GAME #60: LAC (39-20) @ BUCKS (40-21)—MON 3/4 5PM, NBA-TV

[madmaxmedia]

Bones would have played more but got caught in a minutes crunch when James joined. So stats aside, the one guy I'd like to see some more of based on my (probably really myopic, especially at the defensive end) eye test is Kobe Brown. I feel like he's actually got the body for his position, along with the basic skill set, and potentially a decent 3 point shooter. He also has much better court awareness than say BBJ, when he touches the ball you can see he's trying to see what the other players are doing and how to facilitate that. Build those out and you'd have a rotation guy like say Amir.

[esqtvd]

Bones would have played more but got caught in a minutes crunch when James joined. So stats aside, the one guy I'd like to see some more of based on my (probably really myopic, especially at the defensive end) eye test is Kobe Brown. I feel like he's actually got the body for his position, along with the basic skill set, and potentially a decent 3 point shooter. He also has much better court awareness than say BBJ, when he touches the ball you can see he's trying to see what the other players are doing and how to facilitate that. Build those out and you'd have a rotation guy like say Amir.

Kobe got some burn earlier this year but the results were disappointing. You can't ask these vets to bust ass in the regular season while giving away PT to some kid who hasn't earned it. That's just as much favoritism as is keeping faith in slumping vets who have accomplished something in the league, with probably less odds of a payoff.

Kobe's OFF/DEF rating per Basketball Reference is horrible: 105/117. The per-36 minute stats are unimpressive too

7.7 ppg
.381/.308 shooting
5.7 rpg
2.1 apg
5.2 fouls per game

I had high hopes he was the real thing too but there's nothing here yet. His G-League stats are good, but they don't jump out at you.

https://stats.gleague.nba.com/player/1641738/

Amir Coffey and to a lesser degree Mann and Theis are getting the minutes Kobe would get. There's nothing to justify taking them away. If Coffey hadn't been such a pleasant surprise [shooting 52%/42%, better than Kobe in G-League], Kobe might have been the choice.