The "new" Kobe Bryant

The "new" Kobe Bryant

Please read the whole thing then post, I know it's long!

Let me just say I'm real glad that I have JBB and you guys to talk about this subject without being called a Kobe-Hater (I know, it's ridiculous when people call you a hater of your favorite player) Anywhere else I wouldn't be able to start a discussion about this topic.

So here is my argument; I believe last year's Kobe Bryant is better than this year's Kobe Bryant and I also believe that our record this year is NOT just because Kobe is being the main "facilitator" or passing more.

First of all, I think we all remember last years Laker team. We would watch the game and just be like "GIVE THE BALL TO KOBE"

And whenever Kobe would pass the ball, his teammates WOULD NEVER MAKE IT, do you guys remember that?

Kobe could have easily gotten just as many assists this year than last year, the difference is people are making the shots. I'm talking about the Sasha Vujacic's, the Smush Parker's, the Brian Cook's, the Luke Walton's.

2nd, for almost all the Lakers currently on the roster, this is their second REAL year under the Triangle Offense. Last year, players didn't know what the heck they were supposed to do in the triangle until late in the season and in the playoffs. This year, they were relaxed more, way familiar with the offense, and playing with more confidence because less thinking and more playing was involved. This is a MAJOR reason of our new success and the reason for nice record.

3rd, We made some nice additions over the off season with picking up Maurice Evans, Jordan Farmar, and arguably Vladimir Radmanovic (not completely sold on him)

Last year, when Kobe would go out, we'd have Sasha come in. And let's face it, Sasha was sorry last year. This year we have Mo Evans as Kobe's backup and that is a HUGE improvement, it takes less pressure of Sasha and allows us to give Kobe rest while having a pretty solid player in there.

With Jordan Farmar, we have a real nice backup to PG (some would argue will derserve the starting spot eventually, however, I disagree.)

Then we got Vlad Rad, who's been a Space Cadet so far but hasn't been all that bad when he's not shooting the ball.

Those reasons above are why I think we are doing so much better this year. Now back to Kobe.

This new Kobe Bryant is trying way too hard with the "passive" approach and trying to get others involved early. Don't get me wrong, it's a VERY GOOD idea to get others involved early, but we need to find some kind of balance. We've played like what, over 40 games now and everytime it's the same thing. Teams are not stupid, they do their research.

It is SO PREDICTABLE that Kobe is not gonna be agressive early on NO MATTER what the defense throws at him. He needs to keep the defense guessing. If he has an open 12 foot jump shot, SHOOT IT!! Don't make an unnecessary pass when you have the open shot.

Let's compare his last year totals with so far this year:



Come on guys, it's pretty much the same Kobe. His FG% has been better this year, but compared to last year, we're dealing with a smaller sample size, so who knows what it will be by the end of the year with some of the poor shots he has been taking. Oh, and his assists are up by 1 per game, whoopty-freakin-doo.

Granted his FG attempts have been down this year, but is that we really want? I mean we DO HAVE the best damn player in the league, WHY NOT USE HIM MORE?

All I'm trying to say basically is I'm not fooled with the whole reasoning of "Oh, the Lakers are playing so good this year because of the new Kobe"

No, that's simple not true. He's done a great job facilitating the offense this year, don't get me wrong, but our players are JUST BETTER this year. They are making their shots, more familiar with the offense, and we have picked up some nice players over the off-season.

I hope you guys read my whole post and share your thoughts. I will definitely not be offended if people don't agree with me, but just say and intelligently make your case. I'll be looking forward to what a few of have to say, such as Shape, Brian, and the rest of the "guys". This has just been on my mind lately and I had to get it off my chest. Thanks fellas.

 

You certainly have a point there. Beacuse, especially when Lamar is out. Why not to give Kobe a chance to score ? His 35 ppg lead the Lakers into the playoffs last year. I understand that he won't take so many shots when Lamar and other guys are back, but atm, it's should be Kobe time. Vujacic, Evans, Smush, Walton, Radman can be hot. But they can be off, too. And what will Kobe to, when he's passing more and they're off ?
Kobe should TRY to carry the Lakers on his shoulders for some time, just to see if he can still do it.
I'm pretty sure he can.

