Kobe Bryant On Playing Small Forward:

Sofa King · Post #1 » by **Sofa King** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:17 am

"Then Kobe said to me, 'Well, then who's going to play [small forward]?' I looked at him and I said, 'You.' And with absolute, 100% confidence, he said, 'I can do that.'"

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-vitti-kobe-20150727-story.html#page=1

Post #2 » by **dockingsched** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 7:34 am

Very encouraging that he's publicly accepting of the move. Can't really move him off of his sg postion without his buy in.

tugs · Post #3 » by **tugs** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:16 am

Kobe, you the real MVP.

dAdo dA dEvil · Post #4 » by **dAdo dA dEvil** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:10 am

Kobe should have been playing SF couple of years ago. I want to see Kobe more on the post. He has enough size to play the position. And I think Kobe will have an advantage posting up other SF because of his superior low post skills and I think he is still quicker than most SF on the league.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/238886/Lakers-Expect-Kobe-Bryant-To-Play-Some-Minutes-At-Power-Forward

This news made me laugh. I guess we'll be playing super small ball. HAHAHA ....

Laker_Kid · Post #5 » by **Laker_Kid** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 4:11 pm

was going to mention that also. I would have liked to have shifted him to the 3 position years ago. but i guess we didnt have the kind of roster we have now to have allowed him to.

Lakers415 · Post #6 » by **Lakers415** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:02 pm

Kobe's going to play the same way he's been playing.

On the wing and on the post. He is a person with no restrictions.

Lakers will still need to find a very good wing defender to compensate for the guards on our team...

Mamba Mentality · Post #7 » by **Mamba Mentality** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 7:30 pm

Just because he's public accepting the move, doesn't mean he's actually going to defend opposing threes. Sure he'll start off on them but afterwards Kobe will do what Kobe has done the past 4-5 seasons--play free safety. At this point in his career he's not capable of staying up with a overwhelming majority of starting wings.

dAdo dA dEvil · Post #8 » by **dAdo dA dEvil** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:16 am

Laker_Kid wrote:was going to mention that also. I would have liked to have shifted him to the 3 position years ago. but i guess we didnt have the kind of roster we have now to have allowed him to.

Yes I believe we lacked depth in our guard positions few years back. Our guards took turns in getting injured and Kobe at times needs to guard elite PGs of opposing teams. I think it's too much for a 34 year old SG to chase and guard smaller and quicker PGs, but we have no choice back then. Fish and Nash have no chance on stopping PGs back then. But now we have young big guards who can do that. I hope Kobe stays at 3 and do more damage on the low post. Defensively, Kobe will have a hard time defending the bigger and elite SFs (Durant, Melo, LeBron) but I hope Kobe's vet smarts prevail onece in a while; especially on crucial times.

BEazy · Post #9 » by **BEazy** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:10 am

I'd like to see us get Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Dude is a pretty good defender and he can play the SF spot when Kobe slides to the PF spot.

dipstick · Post #10 » by **dipstick** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:21 am

ScHoolBoy B wrote:I'd like to see us get Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Dude is a pretty good defender and he can play the SF spot when Kobe slides to the PF spot.

Didn't he just get his contract voided because of a shoulder injury?

DEEP3CL · Post #11 » by **DEEP3CL** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:36 am

The Regime wrote:Just because he's public accepting the move, doesn't mean he's actually going to defend opposing threes. Sure he'll start off on them but afterwards Kobe will do what Kobe has done the past 4-5 seasons--play free safety. At this point in his career he's not capable of staying up with a overwhelming majority of starting wings.

Disagree with the part about him not being able to stay with wings. 3's don't move like 2's, there is no reason to think Kobe couldn't guard most of the 3's in the league. And not one of these 3's comes off screens like a Reggie Miller use to do, none of these 3's are super physical players. And Kobe at one point or time in the game has guarded every single one of these 3's in his career. Now Kobe is going to check these guys exclusively , it's going to save his legs and looking at the list he can still cheat off some of these guys with no problem.

Below is a list of every starting SF in the Western Conference. There's only 2 All Stars and maybe 2 that will end up All Stars, sorry but I don't see Kobe having major trouble with this group.

