[zsr]

At age 33 this guys unreal. Didn't think he had one more elite year left in him

[onlooker]

He is hot, no doubt.

But let any top tier player average 25 shots a game, and they would put up those PPG or more.

[cankid]

I never saw Chamberlain play but I m convinced Kobe s the best I've ever seen play

[zsr]

I never saw Chamberlain play but I m convinced Kobe s the best I've ever seen play

Uhh..did you miss jordans career?

[Holtgetsback]

I never saw Chamberlain play but I m convinced Kobe s the best I've ever seen play

Uhh..did you miss jordans career?

[onlooker]

Uhh..did you miss jordans career?

Beat me to it.

[jjgold]

He is hot, no doubt.

But let any top tier player average 25 shots a game, and they would put up those PPG or more.

Yes.............Paul outplayed him though

[Hotdiggity11]

He is hot, no doubt.

But let any top tier player average 25 shots a game, and they would put up those PPG or more.

Except he's also shooting over 46% doing it. Which is strong for any non-center and especially for a Shooting Guard.

[darkhat]

Beat me to it.

and me.. but I do believe Kobe is easily top 5.

[demens]

^^My God. The level of stupidity on this forum is mind blowing. "Kobe's not good, he just throws shit up and it goes on, he is like Allen Iverson."

[nomeansno]

Only until his old ass body won't be able to handle these crazy minutes he keeps playing. With this schedule there won't be much left for the playoffs if he keeps this up

[Business3587]

Wow several of you should be banned for mere stupidity. You would think among a sports betting forum people would know the game. I guess not. You all love Michael Jordan. I get it, but put Michael in today's league. These kids are freaks. There isnt any John Starks, or Reggie Miller guarding you. You have to worry about Lebron, D wade, Joe Johnson, the list goes on. GET REAL. Kobe took Jordan's game and perfected it. As much as you hate the man, think like someone who finished high school. Or, Im sure a lot of you never finished high school. So common sense is out of the question, maybe you can apply some street smarts?

[dlunc3]

If you wanna call him the best scorer, fine go ahead... but that is all he offers. He is no longer the defensive player he once was... doesnt help on the boards and doesnt distribute the ball and get his teammates involved

Best player in the league does more then shoot 30 shots a game and score points... he is great at that though, and is scoring at a very high level right now

[bryant81]

LMAO if other superstars were ball hogging assholes they would score 50 or 60 a night. Kobe plays on a horrible team with a coach that is a complete idiot and used to having a superstar type player walk all over him.


If Chris paul went to the hole 75% of the time and could get calls like Kobe he would be able to do the same thing. Same goes for other guys out there like Rose, Wade, Durant, Aldrich, hell even Bynum. If they fed Bynum and bynum got the same amount of atempts Kobe got and could hit even 70% of his free throws then you would see something.

Kobe just throws up shit and it goes in, so it looks better than it actually is.

I just know 'great' players have the ability to recognize situations and take advantage of them. Kobe is just on green every time he gets the ball. He is basically Allen Iverson at this point. Sure he can score if he wants to but his team sucks and isnt going to go anywhere. Especially if they arent getting used correctly. I can see Kobe jacking up shots like that if he were on the floor with the second team. But when he has bynumn and gasol out there he should be a little more willing to pass the ball. Passing to the high wing and thentrying to get open to make a circus shot isnt smart basket ball. I was at tha game and I watched 10-12 trips down the floor in a row where Lakers had the ball for 12-15 seconds and neither Bynum nor Gasol even touched the ball and the ball never got inside the painted area.

Thats just bad basketball when you have two seven footers. Especially when the opponents big man is on the benchwith fouls, and even when he is on the floor he has foul issues. And the biggest guy on the floor for the clippers is 6' 8". Bynum should have had 40 last night, if HE has 40 Lakers may have stole that one. But all anyone wants to do is talk about how awesome kobe is and how great a run he is on. Good teams will let him score 40, theyll beat the lakers anyway. Hell a couple of the worst teams in the league almost beat them when he got 40.

