Jim Jackson: Kobe's play, personality hurting Lakers

Kobe Bryant's farewell tour has allowed visiting fans to say goodbye to one of the game's greatest players. And though he's given fans a thrill, Bryant's play has been far from stellar.

The Lakers legend is shooting a career-worst 31 percent from the floor to go along with his career-low 16.2 points per game. Despite these numbers, Kobe is still averaging 18 shots a game, five shots more a game than anyone else on the team.

FS1 NBA analyst Jim Jackson dropped by "The Herd" and discussed how Bryant's dominant personality is stunting the growth of the Lakers' young players.

"The problem is because of Kobe," Jackson said Wednesday, "and that's not anything against Kobe. It's his presence that is still there, that is hovering over the Lakers. You're not gonna see how good these young players can be because he's so dominant on the court with his personality.

"Look the Lakers are not gonna win this year, so why not allow your young players to figure it out – to go through the mistakes and figure it out because you have to realize and you have to understand if these guys can play."

The Lakers recently benched Russell and power forward Julius Randle, who is averaging 11.8 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds. After his first game coming off the bench Russell said "there's just more ball movement" when Kobe isn't on the floor. "No disrespect to Kobe, but you just know you have more opportunity because he's who he is."