And illmatic, this thread will never make you a Kobe-hater. ;D

 

I think the problem is that he tries to be a facilitator in the first half, which is when he gets the mosts assists and doesn't take that many shot. In the second half, it seems, he is out more to score. The problem with him being out to score, is that he takes a lot of ill-advised shots (even though he makes many of them), and many of those shots are not within the offense. The different playing styles he has also happens to coincide with the problem we have in the third and fourth periods, when we are trying to protect our lead. I'd like to see Kobe try to keep being a facilitator throughout the game, and only take shots within the offense.

 

Thanks Flow and Bahir, you guys bring up great points.

Bahir, I completely agree with what you said, and I've actually brought that up in another thread. Kobe's assists seem to just come in the first quarter, then after that, he's no where to be found.

In the second half he's taking WAY too many ill-advised shots that are just not within the offense.

Until Lamar comes back, he needs to be the facilitator throughout the WHOLE game, then become extra aggressive late in the 4th and help us close out the win.

I do think, however, when Lamar comes back, a lot of our problems will be solved and Kobe can go back and do what he does best, which is score.

 

Interesting thought.

I think the problem with Kobe, like you said, is he is too passive. He will have an open look, then pass it. Later in the game he will have someone in his face, and he will pull up for a shot. I am always just saying "WTF" to myself.

I hope no one gets me wrong, and doesn't bite my head off, but I think Kobe isn't the greatest of play makers.

In all honesty we need Odom to be running the offense more, not Kobe. He is really good in moving the ball and finding the open man, he also doesn't force shots. We hurt without him and I hope when Odom comes we just let Kobe lay back and take shots within the offense like Bahir said.

 

You know what i think? i think Kobe should pounce on the team during the 1st quarter then involve the team... if the opponent catches up then let kobe kill their confidence

 

I'm thinking Kobe should be passive for all 3 quarters, and get everyone involved. Come 4th quarter, it should be Kobe time. Just there placing the game out of reach.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Franchise4Ever Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm thinking Kobe should be passive for all 3 quarters, and get everyone involved. Come 4th quarter, it should be Kobe time. Just there placing the game out of reach.</div>

The problem is, though kobe is one of them all time greats, you cant ALWAYS turn youre game on whenever you want to... he did it against miami where he took over OT but that wont always happen

 

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke". Kobe shouldn't have to "take over" unless there is reason to. If the team has a slump in the third or early fourth, Kobe shouldn't have to start shooting more, instead the team should try to work itself out of the situation. When Kobe starts shooting like that, he usually doesn't stop, which prevents the team from regaining their momentum. If they really want Kobe to take over late, they should run plays for him so that he gets an open shot instead of one with one, two, three or more hands in his face.

 

I think if you take last year's Kobe with THIS year's Laker team (with the reasons I posted in my original post) This team would be even better than their 26-15 record.

You can say that Phil Jackson is behind the new Kobe Bryant and Kobe does what Phil wants. Phil tells Kobe what to do, to an extent. Does he tell Kobe to take ill-advised shots not within the offense? Does he tell Kobe to shoot 3's when he feels like 'em? Nah, but Phil trusts Kobe because of everything they been through, knows that Kobe is the best in the league, and trusts that he will make good decisions.

GUYS LET'S NOT FORGET, last year Kobe was passing the ball too. I can remember countless times backing up Kobe last year when they called him a ballhog or never passed, etc. He DID pass last year, but unfortunately no one could make a damn shot. This year everyone's more familiar with the triangle, we picked up new players, and are actually starting to make their shots, so he's starting to rack up more assists.

I think if you put THIS YEAR's Kobe on last year's team, they are a .500 team or worse. A lot of the reasons we are winning more games this year is because we are not LOSING those closes games down the stretch, we are actually pulling out the W. A large part of that is how we've grown AS A TEAM now just because of Kobe getting the game winner.

