Why does bryant attempt so many shots in 1st half of games?

[va-mos]

Honestly, these Kobe threads are down right laughable at this point, given his numbers his year are at a career best, which is incredible given its his 17th NBA season.

His defense isn't great, but the whole team is horrible at this.

They just gave up 55 points to the Wizards up to half time. 55 points to the Wizards.

The front office has made some really questionable decisions of late, which has lead to far more problems in the make up of the team.

Kobe and his season to date, is not the reason why this team is losing.

The more you hold the ball in the D'Ant offense, the more the team suffers. Kobe is a holder. Doesn't matter what his shoot% is (.473% so far this season, including .446 in December and 9-29 in a 102-96 win over the lowly Wizards today), he is preventing the flow of the D'Ant offense. The only man you want dominating the ball is the man who distributes the ball. We'll have to wait and see if Kobe allows Nash to do the job or not. Most experts doubt it.

[J-Mezzy]

Honestly, these Kobe threads are down right laughable at this point, given his numbers his year are at a career best, which is incredible given its his 17th NBA season.

His defense isn't great, but the whole team is horrible at this.

They just gave up 55 points to the Wizards up to half time. 55 points to the Wizards.

The front office has made some really questionable decisions of late, which has lead to far more problems in the make up of the team.

Kobe and his season to date, is not the reason why this team is losing.

The more you hold the ball in the D'Ant offense, the more the team suffers. Kobe is a holder. Doesn't matter what his shoot% is (.473% so far this season, including .446 in December and 9-29 in a 102-96 win over the lowly Wizards today), he is preventing the flow of the D'Ant offense. The only man you want dominating the ball is the man who distributes the ball. We'll have to wait and see if Kobe allows Nash to do the job or not. Most experts doubt it.

I agree. I don't put all the blame on Kobe, but those saying his ball dominance doesn't affect the flow of the offense are either bias or naive. Having said that, the rest of the Lakers need to step up if they want a guy like Kobe to give up the ball

[PurpleRooster]

Honestly, these Kobe threads are down right laughable at this point, given his numbers his year are at a career best, which is incredible given its his 17th NBA season.

So he is putting up good volume scoring, on what is turning into diminishing efficiency?

OK great, but he hasn't as of yet helped facilitate a successful winning formula or team offense.

His defense is abysmal. Great....it is his 17th season, but do we all have to slobber over him playing in a way that many people don't care to classify as winning basketball?

As someone that learned to respect Bryant from 2008-2011...I am very dissapointed in how he is playing the game right now.

For the enthusiasts of the scoring title, and people who love to see players strive for that award...kudos, they should be happy.

(fully prepared to be called a hater.)

[markjay]

What are you homers laughing about? I said what I said because you can make these scrubs serviceable if you MAKE PLAYS FOR THEM.

1) You're wrong.

Jamison was no better for Lebron; he blew chunks in the playoffs and was wretched on defense. Lebron is a noted playmaker and Twan was still a brick-layer.

2) You're looking to Jamison as an issue when he was merely one example among many I gave...

While blatantly ignoring that LA is the 8th-best offense in the league and scored 107 points in that game.

Offense is NOT the problem!

And if the players are that stupid that, in a game where they were PLENTY involved offensively, they STILL didn't hustle on D, then they are totally worthless contracts independent of what Kobe is or isn't doing.

Again, in the game being discussed, there was no issue with getting the peripheral players involved. Guys got tons of shots, but Kobe, Metta, Dwight and Ebanks carried the team's offense and the defense was ABOMINABLE. Let this register.

I said it before, but 41 points on 74% FG is APPALLINGLY bad and that's the result of New York ripping them apart from the word "go," not because of Kobe's play.

You can't judge an offense purely just on how many points are scored. The offense is LEADS to bad floor balance because Kobe doesn't shoot within any kind of sets, he arbitrarily decides to shoot no matter where he or his teammates are on the floor. None of his teammates know whether they should be crashing the boards, getting back on D to provide floor balance, spacing the floor on the shot or cutting to the basket. Thus you have players out of position and cross matched when there is a miss. The bad Kobe offense LEADS to transition opportunities for the other team. Kobe has come out himself and said Transition D is their Achilles heel.

Let the light shine down on you!

Actually, that is spectacularly false. A recent published analysis indicated that Kobe's missed shots resulted in offensive rebounds, and successful put backs, at one of the highest rates in the league -- which is one of the reasons he has such a high offensive rating. So you have it exactly opposite.

[MistyMountain20]

OK great, but he hasn't as of yet helped facilitate a successful winning formula or team offense.

