After 15 games with the purple-and-gold, the Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jeremy Lin apparently is still struggling to get along with superstar Kobe Bryant.
There seems to be some truth to this situation, especially after an incident that saw the Black Mamba jawing Lin during a Lakers timeout before a crucial possession in Sunday's 101-94 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center.
Ever since he came out of nowhere to become a global sensation in New York City three-years ago, the 26-year old Lin has also endured all kinds of criticisms, most of these are aimed to question if the Asian-American star really belongs in the NBA.
There's no doubt that Lin deserves to play in the NBA. Heck, he's even voted by a credible panel of NBA analysts as the 100th best player in the league on ESPN's players' rankings for 2014-15 NBA season.
However, Sunday's 'Mamba-Gate' incident suggested that Lin has not proven enough for Bryant to trust him at all. Kobe, the NBA's leading scorer at 26.4 points per game, was apparently caught on National TV uttering an 'F' word to show his displeasure towards Lin in a huddle.
That obviously was not the first time Lin drew the ire of the Lakers superstar, as Bryant called out the former Harvard standout for several times already. He even asked Lin to stop being soft and start proving his worth as a Laker.
Definitely there's a clash of style between Lin and Bryant right now, with the former looking to move the ball around while the latter tending to play 'hero ball' despite compromising team basketball.
Although Bryant's 36 percent field goal shooting and 25 shot attempts per game is certainly not pretty at all, the Lakers star's lack of trust on his teammates is perhaps stemmed from the absence of All-Star level talents around him.
ESPN Los Angeles analyst Ramona Shelbourne even believed that Bryant won't stop hurling dozens of ill-advised shots anytime soon unless Lin or some of his teammates showed that he can play to the standard Bryant is being asked from them.
At 3-12, chance for the Lakers' making the postseason at the end of their campaign is bleak. Worse, the possibility of Bryant and Lin playing as a potent tandem like the Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson of the Warriors, or Bradley Beal & John Wall of the Washington Wizards appears to be even bleaker.
