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People keep telling me Kobe has lost a step or will this year or something like that. I personally think he has not at all. This board has the classiest fans is the best board and I take most of the fans here opinions as gold so I really want to know what you guys think.
Please give me as much info possible.

Yes, he has lost a step. He is not as explosive as he was 3-4 years ago. The same can be said for every player of similar age.

BUT -- the real question is whether he is declining as a basketball player. The answer to that...No. Kobe is still getting better, IMHO.

Scary.

He has lost a step but he's far from being ineffective. He isn't as explosive and doesn't split the double teams like he used to. He has stellar footwork to weave through defenses, but he doesn't have the same athleticism as he did when he was younger. I think his hops haven't been as good either. The good thing is that his strength and endurance (although that has tapered off a bit as well) are still good.

Still one of the most athletic 2's in the league out of the starting 2's?

Name the sg's who start that are more athletic just want opinions.

fareweatherfan wrote:Yes, he has lost a step. He is not as explosive as he was 3-4 years ago. The same can be said for every player of similar age.

BUT -- the real question is whether he is declining as a basketball player. The answer to that...No. Kobe is still getting better, IMHO.

Scary.

+1

Yeah Kobe's lost athleticism sure. But as fareweather's saying Kobe's changed up his game to make him more economical, more efficient.

As to name better 2's out there...IMO there are not very many pure SGs in the league and a greater lack of greatness there. Really there's only been a handful of amazing 2's since Kobe's been in the league.

Dexmor wrote:Name the sg's who start that are more athletic just want opinions.

hmm

iguidala
wade (but not that much, honestly I dont think wade is realy that athletic he just have a great body conrol like kobe, but hes quicker than kobe for sure)
carter(but not that much due to injuries )
tmac?
richardson? ( when I watch him play he doesnt look that athletic anymore, he can jump yea but he has a very poor "1st step" )


I think kobe is still more athletic than these sgs

broy (but roy is quicker and has very good first step)
pierce
allen
ginobili
joe johnson
redd
kevin martin (but hes quicker)

today's sgs are small 6'2-6'4 so they will be probably more quicker/faster than kobe. but kobe doesnt need to be as athletic as he used to be, to keep up with these athletic/quicker/faster sgs kobe has great body control, hes very smart, and hes still athletic enough to own these guys and drop 50 on them if he wants to

fareweatherfan wrote:Yes, he has lost a step. He is not as explosive as he was 3-4 years ago. The same can be said for every player of similar age.

BUT -- the real question is whether he is declining as a basketball player. The answer to that...No. Kobe is still getting better, IMHO.

Scary.

IF you've lost a step, your decling,

Of course he lost athleticism. He was at his athletic prime in 03-05.

Do you guys remember some of the dunks he did in 03-04 before he got injured?

He's still amongst the top 10% of athletes in the league right now, despite losing some since his peak days. He still blew by Wade a couple of times in the last couple of seasons and the elevation he gets on his fadeaway is best since Jordan.

He's shed some explosiveness on his jumping and his first step due to age, but his improved/improving skills will allow him to be effective for many years as he continues to decline athletically. Some what the same way Jordan kept his game on top as his physical gifts dropped. How much will he decline, I'm not really sure.

What sg's are smaller? Eric Gorden and Mayo is not a new trend but just 2 players.

Dexmor wrote:What sg's are smaller? Eric Gorden and Mayo is not a new trend but just 2 players.

lee, westbrook, ellis, ben gordon

Yes, he's lost a step as well as some hops. Like others have said, he's made up for it by continually improving his game so it's not something I would worry about.

You have to keep in mind that he's been playing almost year around the past 2 years (Olympics, deep NBA playoff runs) so that takes its toll as well. It'll be interesting to see how he comes out next season now that he's been able to give those legs some extended rest.

Magicontinues wrote:

fareweatherfan wrote:Yes, he has lost a step. He is not as explosive as he was 3-4 years ago. The same can be said for every player of similar age.

BUT -- the real question is whether he is declining as a basketball player. The answer to that...No. Kobe is still getting better, IMHO.

Scary.

IF you've lost a step, your decling,

You could not be more wrong. Athleticism is only one aspect of a player. There are countless others. A player can obviously lose athleticism (or a step, or whatever you name it) and improve other areas of his game, with the net result being positive. See e.g. KOBE BRYANT.

Yeah he lost some athleticism but thats due to age but Kobe has the fundamentals down im not trying to start anything but a player like Lebron is going to have a problem when he gets in his 30s because he isnt very fundamental not saying he wont develop fundamentals but right now he relies to much on athleticism

lee, westbrook, ellis, ben gordon

..................

Westbrook is a pg. Courtney Lee is 6'5.
Those are just undersized sg's. It's not a trend imo. They have always been around, Starks Dumars

fareweatherfan wrote:[quote="

IF you've lost a step, your decling,
You could not be more wrong. Athleticism is only one aspect of a player. There are countless others. A player can obviously lose athleticism (or a step, or whatever you name it) and improve other areas of his game, with the net result being positive. See e.g. KOBE BRYANT.

I guess it depends on what you define "losing a step" means, to me it means he's not as fast, can't jump as high, which hurts anyone's game some.


Sure Kobe's a great player, but he is declining in his skill set, no matter how much he improves in other aspects of this game, it can't make up for slower step and less explosive jumping, Time will tell if he can still carry us over the next two to three years, as he declines further.

At some point, even Jordan's "experience" and maturity couldn't make up for his "losing a step"

Magicontinues wrote:

fareweatherfan wrote:[quote="

IF you've lost a step, your decling,
You could not be more wrong. Athleticism is only one aspect of a player. There are countless others. A player can obviously lose athleticism (or a step, or whatever you name it) and improve other areas of his game, with the net result being positive. See e.g. KOBE BRYANT.

I guess it depends on what you define "losing a step" means, to me it means he's not as fast, can't jump as high, which hurts anyone's game some.


Sure Kobe's a great player, but he is declining in his skill set, no matter how much he improves in other aspects of this game, it can't make up for slower step and less explosive jumping, Time will tell if he can still carry us over the next two to three years, as he declines further.

At some point, even Jordan's "experience" and maturity couldn't make up for his "losing a step"

you dont get it it's not just athleticism, you can be a freak of nature like james white but you dont have the skills/bball IQ to back it up

whos more athletic james white or brandoy roy? white of course

but whos more skilled/higher bbal iq? ROY

whos the better player? ROY