 

Nice post, I think there is a key stat that is missing. Last year, he averaged 27 shots a game, this year he averages 19 shots a game. Thats a huge difference, he's shooting over 30% less than last season.

Instead of facilitating more, the other players are now taking the roles of facilitators and by him passing more, the other players are creating for each other. This has been beneficial because the other players gain more experiance, confidence and are able to perform when Kobe has a bad night.

Also, teams are less worried about double teaming Kobe and now have to work hard guarding other players. We've seen Smush, Cook and Sasha have a hot hand and it's all due to Kobe delegating the offensive responsibility. Look at the Miami game, we were poor on defense but because Cook and Smush were lighting up three's, we managed to win the game. This wouldn't happen if Kobe was still taking 27 shots a game.

 

Illmatic I will say this: I respect you for posting this.
For some people, it's hard to point out different things about their favorite players or team and whatnot, so I do respect you for this post.

I believe in some aspects you are correct, I would love the Kobe of old while Lamar is out, but when Lamar is back I want Kobe to still pass, but he shouldn't be passing up anything. Let Lamar get the assists or commence the offense, don't force yourself (being Kobe) to pass. I think the passing burden will come off of him once Lamar is back. With that, Kobe will be a better scorer. In my opinion at least.

Side Note: Our guys need to learn how to rebound or at least box out.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, great insights.

I definitely agree with everyone.

Let's just all hope for Kwame and Odom to come back soon and we'll be right where we wanna be.

 

Kobe is actually in an even better position than he was. When Kobe was aggressive, I noticed that he made many many many mistakes. Kobe does not have a reliable enough team to play as aggressive as he once did. Aggressive Kobe is similar to Iverson: He's a great aggressive type player but he needs a line up to be able to back him up due to mistakes.

 

Hmmmm. I understand the need for improvement and not being satisfied even when the team is over achieving. But at the same time, while many points are valid, it still seems to be Monday night quarterbacking to me. So in some games Kobe seems to be too passive, particularly in the first half. It works out well on many occasions and you guys praise him. Yet somehow he is supposed to know when it won't work out for the best and change the TEAM strategy mid game!? I read Phil's book and interestingly enough the one thing Phil felt sympathetically about for Kobe was the fact that he had to constantly change Kobe's role from facilitator to all out attack and all the ranges in between so much that he felt people took how difficult that was for granted. No other player in the league has to do this to such a degree or as much as Kobe does. Yet here the Lakers are in a more than respectable position in the loaded West. Kobe is playing MVP ball in my opinion and is indeed playing better over the entire stretch than he has last season (last season there were stretches where he was just offensively phenomenal but thats just not needed now).

Looking at his stats... the most important figures are shots per game... minutes played per game... and FG%. Kobe is much more efficient this season than he was last season. If he plays more minutes that 1 assist more per game maybe becomes 2 assists more per game. Rebounds go up. Points too.

We have the best player in the game, but we take his abilities for granted sometimes as well. He is not a robot that we can change just change his play mode and watch him work. He is just a phenomenal player who is trying to work out a balance along with his coach and teammates.

Having said all that I think we can still criticize him as a player... but saying we prefer last seasons Kobe to this seasons Kobe is a little unfair in my mind. Not when the results speak for themselves.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Fiyah Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hmmmm. I understand the need for improvement and not being satisfied even when the team is over achieving. But at the same time, while many points are valid, it still seems to be Monday night quarterbacking to me. So in some games Kobe seems to be too passive, particularly in the first half. It works out well on many occasions and you guys praise him. Yet somehow he is supposed to know when it won't work out for the best and change the TEAM strategy mid game!? I read Phil's book and interestingly enough the one thing Phil felt sympathetically about for Kobe was the fact that he had to constantly change Kobe's role from facilitator to all out attack and all the ranges in between so much that he felt people took how difficult that was for granted. No other player in the league has to do this to such a degree or as much as Kobe does. Yet here the Lakers are in a more than respectable position in the loaded West. Kobe is playing MVP ball in my opinion and is indeed playing better over the entire stretch than he has last season (last season there were stretches where he was just offensively phenomenal but thats just not needed now).