His defense is abysmal. Great....it is his 17th season, but do we all have to slobber over him playing in a way that many people don't care to classify as winning basketball?

As someone that learned to respect Bryant from 2008-2011...I am very dissapointed in how he is playing the game right now.

2011? In your opinion he was a better facilitator and played a game that was conducive towards a winning formula? Not so sure how valid your opinion on the matter is when you say your disappointed in his game right now, but respect his 2011 season, which was worse by nearly every measure.

[microfib4thewin]

Actually, that is spectacularly false. A recent published analysis indicated that Kobe's missed shots resulted in offensive rebounds, and successful put backs, at one of the highest rates in the league -- which is one of the reasons he has such a high offensive rating. So you have it exactly opposite.

With guys like Dwight/Gasol/Odom/Bynum it's not a surprise the Lakers have always been amongst the best at grabbing offensive boards. Would you see the same phenomenon if he still had to play with the likes of Kwame Brown or Chris Mihm?

Kobe's style has always been detrimental to playing team basketball. What helped cover up Kobe's lack of playmaking is the bigs Kobe gets to play with. Shaq is great at drawing and passing out of double teams, and Odom/Gasol is a versatile frontcourt that can attack a defense in many ways. In general, Kobe had the most team success when his frontcourt partners are great passers. With Gasol being pushed out of the perimeter to make room for Bynum/Dwight and Dwight being a terrible initiator you no longer see the same rhythm with the Laker's offense compared to their 2 peat period.

If Kobe continues to play like a madman without fundamentals like years past then the team is not going to get anywhere no matter what changes they make to the roster or the coaching staff. In the end you only have Kobe to blame because he could not be the leader the team needs.

[KingCuban]

Honestly, these Kobe threads are down right laughable at this point, given his numbers his year are at a career best, which is incredible given its his 17th NBA season.

His defense isn't great, but the whole team is horrible at this.

They just gave up 55 points to the Wizards up to half time. 55 points to the Wizards.

The front office has made some really questionable decisions of late, which has lead to far more problems in the make up of the team.

Kobe and his season to date, is not the reason why this team is losing.

The more you hold the ball in the D'Ant offense, the more the team suffers. Kobe is a holder. Doesn't matter what his shoot% is (.473% so far this season, including .446 in December and 9-29 in a 102-96 win over the lowly Wizards today), he is preventing the flow of the D'Ant offense. The only man you want dominating the ball is the man who distributes the ball. We'll have to wait and see if Kobe allows Nash to do the job or not. Most experts doubt it.

Outside of Jodie Meeks, what players on LA fit what D'Antoni runs?

Nash is out, so don't include him to date, as is Pau.

On this current Lakers team, the role players around Dwight and Kobe are poor offensive players, in D'Antoni's system or not.

This is something they can't address this season.

Look at the Phoenix teams, they had 5-6 good to great shooters that Nash could drop the ball too.

Aside from Meeks and Nash himself, they have no elite spot up jump shooters.

[MistyMountain20]

With guys like Dwight/Gasol/Odom/Bynum it's not a surprise the Lakers have always been amongst the best at grabbing offensive boards. Would you see the same phenomenon if he still had to play with the likes of Kwame Brown or Chris Mihm?

Begging the question? When you find out, let me know, okay?

Kobe's style has always been detrimental to playing team basketball. What helped cover up Kobe's lack of playmaking is the bigs Kobe gets to play with. Shaq is great at drawing and passing out of double teams, and Odom/Gasol is a versatile frontcourt that can attack a defense in many ways. In general, Kobe had the most team success when his frontcourt partners are great passers. With Gasol being pushed out of the perimeter to make room for Bynum/Dwight and Dwight being a terrible initiator you no longer see the same rhythm with the Laker's offense compared to their 2 peat period.

The highlighted part is of course ridiculous, but this a poster who said Kobe only passes in situations where he is desperate and never to set up a play for someone else.

And also kudos to false dichotomy you set up. There could only be two reasons as to why the Lakers are stuggling; either the Lakers have a great passing frontline or they don't. THAT'S the reason they have been so successful over the years. Other variables like having to play your third and fourth string Point Guards, 3 different coaches, 6 different starting lineup to date etc, phooey, who needs em'! We know the right answer don't we! Boy you made that easy.

If Kobe continues to play like a madman without fundamentals like years past then the team is not going to get anywhere no matter what changes they make to the roster or the coaching staff. In the end you only have Kobe to blame because he could not be the leader the team needs.

Is it bothering you at the current moment that Bryant is actually playing the most efficient basketball of his career? Cause surely you can't touch on that now (not like you ever could before), but now you have to fallback on the dreaded "eye test"! The horror. You have to use throwaway flimsy terms like "continues to play like a madman" just to have some kind of structured argument.

