falcolombardi wrote:Joao Saraiva wrote:Early on selections are definitely deserved. He was a great defender almost from the start, in 2000 he was already elite in that regard.
I'd say he defended very well until 2005 at least on a consistent basis.
Then he took possessions off to foccus on offense more, but when it was needed he showed great defense. Man to man he was really good and had very good footwork. It just comes with aging, no player is capable to carry offensive plus defensive burden all the time. It takes a lot on your body.
I'd say some are undeserved, but let's not act like he wasn't an all time great in that regard.
I think this may be true if we focus only on 1vs1 defense, kobe made a lot of mistakes and slow rotations off ball
Later in his career I think you are correct. When he was younger he definitely wasn't a liability rotating.