Looking at his stats... the most important figures are shots per game... minutes played per game... and FG%. Kobe is much more efficient this season than he was last season. If he plays more minutes that 1 assist more per game maybe becomes 2 assists more per game. Rebounds go up. Points too.

We have the best player in the game, but we take his abilities for granted sometimes as well. He is not a robot that we can change just change his play mode and watch him work. He is just a phenomenal player who is trying to work out a balance along with his coach and teammates.

Having said all that I think we can still criticize him as a player... but saying we prefer last seasons Kobe to this seasons Kobe is a little unfair in my mind. Not when the results speak for themselves.</div>

Nah, I understand what you're saying.

Basically my point is I would just like to see some balance between the two. Kobe's the best in the game, but it doesn't make him flawless either. He's not perfect, he's still human, and I don't wanna come across as someone who's a fair-weather fan, cause I'm really not.

I think the best, most efficient Kobe Bryant would be the passive, yet aggressive Kobe Bryant who picks his spots and although is being asked to facilitate, doesn't over-think anything. Just want to see him play his game, and do what he does best, which is score.

The Lakers team has just gotten better since last year, plain and simple. In the first game of the season, we beat the Phoenix Suns without Kobe! I don't care if Amare wasn't playing, that's a big accomplishment.

The team has finally grasped the concept of the Triangle offense and you got guys like Lamar, Luke, Kwame having the best year of their career. You have to give them THEIR props on that, it's not JUST Kobe the reason this Lakers team is so much better.

I would like to see Kobe with 5-10 points EACH quarter. Not 2 in the first, 0 in the second, 4 in the 3rd, then 15 in the 4th. Granted he is our closer and the 4th is when we need him the most, I think we still need that aggressive Kobe before the 4th quarter.

Kobe will shoot like 4 shots in the first 3 quarters, then chuck up some ill-advised shots in the 4th, what good does that do?

 

<div class="quote_poster">illmatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Nah, I understand what you're saying.

Basically my point is I would just like to see some balance between the two. Kobe's the best in the game, but it doesn't make him flawless either. He's not perfect, he's still human, and I don't wanna come across as someone who's a fair-weather fan, cause I'm really not.

I think the best, most efficient Kobe Bryant would be the passive, yet aggressive Kobe Bryant who picks his spots and although is being asked to facilitate, doesn't over-think anything. Just want to see him play his game, and do what he does best, which is score.

The Lakers team has just gotten better since last year, plain and simple. In the first game of the season, we beat the Phoenix Suns without Kobe! I don't care if Amare wasn't playing, that's a big accomplishment.

The team has finally grasped the concept of the Triangle offense and you got guys like Lamar, Luke, Kwame having the best year of their career. You have to give them THEIR props on that, it's not JUST Kobe the reason this Lakers team is so much better.

I would like to see Kobe with 5-10 points EACH quarter. Not 2 in the first, 0 in the second, 4 in the 3rd, then 15 in the 4th. Granted he is our closer and the 4th is when we need him the most, I think we still need that aggressive Kobe before the 4th quarter.

Kobe will shoot like 4 shots in the first 3 quarters, then chuck up some ill-advised shots in the 4th, what good does that do?</div>

It is quite possible that there are players who are much better at picking their spots and moving seamlessly from facilitator to all out attack. Maybe Kobe is not the best at that. Like you said he isn't perfect... it may be that once he gets in attack mode he knows that he isn't coming back from that... kind of like a shark that smells blood. So he tries to facilitate as much as possible before attacking. I don't know for sure... but I do know that he has improved this facet of his game over last season. I am satisfied. I would rather some of the younger players work on consistency so Kobe doesn't have to wonder whether he should faciliate or go full blow.

 

I think Kobe shouldn't be the facilitator for the first half and score for the second half. That trend will catch on to opposing teams. I think Kobe should pass and score throughout the whole game, it will have a better chance of catching defenders off guard.