Kobe Bryant Discussion: Mamba Out!

Kobe will be working with Kawhi over summer. He might as well open a camp for current NBA players.

 

Talk about consistency.

 

That was a terrific ending. I was shocked at that 4th quarter. Didn't know he could still do all that. This might have been his best performance ever considering the circumstances.

 

Worth watching!

 

^^... and im SAD again .

 

Little late here, been a while since I've posted (life has gotten in the way) but I'm always coming here, as this is the best basketball community out there.

But man what else can be said that you guys haven't already said, just incredible. Hard to even believe still. I NEVER thought 60 was possible. I didn't even think 40 was gonna happen. I should have known better.

I was pretty composed all game until around 5 minutes left in the 4th, and as I watched the clock tick I was literally watching the last 5 minutes of Kobe's career. Tears started flowing then, and then watching what this man did to singlehandedly win us the game. Unreal, no words.

Kobe made me fall in love with basketball, with the Lakers. I still can't even fathom the thought that he's gone, I've literally grown up with him. I now know how some of you guys felt when Magic and Kareem retired. I won't stop watching, I'm still going to bleed P&G til the day I die.

Thank you for everything Kobe.

 

There's been thousands of articles about Kobe Bryant by itself. A lot of them killing him because he was not the best pal of advanced stats that preached efficiency over efficacy, especially when the stats where fairly new, I even remember renowned people, people that were suppose to be particularily knowledgeable about the game, calling Kobe Bryant a mediocre player, now not just not even "top 50", but arguments like "Jamal Crawford (random example here) could've done the same as Kobe with the same opportunities", because sure, Kobe shot a lot, and efficiency-wise, he just wasn't the superman other star players where. I mean, LeBron already have more "Win Shares" than Kobe. A lot of players have more, actually. For a long time, people forgot completely about context, about real analyzing just for the sake of numbers. Suddenly the player that ended the game with 20 points on 8 shots, losing the game by 30 is better than the one that scored 30 points on 30 shots losing the game by the very same 30. I've always tried arguing about this in my life. Sure, player A was better statistically, and the game finished with the same result, but let's be clear... if find myself in the same situation next night, I want the guy who shot 30 times, because he's the guy that, even if he failed, I know he did everything he could to win. Even if ended up the game with a worse Game Score, even if he know has a worse "PER". Kobe never gave a damn about statistics. He didn't care about his efficiency, and I'll never forgot when he was talking about Deron when he went 0-9 in a game.

'I would go 0-30 before I would go 0-9. 0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game, because Deron Williams can get more shots in the game. The only reason is because you've just now lost confidence in yourself.'

Goddamn it Kobe, you nailed it. You just killed the whole essence of advanced stats. Maybe without even meaning it, you just showed the clear difference about efficacy and efficiency. I don't want to go out there and say efficiency is bad. It's great to be efficient. You have to strive for efficiency on a certain degree. But it's really important never forget WHAT you're trying to be efficient for. You have to remember that first of all, you need to get the job done at all costs, that's the first order, after that is when you can begin to get worried about the most efficient way to do so.

There's also some fantastic articles about Kobe out there. As fans of Kobe, I think we all smile a little bit when we see those articles describing how much he worked in his game, about his drive or about the impressive feats he did. But there's one thing that I always felt like a sore tooth or something. Nobody had the balls to say something positive about Kobe in comparison to Michael Jordan. Scratch that. Each time someone dares say something where MJ losses.... well, that's like going to the vatican and scream "F***ck Jesus!" in the middle of the Sistine Chapel. The worst of the sins. Jordan just can't have worst footwork than Kobe, heck, Jordan is even better at peeling oranges, doing origami, brushes his teeth better and sings better... he even knows more about soccer of course!

