Yep, but i believe Kobe is a better 1 on 1 player right now then scottie ever was...and thats saying something. Scottie is very underrated in my opinion, he's one of the 50 greatest but still underrated and understandably so considering he played with the greatest ever to do it. Im a firm believer in Shaq/Kobe was the greatest 1-2 punch ever in history, now i know they "only" have 3 rings. But! look at theyre winning percentage when both score over 30pts (which happend more then a few times)....its un heard of. Ego's broke them up sadly....*crawls in the corner and cries*
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Kobe bouncing back is as equally as important if not more important than the team bouncing back. That's thing, if the team is going to bounce back it's going to start with Kobe. It's not like if he doesn't bounce back the second go to guy will help because in this case he is the first and second guy on the team. So before the Lakers can have any success it all falls on Kobe shoulders and how well he does. Kobe situation is very similar to the situation Iverson has been in and as we've all seen, the team(76ers) can only go as far as Iverosn can take them and the same applies for Kobe and the Lakers. So everything is going to have to start with Kobe before anything can really get done.</div> I guess I'm not clear by what Kobe needs to bounce back from. Statistic wise, he was solid and had a better season than most players in the league. He needs to cut down on his turnovers, but that should happen as the talent improves on the team. His defense took a step back, but when Chris Mihm is your last line of defense instead of Shaq, and your teammates rotate slow, it's easy to see why. I don't think it's up to Kobe at this point, except for his leadership skills. It's really up to his teammates responding to him as their leader and playing with more energy and effort on the court. Kobe and the coaching staff can encourage these guys until they turn purple in the face, but in the end it's up to the players to step up. If the players cannot respond to Kobe challenging them and playing up to their abilities, then they need to be shipped off.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">I guess I'm not clear by what Kobe needs to bounce back from. Statistic wise, he was solid and had a better season than most players in the league. He needs to cut down on his turnovers, but that should happen as the talent improves on the team. His defense took a step back, but when Chris Mihm is your last line of defense instead of Shaq, and your teammates rotate slow, it's easy to see why. I don't think it's up to Kobe at this point, except for his leadership skills. It's really up to his teammates responding to him as their leader and playing with more energy and effort on the court. Kobe and the coaching staff can encourage these guys until they turn purple in the face, but in the end it's up to the players to step up. If the players cannot respond to Kobe challenging them and playing up to their abilities, then they need to be shipped off.</div> Well said. People insist Kobe had a "off year"... not sure i last seen someone score 27+pts a game with 6 and 6 considered "off". Had he not been the one will the majority if not all of the focus and pressure on him and someone picked up the slack, theres no doubt LA would have won much more. That goes for Rudy T also.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post"> But to sum it up, one of the biggest difference between Kobe and Jordan is... Jordan had Pippen, Magic had Kareem, Bird had Mchale and Shaq had Kobe, not Kobe had Shaq. See the difference?</div> How quickly we forget. All the times Shaq was in foul trouble and Kobe took over the game. What about all the times Kobe bailed the Lakers out by hitting clutch shots. No question, when the game was on the line, Kobe took and hit the BIG SHOTS. NOT SHAQ. Shaq was very important, but Kobe was t he MAN when the game was on the line. I'm not saying he's the 2nd best player of all time. I'm simply saying that he's one of the best shooting guards at a very young age, with the potential of being the best player of all time. People hate on him, but if you look at what he's done for his age you'll see what I'm saying
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rockfan06:</div><div class="quote_post">How quickly we forget. All the times Shaq was in foul trouble and Kobe took over the game. What about all the times Kobe bailed the Lakers out by hitting clutch shots. No question, when the game was on the line, Kobe took and hit the BIG SHOTS. NOT SHAQ. Shaq was very important, but Kobe was t he MAN when the game was on the line. I'm not saying he's the 2nd best player of all time. I'm simply saying that he's one of the best shooting guards at a very young age, with the potential of being the best player of all time. People hate on him, but if you look at what he's done for his age you'll see what I'm saying</div> I see where this is heading and quite honestly I'm not looking to start a debate 5 pages long on a issue that's been discussed more than it was supposed to be. So to be concise, all I'm saying is that Shaq was the number one reason why the Lakers were so so successful. Want proof? (I'm sure you read this 1231231 times but I'll say it for the record) Look at the Miami Heat. Playing with an aging star (Eddie Jones) a 2nd year undrafted player (Udonis Haslem) and a player that would most likely be the 12th man on many team (Damon Jones) and lastly there is the 2nd year guy which was not a franchise level player until Shaq came. And on the flipside when you look at what?s Kobe doing with his squad, that pretty much clears everything up. -- <div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">He needs to cut down on his turnovers, but that should happen as the talent improves on the team.</div> I don't think it can all fall on the talent he has around him. Lamar Odom is a very good ball handler and Atkins is a PG, but the thing with Kobe is that he tries to do too much. I think that would fall on the leadership column. He needs to trust him teammates more and not trying to place everything on his shoulders. He needs to step away from the mindset that this was once a dynamic duo team that he had with Shaq and now that Shaq is M.I.A he can think as if Shaq is gone he's alone and has to do everything on his own. Before Webber came to Philly I?m sure Iverson(Kobe counterpart) would kill to have Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, forget Butler, Lamar Odom alone would make him happy. So Kobe needs to open his eyes and try to work with what he has, maybe the return of the Zen Master will help him open his eyes up a bit. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think it's up to Kobe at this point, except for his leadership skills. It's really up to his teammates responding to him as their leader and playing with more energy and effort on the court. Kobe and the coaching staff can encourage these guys until they turn purple in the face, but in the end it's up to the players to step up. If the players cannot respond to Kobe challenging them and playing up to their abilities, then they need to be shipped off.