This marks the time of year when Kobe Bryant fine-tunes his body and ensures it's ready for the tough road ahead.
It's impossible to discount his shooting struggles, as he's averaging 9.4 points on a 38.9% clip in the 2012 London Olympics. But his fifth-place standing on Team USA's depth chart behind Kevin Durant (18.6 points), Carmelo Anthony (17.4), Kevin Love (13), LeBron James (11.6) and Russell Westbrook (10.4) also illustrates Bryant's desire to pace himself, both for the 2012-13 NBA season and for any instances that come in crunch time in the quarterfinals Wednesday against Australia and beyond. In those moments, Bryant's presence will become more crucial.
But Bryant is also using these Olympics to keep his mind and spirit fresh in another way. He's constantly watching other sports in London, both to tap his fanhood, to support his country and to seek further knowledge on what makes other American elite athletes so great. It all derives back from a certain lesson a former Lakers coach stressed to him years ago.
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