This, folks, is the average human intellect at work. Despite all the hard work you've done, all your time spent improving upon your own mind, increasing your capacity to contribute something to the world's progress, all of the hardship you've encountered--the dog poop you've stepped in, the times your car broke down on the freeway--everything little thing you've done in the name of thought and societal evolution is, in an instant, neutralized by some guy who thinks that Kobe Bryant makes most of his shots not because of his years of meticulous training as a professional talent, but because he carries a fukcing rabbit's foot and knocks on wood.

Read it and weep, humanity. And just remember that this is the average intellect, which means half of all people aren't even this intelligent.

[demens]

How does he not help on the boards or distribute the ball. He's getting 5.9 boards per game which is the highest its been in 4 years and higher then his career average and he is dishing out 5.4 assist per game. Again, highest in 4 years and more then his career average. Both high averages for a SG no matter who you compare him to.

People are just grasping at straws here. The guy has been the MVP of the league so far, stop hating already. Noone knows if he can keep it up but give him credit and the guy is still playing hurt. Someone compared him to Allen Iverson for gods sake.

[onlooker]

Except he's also shooting over 46% doing it. Which is strong for any non-center and especially for a Shooting Guard.

You missed my point. Other non-centers shoot better then 46% and if took 25-30 shots a game they would put up a better PPG.

Maybe we should just say he is the best jump shooter in the league. It's just sick what he can do with hands and arms in his face.

[demens]

This, folks, is the average human intellect at work. Despite all the hard work you've done, all your time spent improving upon your own mind, increasing your capacity to contribute something to the world's progress, all of the hardship you've encountered--the dog poop you've stepped in, the times your car broke down on the freeway--everything little thing you've done in the name of thought and societal evolution is, in an instant, neutralized by some guy who thinks that Kobe Bryant makes most of his shots not because of his years of meticulous training as a professional talent, but because he carries a fukcing rabbit's foot and knocks on wood.

Read it and weep, humanity. And just remember that this is the average intellect, which means half of all people aren't even this intelligent.

Its both funny and sad because its true.

[demens]

You missed my point. Other non-centers shoot better then 46% and if took 25-30 shots a game they would put up a better PPG.

Maybe we should just say he is the best jump shooter in the league. It's just sick what he can do with hands and arms in his face.

I think you are the one missing the point. How many other non centers have shot 25-30 shots at 46% ever? If this is something players could do at will EVERYONE would be doing it. But this is close to impossible and only a handful of the elite players are even capable of doing something like that. Hell, its hard enough to get that many shots off in the 1st place, let alone hit a respectable % while doing it.

[bryant81]

LMAO if other superstars were ball hogging assholes they would score 50 or 60 a night. Kobe plays on a horrible team with a coach that is a complete idiot and used to having a superstar type player walk all over him.


If Chris paul went to the hole 75% of the time and could get calls like Kobe he would be able to do the same thing. Same goes for other guys out there like Rose, Wade, Durant, Aldrich, hell even Bynum. If they fed Bynum and bynum got the same amount of atempts Kobe got and could hit even 70% of his free throws then you would see something.

Kobe just throws up shit and it goes in, so it looks better than it actually is.

I just know 'great' players have the ability to recognize situations and take advantage of them. Kobe is just on green every time he gets the ball. He is basically Allen Iverson at this point. Sure he can score if he wants to but his team sucks and isnt going to go anywhere. Especially if they arent getting used correctly. I can see Kobe jacking up shots like that if he were on the floor with the second team. But when he has bynumn and gasol out there he should be a little more willing to pass the ball. Passing to the high wing and thentrying to get open to make a circus shot isnt smart basket ball. I was at tha game and I watched 10-12 trips down the floor in a row where Lakers had the ball for 12-15 seconds and neither Bynum nor Gasol even touched the ball and the ball never got inside the painted area.