</div> Before his teammates can respond, Kobe needs to be a leader. He needs to lead by example before anything can fall into place. During the course of the season the team seemed to have been willing to follow his lead such as wanting him to be more aggressive offensively and so on and they would just follow his lead. So if anything it probably meant that he wasn't being a leader and they were pushing him to be that leader and lead them to victory.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rockfan06:</div><div class="quote_post">Me being a fan of Kobe's. I think next year will be a great year for Kobe. Everybody had forgotten about how incredible this guy is. </div>Nobody has forgotten what kinda player he is and he didn't have a breakout year as many people predicted now that he was free from Shaq. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rockfan06:</div><div class="quote_post">Even though the Lakers struggled, it's obvious they were rebuilding something Jordan never went through).</div>Jordan was a lottery pick so he came in to help rebuild a franchise. And when you have 3 great players (Kobe Caron Odom) then you're not exactly "rebuilding". The Atlanta Hawks are rebuilding. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rockfan06:</div><div class="quote_post">However, with the possible return of Phil, and a couple of good trades, maybe some F/A pick ups, I think the Lakers and Kobe will have a comeback year. What ya'll think?</div>I think they will too. I just don't agree with the other stuff you said.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post"> I don't think it can all fall on the talent he has around him. Lamar Odom is a very good ball handler and Atkins is a PG, but the thing with Kobe is that he tries to do too much. I think that would fall on the leadership column. He needs to trust him teammates more and not trying to place everything on his shoulders. He needs to step away from the mindset that this was once a dynamic duo team that he had with Shaq and now that Shaq is M.I.A he can think as if Shaq is gone he's alone and has to do everything on his own. Before Webber came to Philly I?m sure Iverson(Kobe counterpart) would kill to have Lamar Odom and Caron Butler, forget Butler, Lamar Odom alone would make him happy. So Kobe needs to open his eyes and try to work with what he has, maybe the return of the Zen Master will help him open his eyes up a bit. </div> The Lakers starting 5 is not the problem. It's the 2nd unit who killed the team last season. When Kobe was on the floor with the 2nd unit he turned the ball over a lot, because he was forcing his offense against double and triple teams. The other problem was the players giving him the ball with 3 seconds on the shotclock hoping for Kobe to bail them out. So by improving the overall talent, namely the bench, Kobe's turnovers should decrease. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Before his teammates can respond, Kobe needs to be a leader. He needs to lead by example before anything can fall into place. During the course of the season the team seemed to have been willing to follow his lead such as wanting him to be more aggressive offensively and so on and they would just follow his lead. So if anything it probably meant that he wasn't being a leader and they were pushing him to be that leader and lead them to victory.</div> I think Kobe does lead by example. He's a gym rat, he studies game video and he's constantly improving on his game. I would argue he is the most competitive player in the league. He also plays through injury. I also remember the article about his teammates asking to do more offensively. It pissed me off reading that, because Kobe was doing everything already and his teammates kept deferring to him. I think Kobe just needs to learn what motivates each guy, because not everyone is motivated by being challenged or called out. Some need to be nurtured and cannot handle criticism.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">12th man on many team (Damon Jones)</div> For a guy that set the record for Miami 3 point shots in a season you would have him as a 12th man? Infact if you look at the stats, whenever Damon performs well, Miami have a .800 record, or something similar.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">For a guy that set the record for Miami 3 point shots in a season you would have him as a 12th man? Infact if you look at the stats, whenever Damon performs well, Miami have a .800 record, or something similar.</div> You got it all wrong. What I was trying to say is that before he came to Miami and became a 3pt specialist (thanks to Shaq) he would never have the chance to shine thus he would still be a journey man and be the 12th man on many teams. Lucky for him, Miami gave him the chance to play and Shaq made him better, if not he would be sitting behind the players bench in a suit or at home watching the Playoffs just like us.
^ Damon Jones wouldn't have been a 12th man regardless of whatever team he played for. He was a solid PG for the Bucks last year after TJ Ford went down and he was getting quite a few offers in the offseason.
I have a feeling Kobes going to be "great" next season.. Like shape says though it doesn't matter about Kobe but overall its about the team... how will everyone bounce back next year. I do think Kobe should attack the rim more also instead of throwing up his 3s. I want to see Kobe evolve as a player next year by not worry about the media and his self image all the time. He's got fans that will stick and stay and thats all Kobe should worry about. and let me bring in Lamar Odom as well. Since he's been learning the triangle for at least a year now he should be more comfortable in the offense.. I think his numbers will be up.
I think next year Kobe will have another MVP type season and hopefully people reconize it. Kobe will have more exposure from the USA basketball team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bigballer111:</div><div class="quote_post">I have a feeling Kobes going to be "great" next season.. Like shape says though it doesn't matter about Kobe but overall its about the team... how will everyone bounce back next year. I do think Kobe should attack the rim more also instead of throwing up his 3s. I want to see Kobe evolve as a player next year by not worry about the media and his self image all the time. He's got fans that will stick and stay and thats all Kobe should worry about. and let me bring in Lamar Odom as well. Since he's been learning the triangle for at least a year now he should be more comfortable in the offense.. I think his numbers will be up.</div> a quote from a year ago is still valid. is that a good or bad thing for LA
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheFreshPrince:</div><div class="quote_post"> a quote from a year ago is still valid. is that a good or bad thing for LA</div> It was on point, like almost everything else I predict.
What exactly is bounce back year? I thought he did that last year. He got the scoring title, convinced the fans that he's not done and he's the best player in the NBA.
