Kobe Discussion: Clash of the Titus! (671)

Jellincon wrote:I liked his effort on D. He guarded Durant and Westbrook well but they were just hitting some tough shots over him anyways.

Kobe is not (solely) responsible for the Lakers' struggles. In fact, I'd list the inability of Howard to erase the roster's defensive weaknesses, the crazy injury situation, and Gasol's deterioration, in that order, as the primary reasons for failure on the court. But Kobe is the only person who can ruin Kobe Bryant's historic season, because he is the only one who can invalidate its merits. And Kobe Bryant's defense is completely invalidating his unprecedented offensive success.

To call Kobe Bryant's defense this season bad is to call the Pacific Ocean big, or the sun hot. He hasn't just been bad and he's not just a liability. His presence on the defensive end of the court has actually become a detriment, in the truest sense of the word. And the worst part? He's not failing to play defense. He has willingly decided that he no longer needs to try.

chris palmer ‏@ESPNChrisPalmer
Kobe just laughed when I asked about Kyrie Irving's one-on-one challenge.

Pig Miller wrote:i mentioned this maybe a week ago when kobe was defending cp3, but i think kobe needs to play on the ball more.

that way, there's no more cheating on his part, and nash can hopefully play a guy that will just shoot corner 3s.

no one is going to stop westbrook or cp3 or parker, but kobe can help eliminate some of the easy buckets on the pick and roll

Uncle Drew wrote:

chris palmer ‏@ESPNChrisPalmer
Kobe just laughed when I asked about Kyrie Irving's one-on-one challenge.

wcsoldier81 wrote:It's obvious he hasn't been trying on D ... it doesn't set a good example at all but of course , as everything else , it's 100% MDA fault

Anyways at this point of his career , he's just a great scorer but doesn't affect the game in others aspects as he used to ... basically he's Carmelo Anthony right now

thkthebest wrote:I'm not sure why that's an exaggeration because he really is playing some of the worst defense I have ever seen.

On defense, he's like a guard version of Amare Stoudemire.

Kobe is putting up some of the best numbers of his career.

30 points, 5 assists, 5 boards, 47 FG%, 35 3PT FG%, and a 24 PER.

Saying he's one dimensional is utterly ridiculous.

Finwë wrote:His D hasn't been good overall and he's had some really bad stretches in certain games, but to call it "some of the worst defense I have seen" is a total exaggeration..

KB24 wrote:Kobe is starting to pile up crappy shooting games...its a signal that his legs are starting to fade.

Whether he makes 15 of 30 shots or not...for the sake of the team and for the sake of our rhythem it would make sense if he would make a bigger effort to get others involved rather than bail them out himself because longterm...this never works in order to win the championship.

cthroatgtr wrote:As on poster suggested, Kobe on ball is better than Kobe off ball. Under PJ he often would roam on defense by design. The problem is now with the team having no defensive structure he can't afford to roam. It doesn't help he is in his 17th season and has very little lateral quickness anymore.