I'm still amazed that Kobe is still managing to average 27.5/5/4 after all these injuries. I honestly think the time off was a blessing in disguise and has refreshed him for the last phase of his career. My only wish for him now is get more and more efficient as the season goes on, and I also wouldn't mind a 50 point game for old time's sake.
It's truly incredible what this guy is able to do in his 19th NBA season. I think his efficiency will gradually go up...as I don't expect his percentages to stay at 38% FG or whatever it is right now. With Nick Young back, it should be easier for Kobe to score, and he shouldn't have to take too many difficult, end of the shot clock shots. What I love is that everyone thought Kobe was going to be a 18-20 ppg scorer from here on out...nope. This is Kobe we're talking about. The guy wouldn't come back and play if he was going to be a Paul Pierce type of player. He is still elite, he just plays on a team that is devoid of any real talent outside of Nick Young and Jordan Hill. Now addressing if the Lakers SOMEHOW make the playoffs with this putrid roster and the ultra competitive western conference? If we are an 8th seed, we will have to win probably 48-50 games. And if we're lucky enough to be in the playoffs, there's no question in my mind that Kobe should be MVP, granted that his averages are 27-5-5-2 with around 45% FG. Usually, an 8th seeded squad wouldn't feature the MVP of the league, but in this unique case, Kobe would deserve it more than he did in 2008. And like others have said, so many stars are injured..KD, Westbrook, Rose, Paul George...the Cavs look unspectacular right now, and I don't expect them to win the east...the Clippers look horrendous...I mean the MVP candidates right now would be Marc Gasol and Stephen Curry? Maybe Anthony Davis? WHo knows. It's very wide open. I don't think we'll get close to the playoffs, and neither does anybody else. But that's the beauty in it...NOBODY expects the Lakers to come close, so if they actually make the playoffs, then they will have FAR exceeded eveyrone's expectations, and at THAT point? You have to consider Kobe as the league MVP.
Kobe shot less than 20 times, the other guys got in the flow. Nice scoring distribution...we won. Who would have seen that coming? Yep. I know this team seems awful, but people don't remember just how dreadful that team that took Phoenix to 7 games was. Jordan Hill is better than that Kwame. Lin is way better than Smush. Nick Young is better than Walton, even though Walton was serviceable for a couple years there. Odom was way better than Boozer, but the bench on those squads was Farmar and Sasha?
^ I wouldnt go that far. I say that team and this team are equally bad. LO was better than anyone we have now not named Kobe. The difference was prime Kobe and Phil Jackson.
Yeah LO was so much better than our 2nd best player now.. 6th man of the year on our championship teams good.. But players 3-12 I'd agree this team is better.
We didn't win because Kobe took less than 20 shots and the ball was shared by all. We won because Young came back and gave us a huge one game boost, Atlanta had no height advantage on us, and we played D. Then Dwight sat out the Houston game and that was big for us. So tired of reading that kobe is shooting this garbage team out of games. He could have shot twice tonight, or 50 times, and we still give up 110 through 3. I've said I want balance with Kobe as much as anyone, but let's be real here.
Kobe did not shoot us out of this game. He was not a difference maker today in a positive or negative sense, I agree with what Weezy said. We were a reasonable offense our defense today was a revelation of biblical proportions.
He might not have shot us out of it but he was a part of the terrible defense. Seriously Kobe's D is just so bad. He takes 2-4 suicide steals a game, that leads to direct buckets, got backdoored at least twice this game by Parsons.
Terrible APPROACH on the defensive side. You don't need elite physical tools to defend reasonably well. That's where he hurt us. On the other hand, he rebounded and passed well.
I have a lot of respect for many of the posters here, and I think people know me well enough that I am reasonable, but this is tough to watch. Kobe shot 27% tonight. I realize if he shot 70% we still would have lost, but his attitude really bothers me right now. Win or lose, he kept shooting and shooting despite other guys on the team shooting well. The whole argument that he has no one to pass to was made completely moot tonight. The other starters were shooting a combined 70%. The problem I see is he has a good game and shoots well, but then follows it up with multiple bad performances. He used to have 5 good games then a bad one. 5 good then a bad. Now it's inversed to where he has a good game followed by a bunch of mediocre ones. I realize people will defend this guy to the grave, but by any measure, he is playing so poorly on both ends of the floor. I don't want to hear about his 7 assists tonight either. The team was shooting lights out and the Mavs were atrocious on D so he should have had a bunch of assists. I want to make it clear that I know Kobe DID NOT shoot us out of this game. We were dead man walking tonight. But the fact that he had twice as many attempts as the next player on the team on a night when the starters were shooting VERY well is inexcusable.
I believe Kobe is trying to perform like he did pre-injury. Taking shots that used to go in before he got hurt. The problem is that he doesn't have the same amount of lift that he used to have. Shots are falling short. I'm going to wait until the 20 game mark. If his legs are still not able to provide the lift to allow him to shoot the way he used to, then it's time for him to start changing his approach. Higher arc on the shot? Move in closer to the basket? Shoot hook shots instead of fadeways? I don't know exactly what the approach should be, but he needs to change something. He can't continue to shoot below 40FG%.
Still think we are playing him too much. Byron needs to save Kobe from himself and bench him more. Would love to see us take a page from the Spurs book and rest him some games.
So you don't think the energy we played with on D had anything to do with the ball being shared well? That Kobe all of a sudden passing to other guys didn't effect the energy of the team? C'mon, man. I realize this garbage team isn't going to play the way they did against Atlanta every night, but the energy was up because Swaggy P came back and the team was happy. It sounds cheesy, but you could see the joy was back that night in Atlanta. I have played soccer with dudes that hog the ball and it saps the joy out of the game for the entire team. I don't hate Kobe. I don't listen to the dip s---s on ESPN either about him. But I can see the team's frustration with him clear as day. It'd be one thing if he was 2006 Kobe hitting 45-50% of his shots. But watching some dude that is a shell of himself hoist up brick after brick is horrible for team morale. And yes. He is a shell of his former self. Averaging 27 a game or whatever he's at right now on 38% shooting is a complete shell of Kobe Bean Bryant. To say otherwise is utterly insulting to the player he once was.
I own up to saying Kobe did not shoot us out of the game. That was not meant as a defense of Kobe. He had an atrocious game and I think your point about the run of bad games vs chains of good games is on point. We all get irritated in this type of season about how the Lakers are doing. I think as the season runs through it is important to see that most of us see the games in a pretty similar way. Kobe's defensive gambling for steals and reckless decisions on D are inexcusable and do not relate to fatigue injury or loss of lateral quickness through. Equally his 4o ft three defines the stupid plays that he has no excuse making. It is at the very least poor leadership and at worse destructive to setting the tone for a competitive and disciplined team. I just wanted to express the fact we have a legion of issues to face up to and yes rogue Kobe is not helping it is hurting us now.
I agree with the above statement. 2006 Kobe probably couldn't lead this team to the playoffs in this Western conference. I know we aren't making the playoffs. But I also don't want Kobe to create a bad environment which I honestly believe he is starting to cultivate. Players like Lin, Hill, Randle (before he got injured) could be decent building blocks in a rebuild. As it stands, Lin is outta here the first chance he gets. Hill is just happy to be cashing a 9 million dollar paycheck. I don't care if we lose the next 60 games, as long as we are trying hard, playing together. I'd rather we lose 65 games from here on out playing hard, playing together and playing for each other than winning 45 games with the whole team looking dejected and frustrated with the hero ball.
