Kobe Discussion: shark swimming / #prayforthesharks (664)

Good thing he didn't went to play on Pluto

MVPs aren't that important to me as a fan. Nash has two, right? I could be an outlier, but I don't really even care all that much. Regular season achievements are just window dressing.

John3:16 wrote:

GoldenKnight wrote:

Quite possibly the coolest picture of Kobe I've ever seen.

Agreed. Awesome work, GK!

^ now, 640x1136 please

Weezy wrote:If what Kobe is doing lately isn't mainly to make Howard comfortable and pave the way for him to be just as important on offense as him if not more and possibly take over slowly if he stays, I don't know what it is. Kobe's having scoring games in the teens and low 20's regularly and his shot attempts are way down, he's sacrificing offense for the good of the team and for wins, and I definitely appreciate it.

What Kobe is doing is literally the unthinkable...he's changing the way he plays the game COMPLETELY....and this is his 17th NBA season!!!!!!! I dont know ANY PLAYER that has made these adjustments to their game THIS late in their career...not ONE. God I'm going to miss this guy when he retires....

Lakerman JSJ wrote:

John3:16 wrote:

GoldenKnight wrote:

Quite possibly the coolest picture of Kobe I've ever seen.

Agreed. Awesome work, GK!

LOL thanks guys I'll work on making a wallpaper size out of it.

Kobe played pretty solid today. Definitely did a great job distributing the ball. Great win for the team!

Kobe is 1/34 on 3pt shots since january 21st

ShowtimeACB wrote:Kobe is 1/34 on 3pt shots since january 21st

without being too negative...

thats the worst statistic I have ever seen in relation to Kobe Bryant.

1 for 34 is basically the boldest of all proofs that someone can't shoot 3s. Because I think out of the 400+ NBA players, every single one of them can hit at least twice as many.

There are 2 alternatives and two alternatives only.

Don't shoot them...or hit more than 3%. At this point I'm ready to completely eliminate the 3 point shot from Kobe's arsenal...he has been abysmal for several years now from the outside. There is only so much credit you can get for being a great player or a great scorer.

I think it's important for him to shoot one or two a night, but as long as he's going to be in facilitator mode he can't shoot a lot of threes plain and simple.

It's obvious that he can't shoot well when he's out of rhythm. So he's got to limit the threes to times when others are creating for him. No more launching them with a man right in front of him.

I'll take Kobe's legs being shot due to poor rotations and playing excessive minutes for 300, Bob....actually let's make it 200...

Still the best player on our team.

But jeez, how many of his points came from straight up jump shots?

Swear he missed all his J's except for the one at the end of the 2nd quarter.

Vasashi17 wrote:I'll take Kobe's legs being shot due to poor rotations and playing excessive minutes for 300, Bob....actually let's make it 200...

You can thank Mike 1 and Mike 2 running him 43 minutes a game for much of the season for that.

Since we started playing this different style of ball (and by we I mean Kobe):

Kobe is playing roughly 36-37 minutes a game averaging roughly
18 points 8 assists 7 rebounds 1 steal
87/193 for 45% from the field and 1/27 from 3

If you take out his 3 point shot he's shooting 52%

therealdeal wrote:Since we started playing this different style of ball (and by we I mean Kobe):

Kobe is playing roughly 36-37 minutes a game averaging roughly
18 points 8 assists 7 rebounds 1 steal
87/193 for 45% from the field and 1/27 from 3

If you take out his 3 point shot he's shooting 52%

Plus what we don't see is how many of those 3's are last second shots versus set shots. Kobe is a streaky shooter who is not finally living outside by the 3. Even with the misses his 3's are on line. His minutes are down, his shot attemps are down and he is continues to put pressure on the defense by attacking the paint. I don't mind if he doesn't take a 3 and just attacks the paint.

I'm actually in love with the way he's playing now. A little too much passing, but every single night I get to watch him just absolutely demolish someone in the post. It's really great to see on a nightly basis.

And what's doubly awesome about that is he expends less energy than trying to take guys off the dribble and get into the lane through multiple defenders. All the injuries to his hands and fingers has really taken away from his ball-handling ability so he cuts back on those kinds of turnovers too which results in fewer fast breaks for the opposition.

^^ It has been fun watching him take people apart in the post.

I really enjoyed watching him take it to DWade over and over (though the outcome of that game could have been much improved).

FabFourLakers wrote:

Weezy wrote:If what Kobe is doing lately isn't mainly to make Howard comfortable and pave the way for him to be just as important on offense as him if not more and possibly take over slowly if he stays, I don't know what it is. Kobe's having scoring games in the teens and low 20's regularly and his shot attempts are way down, he's sacrificing offense for the good of the team and for wins, and I definitely appreciate it.