Dallas - C.Parsons 6'9"
Phoenix - P.Tucker 6'6"
Houston - T.Ariza 6'8"
GSW - H.Barnes 6'7"
Clippers - P.Pierce ( ALL STAR ) 6"7"
Memphis - T.Allen 6'4"
Denver - W.Chandler 6'8"
NO - T.Evans 6'5"
Portland - A.Aminu 6'8"
Sacramento - R.Gay 6"8"
Utah - G.Hayward 6'8"
SAS - K. Lenoard 6'8"
Minn - A.Wiggins 6'8"
OKC - K.Durant ( ALL STAR )6'9"

Mamba Mentality · Post #12 » by **Mamba Mentality** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:56 am

Kobe doesn't apply himself like he once did, and that's what makes him a liability on defense nowadays. Sure if he's challenged by any of those guys, he'll step up to the plate. However, more times that often you're going to see him take plays off and/or gamble on defense. Sure he won't exert nearly as much energy defending opposing threes, but the uptempo style that most of the teams have adopted in the NBA are going to make him work....and at 37 that's going to take a toll on Kobe.

Mamba Mentality · Post #13 » by **Mamba Mentality** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:01 am

I've never doubted Kobe's mental toughness, but father time is undefeated. Kudos to Kobe for stepping up to the challenge, but I'm not expecting much out of him on that end of the floor.

john248 · Post #14 » by **john248** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:53 am

Kobe's defense has slipped a long time ago. That should be obvious to anyone. Obvious.

dipstick · Post #15 » by **dipstick** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:43 am

The point is, he will fare better defending SFs than SGs. I think we can all treat as fact the statement that Kobe's defense is not the same as before and is more of a liability than an asset. Putting him on 3s instead of 2s in a time where 3 and D guys are becoming the norm is the smart move. With Hibbert guarding the paint, it allows perimeter defenders more leeway to cheat and take away the perimeter shot.

Tee212 · Post #16 » by **Tee212** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:07 am

say what you want about kobes d but his man on man and post defense is still superior due to his IQ and studying his opponents weakness. i notice he normally slacks off on no name guys floating around the perimeter or off screens for an open shot. the list DEEP listed above none of those guys would "abuse" kobe in the post or take him off the dribble without a screen. look at how kobe guard bron last year 1v1. the scary thing is kobe is can still get his vs those guys on the list maybe just not as efficient like he used to which is expected.

DEEP3CL · Post #17 » by **DEEP3CL** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:25 pm

I'll keep saying it 3's don't move or play like 2's at all. There is much more of a demand on D when checking 2's. Because they come off stagger screens, flare screens and a few pin downs. Kobe won't have to exert massive energy in guarding 3's when most on the list I posted are basically off the catch shooters. Kobe can basically stand flat footed if he wanted to when checking these guys.

But playing the 3 on D will allow him to time stepping into passing lanes better than if he were on top of the defense. Secondly no team in the league is running their offense specifically to the list of guys I mentioned except for KD in OKC. The only time Kobe will be tested is when facing KD and probably Wiggins. Other than that if Kobe can exude some patience and guard those guys with some ball IQ and limit his risk taking the lower perimeter defense should be okay.

Guys are talking about Kobe's D as if these guys are going to see a ton of ISO sets called for them, hell Tony Allen will be lucky if he shoots the ball 10 times in a game. Playing the 3 he'll be able to drop in help more or depending on the match up, spy the passing lanes.

No reason Kobe shouldn't get at least 1 steal per game or more, the opportunity will be there.

Post #18 » by **Kilroy** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 12:14 am

Kobe's likely done after this season, so I'm not sure how much significance this has at this point. I agree it should have happened at least 2 seasons ago. In fact, I think Doc and I were pretty much the first people on here calling for the move...
That said, if he has any hope of completing the season, he has to be defending slower players... Forwards are essentially all he can hope to stay in front of at this point. So it's a good gesture... But if you're expecting it to get Kobe back on the Defensive First team, you're probably kidding yourself.

john248 · Post #19 » by **john248** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:14 am

Kobe hasn't been healthy since 2013, so it really doesn't matter if he should've played SF since then when he totaled all of 41 games in the past 2 seasons. It also doesn't matter if he's labeled a "SF" either. You're going to hide him on some spot up shooter. Steph Curry isn't a SF just because he guards Danny Green for long stretches. There are 3 perimeter positions to fill, and Kobe is just taking up one of them.

Post #20 » by **Slava** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:40 am

john248 wrote:Kobe hasn't been healthy since 2013, so it really doesn't matter if he should've played SF since then when he totaled all of 41 games in the past 2 seasons. It also doesn't matter if he's labeled a "SF" either. You're going to hide him on some spot up shooter. Steph Curry isn't a SF just because he guards Danny Green for long stretches. There are 3 perimeter positions to fill, and Kobe is just taking up one of them.

Hiding him on some spot up shooter is just how he drifts and sucks on defense. You have to play him on a guy that will play on the ball, he's still smart enough to cut off angles and play D well in those situations.