I am not from L.A. I'm not even from the United States, so I didn't get to be a Lakers fan because of geography. I came to love L.A. because the Lakers played there, I didn't love the Lakers because they played in L.A. With this, where I want to get... LA nor the Lakers are the reason I began loving basketball. The reason, like the vast majority of the international fans around my age was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. I loved watching Michael Jordan play, even though I only got to watch his two final years as a Bull. Then I saw Kobe, and in Kobe I certainly saw a lot I saw in Michael Jordan. Maybe because I was still a kid, but I didn't get how people could hate watching Kobe play. Even worse, most of the haters where Jordan fans! I remember asking things like "but why do you hate him... I mean, he plays really similar!", and I usually got "he's not as good, he has no rings"... and he sure didn't, and yes, he wasn't as good. But what the hell did that have to do. It was confusing to me. Was there some kind of prohibition to enjoy of both of them? As I grew up, I even began to dislike Michael Jordan... the first player I followed. You just couldn't talk about him... couldn't put him in the same breath of anyone. Today I love MJ. I still hate that mentality. I hate it even more actually because I know it's not only Kobe. Magic, Kareem, Wilt, Russell and more. I honestly think it's disrespectful to other legend putting MJ by himself, because there' a lot of players that were simply unrivaled. Now I consider myself quite knowledgeable about the NBA. I've pretty much studied it. For 20 years I've had a passion for it. I know the numbers, I've seen games from every great player, and there's some fantastic guys out there that just don't get enough recognition. I think MJ is a legend, an All-Time Great... but not THE All-Time Great. No one has that title. No one ever will.

Now, this is my very own personal opinion, but for example, while I think Tim Duncan was a really good player, I think he' far from Kobe. Far from Shaq.... heck, he's an a******, but I think Kevin Garnett was a better player also. That said, only Kobe can match him....somewhat... on accomplishments. Very few players are as accomplished as Tim Duncan. But if anything, I think it's the Spurs front office and Gregg Popovich who I think deserve the best of credits... and if anything is confirming that to me, is precisely the fantastic success that team is having today. Let' be real, they'd be just as good without Tim Duncan. It's not only about not winning Finals MVP... it's about importance to the team. Duncan is the face of the Spurs, but he was a role player in their last championship. They're having their best regular season with Leonard as their leader (who I also think is really good, but probably not as good as advertised). But that said, I do think of that as my opinion. I think it's valid to think otherwise. Duncan was a great player, and that is undeniable.

The way Kobe Bryant mastered the game is something that's simply impressive. All thanks to that incredible obsession he had. Going back to the first things I wrote, some people complain that Kobe shot a lot and that's why he scored. Because he had opportunities... but let's go back in time. Kobe Bryant started as a 17 years old rookie that was much more ignored than any of our rookies this year (and we complained sometimes to Scott). Kobe started as a garbage time player, but he earned, little by little, his spot as a league superstar, as the number 1 option not just in the Lakers, but in the whole world. He was not that top draft pick playing in a horrible team while being the alpha dog from day 1. He had to fight for everything so much more (something that shows this a bit is the fact that he retired with "just" 19.5 FGA/G, which is less than, say, LeBron James). I honestly don't think there's a player in history as skilled as Kobe Bryant.Of course, I don't think Kobe would be as skilled if there was no Jordan before, no Hakeem, no Big O, no Elgin, etc. That's just the cycle of life.... and yes, someday probably there will be a player who surpasses Kobe in skills. I don't know when, but maybe sometime a player as hungry as Kobe comes to the league. And he will have even more material to study from. He will be able to study Kobe.

Anyways, I originally planned to just post a fantastic article I came across, but ended up writing quite a lot. I apologize for the text wall. All of this came from one of the best Kobe articles I've ever read, finally an article with the balls to say that MJ was not God, and without actually ever bashing MJ (on the contrary, there's a lot of respect to him). This was absolutely fantastic... not sure if it's already posted, but it's definitely worth a read. Really good stuff:

 

Haven't got time yet to read the article you have posted and I'm sure it's good or you wouldn't have gone to the trouble. But also just wanted to say nice read to what you wrote.

 

I've been a Laker fan since the early 80's. Since that time i've only cried as an adult a few times. My fathers passing. A heart to heart with my mom. A child dying.

I swear to you... watching the final minutes of Kobes last game made me tear up. Not CRY..but i felt the tears forming heh. That was extremely surprising and let me know how much #24 has meant to me . I grew up with this guy as a constant in my adult life ( a large part spent in SoCal). Dad. Mom. Child death.....And Kobes last game. Bizarre but honest.

He also made me want to give Russell , Clarkson and Randle a chance after seeing that hug.

LOW. KEY. TEARS

 

Mamba out. Dammit, that was a bad bad man.

 

^^^ That's a great story. Typical Kobe.

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...tar-kobe-bryant-left-nba-just-getting-started

Great long read.

 

Kobe's career shooting chart

Fisher's career shooting chart

 

Exasperating Fish with his long twos, Though historic 0.4 was one of those...