For the record Kobe was ass tonight, and recently he has played some hero ball (but not for the most part). If you want to say his defense has been terrible, I think you'd have a solid argument (but guards aren't that important to defense, right?). But the rest of your post is just so horribly off, but what can you do when madman Bryant is all-by-himself throwing away the Laker's season.

[KingCuban]

Honestly, these Kobe threads are down right laughable at this point, given his numbers his year are at a career best, which is incredible given its his 17th NBA season.

So he is putting up good volume scoring, on what is turning into diminishing efficiency?

OK great, but he hasn't as of yet helped facilitate a successful winning formula or team offense.

His defense is abysmal. Great....it is his 17th season, but do we all have to slobber over him playing in a way that many people don't care to classify as winning basketball?

As someone that learned to respect Bryant from 2008-2011...I am very dissapointed in how he is playing the game right now.

For the enthusiasts of the scoring title, and people who love to see players strive for that award...kudos, they should be happy.

(fully prepared to be called a hater.)

1. It's not good, its terrific efficiency. Its at Durant elite levels.

2. Who else on the current group that are playing for the Lakers can make a play outside of Howard, who to date, looks much better in the half court surrounded by shooters, which the Lakers have virtually none of.

Jodie Meeks may become one of the Lakers most important players simply because he spaces the floor, something no one on this team and in the offense they're running is doing well.

[djay]

The Kobe shot attempt is irrelevant. The biggest missing point and I blame this on Kobe for the Lakers woe more than anything else is that he doesn't fill a hole on this team. This team desperately, and I repeat the word DESPERATE, needed a playmaker to give the role player and DH easy bucket. Fact is Kobe hasn't done a good job of playmaking and instead going isolation, which in turn, hurt the team offensive flow and making everyone rhymes off. This also, in turn, affect their defense. There's a saying, when everyone feel involved on offense, they play better, rotate, try harder on defense. When you are a superstar making 27 millions dollar, you have to fill a void on this team. Kobe is too concentrated on scoring. If you put a healthy Wade or even a Jame Harden in replace of Kobe, this team would, at least, be .500. Fact is the Lakers needs someone to drive and kick and throw lobs to DH12, to give him easy bucket. Right now, they are not getting easy bucket and it affecting their defense.

...Kobe isn't that and really never has been. Why does it suddenly fall on him to completely remake his game? That doesn't happen in the nba, guys don't just change who they are. Why not as Dwight to fill the playmaker void? Or artest? Or Meeks? It's because that's not who they are, but for some reason Kobe is suddenly supposed to be that guy?

You must not watch Kobe in his entire career. He was the Lakers playmaker during the Shaq era! After Shaq, he transformed himself into a scorer 1st. He even admitted that he was a playmaker out of necessity during Shaq era but he always want to be a scorer.

[djay]

The biggest missing point and I blame this on Kobe for the Lakers woe more than anything else is that he doesn't fill a hole on this team.

This is nonsense. You build around stars, you don't adapt your stars to the roster at hand, not to any large extent. Players can alter their games to some extent, but radically changing their games alters their competitive advantages and doesn't usually make sense. Kobe's a scorer, and he's been arguably the best scorer in the league to date this season, the way he's mixing it all up and hitting his J.

This team desperately, and I repeat the word DESPERATE, needed a playmaker to give the role player and DH easy bucket.

Given the efficacy of the offense to date, I have to say that this is blatantly incorrect.

Nonsense. When your team is missing a hole and you ARE the STAR and with the talent to do it, you have to adapt your game for the benefit of the team, at least temporarily until Nash got back. Fact is Kobe iso offense is hurting the team offensive flow. While he did his job to score at high efficiency (he comes back down to earth though), his teammate is struggling and inconsistent. The star will get their number, but how you used your number to up the game of surrounding player is what make a guy like Lebron/Nash//Cp3 so valuable to their team. They have the ability to raise the game of their teammates through their playmaking talent and score when needed.

Everyone knows the defense is the issue. BUT what caused this defense? It's Kobe isolation and fail to run back in transition? Psychologically, it affect his teammates to consistently play defense whenever he took a tough iso shot. And no he is not the best offensive threat, not at this stage of his career. He leads the league in turnover and there's a guy name Durant.

[tsherkin]

I'm getting tired of this "Kobe misses = buckets" lameness, so let's look at this.

Kobe missed 14 shots in this game, so let's have a look.

1Q

2:30 missed a 26-footer 3pt, by which time the Knicks had already scored 30 points. Jordan Hill grabbed an offensive board.

