It is inevitable that the addition of young talents such as Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and D'Angelo Russell would require aging NBA superstar Kobe Bryant to make adjustments to his game. He had mentioned that he is okay playing at three, but as a power forward remains to be seen.

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RealGM reported that Lakers head coach Byron Scott intends to do that in some stretches during the coming season.

With Clarkson and Russell certain of the starting one and two guard spots, Bryant would likely start at small forward. But because of the idea of providing playing time to bench troopers like Nick Young and Lou Williams, an evident lack of front court players, and the ongoing shift to positionless basketball in the league, it may be necessary for Kobe to don some minutes as a stretch four.

Golden State have done it recently and impressively during the NBA Finals resulting in an MVP award for Andre Iguodala. Larry Bird and the Pacers are planning to do it with Paul George in Indiana. Soon after, the NBA may begin to see the institution of the "small four" as one of the best weapons to make a team more competitive and harder to defend.

"Kobe can play one, two and three," said Scott, as posted at ESPN. "There's no doubt in my mind. And there's some games, against some teams, where he'll probably play four. With his tenaciousness, the way he guards people and when his mind is set, if I say, 'Kobe, you've got him,' he takes that as a challenge. You know how he is. He'll compete."

Scott also noted that the team had achieved its goal of being more versatile position-wise after the draft and during the free-agency period.

Fansided's Cody Williams thinks the idea is not "as crazy as it sounds" because some teams have lately been experimenting on the small ball concept in actual games. Also, it should be noticed that Scott did not say Kobe will be starting at four or play the majority of his minutes there. He merely said that Bryant might do that in stretches when the situation calls for it.

Ultimately, the idea is still an idea and there is no way of telling if Scott would execute it during the actual season. Still, diehard Kobe fans are shaking their heads in a combination of repugnance and concern.

TagsNBA 2015, NBA news, NBA News 2015, NBA rumors, NBA Rumors 2015, Los Angeles Lakers