Whats wrong with this picture? Wade.... 54.0% Allen... 49.4% Lebron.. 48.1% Kobe.... 38.8% don't tell me he's not getting any help because that?s not true. Don't tell me it's his foot injuries, because if it was he shouldn't take 33 shots in a game. If there's any weakness in Kobe's game its his shot selection. Its great that you are confident in your shot, but sometimes being confident turns into over confidence. Its one thing to take a shot that's given to you and feel confident that it'll go in, but its another story if you force your shot when nothing is there. things wish Kobe would do more often... 1. Stop overdriving and take a shot from within the 5-15 ft. 2. More jumpers near the ft line. These shot should be money shots for Kobe. 3. Use less pump fakes. If you do decide to do a pump fake and it fails don't force the shot. Its a break rhythm shot and thats extremely difficult. 4. Keep feeding your teammates when they are making their shots. When they are feeding off of your play keep doing it until it fails. 5. I remember reading a post saying that kobe has so many moves he likes to use them all, but sometimes I wish he would develop a go-to-move. Sad thing is I'm beginning to think his move to get to the line is his go to move now. 6. more post move with the hook shot. I've seen him do this several times this season already and I believe it went in every time.
All I know about Kobe's shot selection is when he's hot he's hot. But when he's not his solution is to "just shoot it out" as he said in the 2004 Finals. Obviously if you select the high percentage shots you can get a lot of FGs made and not take a lot of attempts so that could definetly be the problem (as it appeared to be in the 10-33 or most of this reg. season games) One thing to note is that in that 10-33 game he only had 5 FT attempts, I guess he was trying to get fouled on but the refs weren't buying it. His intentions might've been for the best but they ended up costing the Lakers more than it benefited them. He also had a game this season where he shot like 9-14 (or similar) which is awesome. But he hasn't been able to repeat that same performance.
Whatup all, this is my first post...I just signed up here. If anybody was on NBAwire, I was Purple Banger or Caron1. I was a mod but I just left that site, its a disaster. I look forward to talking bball with everyone here, it seems 10x better then NBA Wire. Alright, on the topic of shot selection. With the amount were asking Kobe to do, you cant imagine hes gonna put up great percentages every night. What he should be doing is takin it to the baseline more often rather then trying these ridiculous pump fakes (like someone said earlier) and shooting from the outside or off balanace. A Basket is a Basket Kobe.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Purple Reign:</div><div class="quote_post">Whatup all, this is my first post...I just signed up here. If anybody was on NBAwire, I was Purple Banger or Caron1. I was a mod but I just left that site, its a disaster. I look forward to talking bball with everyone here, it seems 10x better then NBA Wire. Alright, on the topic of shot selection. With the amount were asking Kobe to do, you cant imagine hes gonna put up great percentages every night. What he should be doing is takin it to the baseline more often rather then trying these ridiculous pump fakes (like someone said earlier) and shooting from the outside or off balanace. A Basket is a Basket Kobe.</div> Very true...attack the basket. Penetrate from all directions, and pass it out to the shooters. In fact, it may be a good thing if Slava comes back into the lineup...obviously off the bench...because he's a rebounder that hits a high percentage of shots, and could be one guy Kobe can kick it out to for open jumpers all game long. And, by the way, welcome to JBB. :thumbsup:
well kobe doesnt normally shoot like this, it was probably an off night for him. and he normally doesnt shoot that much, usually he takes it to the rim more often.
Seems Kobe has been taking less shots and getting his teammates involved. Assist numbers are way up. I think he's doing fine.
Kobe had a bad game last time, but other than that he's been fairly efficient from the field (either hitting for a good percentage, or getting himself to the line a lot). The 10 for 33 night is an anamoly. I wouldn't make too much out of it. He also had double digit assists and rebounds, so give him a break.
I agree, he is going to have nights off, where nothing goes in, and ask yourself if you where one of the best players in world and had hit those cluch shots in your creer wouldnt you be a little over confident in your shots? I know I would
Guys... What kind of topic is that, basing your opinion on just one single game. Mind you if he was that selfish he wouldn't have had a triple-double For the shot selection, He IS the lakers, ofcourse they are a team, but face it, there is no one else capable of making shots more than him, he is probably the 1st choice of all nba coaches if they needed a shot the last 3 seconds. That's why sometimes he has to step up. As we all could see in all games, he passes the ball way more than he should in my opinion,he could average double-doubles in average if his teammates would be able to hit the shots Kobe helps create. I don't exactly have the stats on this , but i can safely say he averages about 10 ppg in the 1st half, and only takes the charge when called upon (end 3rd quarter and the 4th). So please dont use the argument of feeding his teammates, because that is the only thing he is doing at the moment. For example Mihm has to learn to play BIGGER, man he doesn't even jam the ball half the times he can, he has to put his presence there,make it felt. That would get way more fouls on him, and less blocks on his ass..man the guy is 7 foot something. But we'll only be able to judge how Kobe and everyone else is doing after 30/40 games by then they should be accostomed to the offense and eachother.. Holla
It's not that he forces a lot more shots than last year or something like that(he forces as much as he did ) but he's the main focus now on defence for every opposing team. Last years, teams looked to Shaq first on defence, then they would figure out how to stop Kobe.Shaq isn't on the team anymore,whereas Kobe is WAY more double-teamed, gets less passes out of the paint(Shaq,Malone are both gone) and is the first option. When Divac returns he should get more open looks 'cause of Vlad being the best passer out of the posts but he still has the problem of the double-teams.To get rid of that,Odom and Butler need to score even more than they do now.Teams would have to play Kobe more one-on-one and then he can make a difference.Kobe is selfish,true,but he knows when to pass.Last years, he had the Diesel the pass to, now he has Lamar Odom. Lamar isn't that bad, but he averages only 14.5 ppg. Shaq averaged 7ppg more. Quite a difference isn't it? Also, Shaq could score when he wanted to(and when he got passes), Lamar isn't as dominating. Then again, nobody is.