2:05 missed a 19-footer, Jordan Hill grabbed an offensive board.

1:31 missed a 3-footer, Metta grabbed an offensive board (when Metta missed, Melo boarded and got a layup in transition)



So right away, in the game-changing quarter, it's total crap. The Knicks scored 41 points in the first quarter and literally none of those points came in transition off of a Kobe miss. There were a number of bricked 3s and other shots from Jamison, Meeks, Metta and so forth that were turned around quickly, but it was not Kobe's fault.

After the first, the Knicks scored 27, 25 and 23 points, declining in efficacy as their shots cooled down and they sat Melo. They'd on their damage already.

2Q

7:07 missed 3, Prigioni rebounds, Sheed hits a 3

Right after that, Kobe turned it over to Prigioni on a bad pass, then stole it back and Ebanks got a layup.

4:31 Kobe misses a layup, the Knicks turn it around but blow the layup at the other end.

1:04 Kobe misses a 3, Knicks turn it around for a dunk off of Kidd-to-Brewer.

0:18 Kobe missed a 4-footer but L.A. got the team offensive rebound.

3Q

11:41 Kobe misses, Kidd rebounds but Metta steals it from Felton.

8:41 misses a 12-footer, but New York blows the shot and Ebanks secures the board.

Given how hot he was in the second quarter and how neither of those shots turned into points turned around the other way, it's not really a big deal (especially since similar stuff happened to Melo, Felton, etc). At this stage, Kobe's given up 5 points on the basis of transition turnarounds from missed shots.

4Q

9:27 missed a 3, Jamison secures the defensive board on the missed shot that resulted

3:30 missed a 3, Metta gets the offensive board

0:14 grabs an offensive board, misses the tip, then fouls Kidd trying to get possession back

0:06 missed a 3, Felton rebounds, game over.

So yeah. 5 points all game in a 9-point loss. There were far, FAR worse issues. They gave up 14 points off of turnovers, which is right away like 5x more problematic than the issue of shots off of Kobe's misses. It really is quite foolish to continue this train of thought; the Knicks game was not one where Kobe's shot selection really murdered the team. That people continue to pursue this is embarrassing.

Yes, Kobe's shot selection has always needed work but people need to remember this is a guy around whom two title squads were built and who was a huge part of 3 others (consecutively, no less). The guy is a legendary player, one of the best ever. He's not MJ, but he's damned good and with his style of play comes certain drawbacks, the same as with ANY other player. He thinks he's the best scoring option all of the time; he passes with similar frequency and efficacy as does MJ. He's a little bit in love with the 3, which causes problems at times but he tends not to bomb away when his teammates are going. This post here is about as definitive as it gets: it is FLATLY WRONG to assert that Kobe's shot selection caused this huge shift and turnaround on the team, or exerted huge pressure on their defense. Again, remember that the Lakers took 37 3PA and made only 12 of them. Jamison, Metta, Duhon, Ebanks and Meeks combined to miss 19 3PA. Metta was 3-6, so he gets a pass. Kobe was 5/11, missing only 6. The other guys combined to miss THREE TIMES as many 3PA.

Where's the issue?

Hint: If you say "Kobe," then you don't know what you're talking about and are rabidly anti-Kobe and have no sense of balance or perspective.

Nonsense. When your team is missing a hole and you ARE the STAR and with the talent to do it, you have to adapt your game for the benefit of the team, at least temporarily until Nash got back. Fact is Kobe iso offense is hurting the team offensive flow.

This is a foolish comment. You can't adapt a star player THAT much to the nature of the team. Meantime, Kobe's scoring game has been the foundation of three straight Finals appearances (including consecutive titles), and that's AFTER partnering up for three straight titles and four Finals appearances in five seasons alongside Shaq. I can't imagine how you think this is legitimate argumentation.

Everyone knows the defense is the issue. BUT what caused this defense? It's Kobe isolation and fail to run back in transition? Psychologically, it affect his teammates to consistently play defense whenever he took a tough iso shot. And no he is not the best offensive threat, not at this stage of his career. He leads the league in turnover and there's a guy name Durant.

If his teammates are as weak-minded as that, not running back in transition because they're lazy toolbags who didn't get a shot, then they are useless players. That is plain. How do you think Steve Kerr felt? He tended to take about 6 shots per game for the Bulls. What about Ho Grant? He averaged 10+ FGA/g only three times in his Chicago career.

In this game, Jamison is the only one who wasn't consistently involved after the first quarter. Metta took 15 shots, Duhon took 6, Kobe took only 24 (more than his average, but right about what his average has been at for a decade) and then Ebanks, Meeks and Dwight all took 11 shots.