What Kobe is doing is literally the unthinkable...he's changing the way he plays the game COMPLETELY....and this is his 17th NBA season!!!!!!! I dont know ANY PLAYER that has made these adjustments to their game THIS late in their career...not ONE. God I'm going to miss this guy when he retires....

No. It is not literally unthinkable. In fact, it's been done before but you whippersnappers are way too young to remember when. Wilt changed his game from scorer to assist man, became so good at it he is still the only center ever to lead the league in assists for an entire season. Did that on the way to his first title with the 1967 76'ers. Then later with the 1972 Lakers, he was the defensive, shot blocking and rebounding monster in the paint that no one could get by while the West and Goodrich were averaging nearly 27ppg each. No, not as late in his career as Kobe, I'll give you that. But it's not "literally unthinkable" for an HOF'er superstar to totally change his game and still play at a superstar level.

jlkr wrote:

FabFourLakers wrote:

Weezy wrote:If what Kobe is doing lately isn't mainly to make Howard comfortable and pave the way for him to be just as important on offense as him if not more and possibly take over slowly if he stays, I don't know what it is. Kobe's having scoring games in the teens and low 20's regularly and his shot attempts are way down, he's sacrificing offense for the good of the team and for wins, and I definitely appreciate it.

What Kobe is doing is literally the unthinkable...he's changing the way he plays the game COMPLETELY....and this is his 17th NBA season!!!!!!! I dont know ANY PLAYER that has made these adjustments to their game THIS late in their career...not ONE. God I'm going to miss this guy when he retires....

No. It is not literally unthinkable. In fact, it's been done before but you whippersnappers are way too young to remember when. Wilt changed his game from scorer to assist man, became so good at it he is still the only center ever to lead the league in assists for an entire season. Did that on the way to his first title with the 1967 76'ers. Then later with the 1972 Lakers, he was the defensive, shot blocking and rebounding monster in the paint that no one could get by while the West and Goodrich were averaging nearly 27ppg each. No, not as late in his career as Kobe, I'll give you that. But it's not "literally unthinkable" for an HOF'er superstar to totally change his game and still play at a superstar level.

I think your post actually proved Weezy's point even more. With the thousands of players that have played at the NBA level you can find one guy who changed his game at an elite level. The last time being 72 (which is two years before I was born). In 40 years between, at least by your example, someone doing what Kobe is doing now. That is as close to "unthinkable" as you can get.

Weezy wrote:Well considering you can only list one other guy that's done it that most of us are too young to have seen play, it's pretty unlikely if not unthinkable.

Just doesn't feel like WEEZY w/o the Garden State photo LOL

^^ And quite honestly, what Kobe is doing is a bigger role change than Chamberlain's IMO. Kobe has always been a Shooting Guard, not a Point Guard. Sure he's often led his team in assists but that was in the triangle where most of the time there wasn't a true PG, or at least the PG played a very different role.

Chamberlain still played like a Center. Just not an offensive center. He was asked to rebound and block the paint, but those are things that other centers do regularly - just more defensive-minded/hustle type players usually without the post skills.

Kobe's actually playing PG - he's become the main distributor/facilitator on offense. That is just crazy for one of the best two shooting guards of all time to do, let alone doing it in his 17th season and let alone doing it very effectively as he has.

But I have to say here, I'm not the biggest fan of it. I admire the hell out of the fact that he can do it. And I agree that doing it has helped the team in a big way.

But in the future I'd like to see more of what we saw last night - i.e. a steady diet of that brutalizing pick and roll play between Nash and Howard. That was as unstoppable as anything I've seen from the Lakers all year long. I love it.

I would like to see Kobe play more off ball again. Maybe it's a gradual movement back to that . . . but I want to see more Mamba, more shooting. I think he's out of balance and the team's out of balance somewhat with how he's been playing. I agree that it was a necessary step for the time being, but I'd love to see him get popped loose with screens for more off ball movement, and the ball more in Nash's hands on offense going forward.

Not really. Chamberlain went from 33ppg to 24ppg the very next season. And another 24ppg season the year after that. His assists per game went up to 7.8 and then 8.6. Doesn't sound great, but have to remember score keepers were not as generous with assists back then. He still had monster stats: 24ppg, 24rpg and about 8apg two years in a row. Including a game in which he scored 22 points, got 25 rebounds and had 21 assists; the only player ever to hit a triple double with 20+ in all 3 categories. With the Lakers, he averaged 14.8ppg and 19rpg. Have to remember the knee injury he suffered in late 1969 that knocked him out most of that season and subsequently slowed him down before the Lakers' title. Yet he decisively outplayed the young Kareem in the 1972 Western Conference Finals (Bucks were in the WC then).

Not to take anything away from Kobe, but let's not minimize Wilt here...

I think the point is if the only other person who could do it is Wilt f***ing Chamberlain, then it's an incredible feat.

Let's not tear down Kobe's accomplishment because WILT F***ING CHAMBERLAIN did it.