It takes time to adjust from becomin the second scoring option on youre team to becoming the main scoring option on youre team hes getting used to it give him a break its only been 10 games.
This is what happens when you have a team of your own, shooting % will always be down. Shaq made life so much easier for Kobe, he's in the real world now. Something Iverson, Pierce, Mcgrady and Ray Allen have been in basically their whole careers.
Yep. Shaq made Penny into a superstar. He made Kobe into a superstar. And now, he's making Wade into a superstar. See a pattern there? They're all very talented players, but I don't think one can dispute that Shaq made them all look much better.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Yep. Shaq made Penny into a superstar. He made Kobe into a superstar. And now, he's making Wade into a superstar. See a pattern there? They're all very talented players, but I don't think one can dispute that Shaq made them all look much better.</div> I really don't think it's necessary to say that he made all of those guys into a star. That's like assuming that Phil Jackson made Shaq into an MVP...because we all know that he didn't ever win the award without Phil. I think Wade is making himself into a star. His shooting percentage was already high, so it has nothing to do with Shaq. And, Shaq hasn't done much at all this season, but Wade is carrying the Heat on his shoulders. The same can be assumed with Kobe. He was benched for two years, finally got some playing time his third, and when Phil came along, he turned into an All-Star. Let's not get too carried away with what Shaq does, or in this case, seems to do. Saying that Shaq is responsible for titles, responsible for success, and responsible for making good and mediocre players into All-Stars is one possible reason why Phil stopped coaching...but nobody ever sees it that way.
Shaq had an impact on Kobe's success and made it easier on Kobe, but the same can be said for Kobe making Shaq a more successful player as well. As for the concept of TEAM and wanting to win. Shaq and Kobe are both morons for not finding away to put their egos in check and do what is best for the Lakers and the franchise and work together. They had a chance to be the most dominating duo the NBA has ever seen. That being said, Kobe's shot selection has been questionable. He is forcing a lot of shots and is settling for too, many 3pt shots. As far as Kobe attacking more, I think he's been very aggressive, just look at the free throw attempts he's getting per game. Kobe is drawing fouls and putting pressure on defenses, but he's not playing a consistent game for four quarters. When the Lakers get into trouble he pushes the issue, too much and tries to get his team back into a game single handedly. What Kobe needs to do better is choose his spots and trust his teammates when the Lakers fall behind. I'd like to see him control the game the way Jordan did with the Bulls. Get his teammates interested and active early on and then close out the final 2 minutes of each quarter.
he will control right now kobe is like a lost fish, he hasn't found his spot yet, give him time, the lakers will not do as we want them to this season, but nest season will be a very intresting one. only 8 games! just wait a little.
I feel you ICE. We just got to give it time. You know everyone was talking about how Lamar was still trying to find his game. I thnik Kobe is the one who is still really searching exactly how he is gonna be playing this year. Should he drive or shoot the three? Should he pass or shoot? He's still trying to figure it all out because it's a completely different style of play and for the most part differetn team. My opinion is that I think at times his shot selection is questionable in fact most of the time he actually takes shots that only a handful of other players will take. and the scariest thing is that he takes them all the time! We've just gotten so used to seeing him do it we don't realize it. I think if Kobe relied more on his midrange jumper like around the free throw line his shooting percentage would greatly increase. We just need to give him time. Right after the all-star break I expect there to be a little buzz about the lakers. I'm telling you they are not even playing close to their potential. Oh and one other thing kinda off-topic MJ didn't always look to get his team involved first he just simply learned to pick the right spots. I remember a lot of times he would jusm off to maybe 12 points in the first 5 minutes of a game. Kobe just needs to learn to pick the "right" spots as well. I say this because for the last 4 times the chicago bulls won the championship i saw just about every single game home and away. Thanks to WGN; now if I could just get a cable channel to host all the lakers home and away games.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post"> Let's not get too carried away with what Shaq does, or in this case, seems to do. Saying that Shaq is responsible for titles, responsible for success, and responsible for making good and mediocre players into All-Stars is one possible reason why Phil stopped coaching...but nobody ever sees it that way.</div> All those guys are very good players in their own rights; stars in their own right. But to me, it's pretty clear that having Shaq in the middle makes it easier for them to shine. Wade has made a quantum leap between last year and this year, and I think Shaq is a big part of that. Penny disappeared after Shaq left. And as good as Kobe is playing now, he seems to be working much harder to get the similar statistical results.
Penny disappeared because of numerous injuries. I agree, Kobe is having to work harder to put up similar numbers, and I think his defensive game has dropped off without Shaq in the middle. Kobe was able to take more chances knowing he had Shaq in the paint, and he could roam around more for blind sided blocks and leaving his man to intercept passes.