Dwight is averaging 11 FGA/g this season. In Orlando, he typically averaged 12-13. Given that he's coming to a team with the spread of talent that the Lakers have, it's not surprising that his usage has gone down a little, especially since there is still Pau to consider (he's played 17 of the 24 games).

Meeks averages 6.5 FGA/g, Ebanks 4.3 and Duhon 3.4. Metta averages 10.5

You don't have a leg to stand on here, guys were getting more shots than usual, the ball was whipping around, there were tons of 3s from kick-outs and swing passes as the ball moved from corner to corner or from the post to the wing. There is nothing to the notion that these guys were feeling lazy because they weren't involved in the offense, that's total crap.

[markjay]

Actually, that is spectacularly false. A recent published analysis indicated that Kobe's missed shots resulted in offensive rebounds, and successful put backs, at one of the highest rates in the league -- which is one of the reasons he has such a high offensive rating. So you have it exactly opposite.

With guys like Dwight/Gasol/Odom/Bynum it's not a surprise the Lakers have always been amongst the best at grabbing offensive boards. Would you see the same phenomenon if he still had to play with the likes of Kwame Brown or Chris Mihm?

Kobe's style has always been detrimental to playing team basketball. What helped cover up Kobe's lack of playmaking is the bigs Kobe gets to play with. Shaq is great at drawing and passing out of double teams, and Odom/Gasol is a versatile frontcourt that can attack a defense in many ways. In general, Kobe had the most team success when his frontcourt partners are great passers. With Gasol being pushed out of the perimeter to make room for Bynum/Dwight and Dwight being a terrible initiator you no longer see the same rhythm with the Laker's offense compared to their 2 peat period.

If Kobe continues to play like a madman without fundamentals like years past then the team is not going to get anywhere no matter what changes they make to the roster or the coaching staff. In the end you only have Kobe to blame because he could not be the leader the team needs.

The offensive rebound and put back rate on Kobe's misses has been higher than for misses by other Lakers. That can't be due to the fact that the Lakers have good bigs.

The point was and is wrong. People just pull things out of their hat to attack Kobe.

[starquest52]

Kobes doing a pretty good job especially considering all the injuries the lakers have dealt with.

[tsherkin]

If Kobe continues to play like a madman without fundamentals like years past then the team is not going to get anywhere no matter what changes they make to the roster or the coaching staff. In the end you only have Kobe to blame because he could not be the leader the team needs.

5 titles on team with contention-quality rosters seem to disagree vehemently with the idea that Kobe clashes with a winning agenda. Remember that. Kobe's got 5 rings in 7 Finals appearances. The lowest ORTG the team has ever had was the 03-04 105.5, which was 6th in the league at the nadir of league offensive efficiency, just prior to the rules changes. From 05 through 07 (aka pre-Gasol), the Lakers were still 7th (108.1), 8th (108.4) and 7th (108.6) in offensive efficiency, and that's with basically Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown and so forth running L.A.'s frontcourt. Oh, and we can't forget the immortal Slava Medvedenko and the clutch Samaki Walker, can we? To say nothing of Smush Parker and the gang.

Even last year, with an aged Kobe, no Odom and an incompetent coach, the Lakers were at 106.0 and 10th in the league offensively. They were able to drive forward on the back of Kobe's offensive performance and make it into the second round after the equivalent of a 51-win season (and to be fair, the lockout suppressed overall offensive efficiency). I think that says a lot. Kobe's still capable of driving very good teams. You can't win the title every year and titles are won with the proper mix of savvy coaching, management support and player performance. Let's not forget how awful was Metta last season, or that L.A. as a whole was 26th in 3P% on the season. Or that Kobe missed 8 RS games, Bynum missed 6, they had a mid-season trade, their coach was a boob, etc.

The idea that Kobe doesn't mix with a plan to win is just absurd, it's all he's done throughout his entire career. There have been rough patches here and there, but the Lakers have also experienced some major upheavals during the 17 years that Kobe's been on the team. That's a long time, man. Shaq trade, Odom going crazy, Phil leaving/the lockout, various injuries (including several through which Kobe himself has played), these are not minor events. Their effects stack, and the Lakers still have 5 titles in 7 appearances in that time frame.

Food for thought.

Kobe continues to be a viable franchise centerpiece, and it is asinine to suggest otherwise. He's not perfect, but no player is, all have their flaws. Kobe still gives his teams a really good chance to win. It would behoove L.A. to figure out what is making Dwight so ineffective on defense, to try hard to get healthy and to wonder how many more times going forward Jim Buss will sacrifice winning basketball to assuage his ego.