Thats just bad basketball when you have two seven footers. Especially when the opponents big man is on the benchwith fouls, and even when he is on the floor he has foul issues. And the biggest guy on the floor for the clippers is 6' 8". Bynum should have had 40 last night, if HE has 40 Lakers may have stole that one. But all anyone wants to do is talk about how awesome kobe is and how great a run he is on. Good teams will let him score 40, theyll beat the lakers anyway. Hell a couple of the worst teams in the league almost beat them when he got 40.

Of course you don't care about the number of assists, because that goes against your argument of how Kobe has been shooting too much, despite shooting at 59%. Not something to be proud of? How about this:

31.8%

That's the percentage of baskets by the rest of the team that come from assists by Kobe during the times when he's on the floor, which is 17th in the league out of every single player. Kobe is the only non-PG, other than LeBron, to be in the top 20. Fisher, on the other hand, is at 28.3%, being the PG.

In other words, 1/3 of all the baskets by the Lakers are the direct results of Kobe's assists, and that is not counting missed baskets that were preceded by his passes. To say Kobe doesn't pass enough or somehow makes the team less efficient conveniently ignores his actual contribution.

How about total assists? 71, the only non-PG in the top 20, along with LeBron.

If there is no appropriate number of shots, then what's shooting too much?

You want Kobe to play more like Magic and distribute the ball around, ignoring the fact that he's never been that type of player, and he only does so by necessity, which he has, repeatedly throughout his career.

Should Kobe play 48 minutes a game? Given how much he's able to accomplish, even with a wrist injury on his shooting hand, that would have been great. Could he? That's another matter altogether.

You harp about what Kobe should and should not do, not because of the results of his play, which has been a 5 game winning streak (until yesterday). Feeling inclined to mention the quality of opponents in those 5 games? Sure, go ahead, but even the most experienced basketball watchers will say that any team can beat any other team on any given night.

Since you can't discount the 5 game winning streak, you pick arbitrary requirements that somehow result in Kobe seemingly under-achieving, if not failing miserably outright.

Kobe's been playing outstandingly, just not in ways that YOU prefer and make YOU feel comfortable, despite the string of wins.

[onlooker]

I think you are the one missing the point. How many other non centers have shot 25-30 shots at 46% ever? If this is something players could do at will EVERYONE would be doing it. But this is close to impossible and only a handful of the elite players are even capable of doing something like that. Hell, its hard enough to get that many shots off in the 1st place, let alone hit a respectable % while doing it.

Settle down there grasshopper.

I'm not hating on your beloved Kobe. Just saying Durant and Lebron could shoot at a better percentage if they took that many shots. They both currently shoot over 50%, I'm sure they could keep that pace if they took 10 more shots per game.

Cue the Lebron hate.

[Donkeys2012]

Kobe is nothing but a selfish player. Take last night for example he could care less about winning it was about getting his 40. You have 2 7 footers against the small Clipper frontcourt and what is Kobe doing dribbing around and launching all night. Pathedic. Lakers should trade Kobe and Keep the 7 footers they would win more games that way.

[zsr]

Kobe does need to get Bynum and gasol the ball more, not sure why he doesn't realize this either. They would be so much better.

[bryant81]

Settle down there grasshopper.

I'm not hating on your beloved Kobe. Just saying Durant and Lebron could shoot at a better percentage if they took that many shots. They both currently shoot over 50%, I'm sure they could keep that pace if they took 10 more shots per game.

Cue the Lebron hate.

