raptors and the second against the Phoenix Suns. Both games resulted to losses, which is a bummer for Lakers fans. However, the games also showed positive signs regarding Kobe’s return. Although he’s really fully there, there is no doubt that he’ll be just as good before the injury. Here are two reasons why.

Medical Advancements

Unlike a decade or so ago when ACL injury was a death sentence to a basketball career, advancements in the medical field has led to athletes recovering better and quicker from such injuries. A perfect example of a player that has recovered from an torn ACL and was able to recover and play as well as before the injury is David West who has been a very important piece for the Indiana Pacers. Another one is Jamal Crawford who if you watch play today, you won’t ever thing that he suffered from a serious injury.

Anyways, I find West as the best example in this one because of…

Fundamentals

West as a player relies on his mastery of fundamental basketball skills to be effective on the court. He’s not an explosive player but he gets the job done in his own way. Although often overlooked due to the athleticism he displayed in his younger years, fundamentals is also a thing of Kobe. That is why he has been very effective even now. His footwork and body control is as good as it gets. While he may not be as explosive as he was pre-injury, he still has the tools and the smarts to adjust his game to be effective.

With more than month and around 20 games into the NBA season, there is enough of a sample size required to judge teams according to their strengths and weaknesses. While logic dictates to look at the bad teams to see where they can improve, I prefer to scrutinize the top performing teams to figure out their weakness. Let’s face it, it is more interesting to talk about winning teams.

This time around, we are talking about the Indiana Pacers. As of writing, the Pacers have the best record in the league with their 7 wins and only 2 losses. They are playing the best defense in the league right now. They are also dominating games as backed by them having the highest point differential per game. They are no doubt the best team right now.

So what can the current best team in the NBA improve on?

Ball Movement

Watching all their games this season and checking on the team stats, it is easy to see that the team still lacks ball movement. A data that supports this claim is their 19th rank in assists per game. It’s not that they are playing isolation or are selfish. Their offensive sets are pretty good in getting the ball to the one it was designed for. However, they lack the propensity to make the extra pass that could lead to an easier and better shot attempt.

They are too methodical for their own good that when opposing teams put the effort to deny their sets, they often end up with bad shot attempts. They lack the creativity to come up with quality shots from broken set plays.

This could be a problem when they face the best teams in the playoffs who are focused on disrupting their offense. As good as Paul George has been in hitting shots, the team can’t put the burden of the entire offense on him.