You can't necessarily assume that. It's not like if they started taking 10 more shots, all of their other contributions would be constant. For example, if LeBron is scoring 30 ppg right now on 20 shots, you can't assume that if he shot 30 shots, his stats would be 30 ppg + the extra points off 10 extra shots. It doesn't work like that. If every team knew LeBron or whoever was going to come in and take 30+ shots, it's a lot easier to play defense. It's not like it's easy to put up 30 shots on a nightly basis. LeBron's passing threat is what makes the defence stay honest on his teammates. If the defense knew his teammates weren't getting the ball on any given possession, they would just zero in on LeBron and not worry about anyone else. Stop his penetration and make him a jump shooter. We all saw how that turned out in the finals last June lol. There's not a single player in the game right now who can score 50 on any given night. Kobe used to be that guy. There's also not a single player in the game right now who can score 60 even on his best night. Kobe has 5 of the last 11 60+ point games in the past decade or so (Shaq, Iverson, T-Mac, Arenas, etc. only did it once). Durant is probably the best scorer in the game and I don't think even he can do that Kobe is doing right now. Kobe is making some ridiculous shots that no other player in the league has any business even attempting.

[bryant81]

Kobe is nothing but a selfish player. Take last night for example he could care less about winning it was about getting his 40. You have 2 7 footers against the small Clipper frontcourt and what is Kobe doing dribbing around and launching all night. Pathedic. Lakers should trade Kobe and Keep the 7 footers they would win more games that way.

Kobe has a no-trade clause.

[InTheDrink]

I think you are the one missing the point. How many other non centers have shot 25-30 shots at 46% ever? If this is something players could do at will EVERYONE would be doing it. But this is close to impossible and only a handful of the elite players are even capable of doing something like that. Hell, its hard enough to get that many shots off in the 1st place, let alone hit a respectable % while doing it.

Michael Jordan shot 50% over his entire career even with his last comeback included. He was the best mid range jump shooter of all time.

As for the op, what a joke....who gives a fuk about what a guy does in January. Nba stars are made in the playoffs. He's done it before but his era of dominance in the late spring is over.

[3PtShooter]

kobe = scorer deluxe ballhandling = ave... rebounding = fair...passing = ave

[demens]

Michael Jordan shot 50% over his entire career even with his last comeback included. He was the best mid range jump shooter of all time.

As for the op, what a joke....who gives a fuk about what a guy does in January. Nba stars are made in the playoffs. He's done it before but his era of dominance in the late spring is over.

I'm not touching the Jordan argument but just as an FYI, he shot 42% and 45% his 2 years with the Wiz. 46% his last year in Chicago.

But yeah, like it said in the post you quoted, it takes a special kind of elite talent to be able to take that many shots and shoot them at a respectable %. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are 2 examples of such players.

Settle down there grasshopper.

I'm not hating on your beloved Kobe. Just saying Durant and Lebron could shoot at a better percentage if they took that many shots. They both currently shoot over 50%, I'm sure they could keep that pace if they took 10 more shots per game.

Cue the Lebron hate.

So a 2 time MVP and a 2 time scoring champ. Yeah, maybe they could do the same, maybe they couldn't. Until they do you're just guessing, but in either case its not bad company to be in.

[zsr]

Lebron won't be mentioned as the best player until he fixes his crunch time struggles

[dlunc3]

I'm not touching the Jordan argument but just as an FYI, he shot 42% and 45% his 2 years with the Wiz. 46% his last year in Chicago.

But yeah, like it said in the post you quoted, it takes a special kind of elite talent to be able to take that many shots and shoot them at a respectable %. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are 2 examples of such players.


So a 2 time MVP and a 2 time scoring champ. Yeah, maybe they could do the same, maybe they couldn't. Until they do you're just guessing, but in either case its not bad company to be in.

not really guessing... lebron is averaging only 2.5 points less per game with more then 6 less shot attempts with a much better shooting %... if lebron chose to take 25+ shots per night, he would easily be up with kobe... and in all honestly, he will still most likely lead kobe in scoring this season when all said and done... thats on top of being a much better facilitator and defender

as said before... lebrons career is still just getting started.. if he can get his late game issues under control, he will easily bypass the player kobe ever was