Kobe and the Art of Making Difficult Shots

[Old_Blue]

Kobe must have been efficient, because how do you win back-to-back championships as the #1 scoring option for your team without being efficient? Kobe was taking way more shots than everyone, so if he was shooting so badly they surely wouldn't have won back-to-back...

Thank you. In a few words, you may well have exemplified what every Kobe Stan thinks. Stats be damned. Kobe Standom exists in a realm of "alternative facts."

[Jimmy Recard]

Kobe didn’t care about his advanced stats nor his efficiency. His sole goal was to win the basketball game no matter what. And I don’t think he shot difficult shots just for the cool factor. He was so confident of his abilities that he took any shot, whether there was one or three defenders on him. In some degree, to him no shot was a bad shot.

If “no shot was a bad” from Kobe’s standpoint like you said, wouldn’t that bring into question is bball IQ then? The inability to understand the difference between a good shot and a bad shot?

[MrBigShot]

This is precisely what separates him from Michael Jordan. MJ consistently got better quality looks and was more selective about his shot attempts.

But damn was it fun to watch Kobe routinely make impossible shots in his prime.

[FrobeBryant]

Kobe didn’t care about his advanced stats nor his efficiency. His sole goal was to win the basketball game no matter what. And I don’t think he shot difficult shots just for the cool factor. He was so confident of his abilities that he took any shot, whether there was one or three defenders on him. In some degree, to him no shot was a bad shot.

If “no shot was a bad” from Kobe’s standpoint like you said, wouldn’t that bring into question is bball IQ then? The inability to understand the difference between a good shot and a bad shot?

No because his confidence (you could call it ego) overrode his IQ lol. There’s been plenty of examples of that from great players. Lebrons flashy passing that would at times result in a turnovers or even Curry taking logo three point shots that clank. They’re not by basketball IQ great decisions, but those players have so much confidence in themselves that it didn’t matter.

[parapooper]

PS TS+ during 7-year stretch including finals runs as the main guy:
Kobe 06-12: 104
MJ 91-98: 104

[Old_Blue]

One of Kobe's most famous quotes was this...

I would go 0-30 before I would go 0-9. 0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game.

This was the kind of knucklehead you were dealing with in Kobe.

[bonita_the_frog]

Kobe must have been efficient, because how do you win back-to-back championships as the #1 scoring option for your team without being efficient? Kobe was taking way more shots than everyone, so if he was shooting so badly they surely wouldn't have won back-to-back...

Thank you. In a few words, you may well have exemplified what every Kobe Stan thinks. Stats be damned. Kobe Standom exists in a realm of "alternative facts."

But how did Kobe win those 2 championships with Gasol? Gasol is really good, but he's not Shaq. And Odom/Bynum were flawed.
And I've never been a Laker fan, and Kobe has never been my favorite player, so I'm just using objective reasoning...
Winning TWO rings in a row is suppose do be really hard, and we've seen how hard its been in the last 10 years.

[FarBeyondDriven]

he was a talented chucker with low BBIQ and terrible leadership. When you're always taking the shot you're bound to hit a few. People forget he missed the large majority of his "difficult shots" and they were difficult because he's a low BBIQ chucker that chose to go 1 on 2, 3 or 4 instead of creating for his wide open teammates. That's not "art". He's legendary because of the rings but he only got those because he inherited in-prime Shaq, got Phil, had teammates that bailed him out with huge shots and the 2002 and 2010 playoffs had corrupt officiating. Otherwise we'd likely talk about him like we do Iverson and Melo.

[SpreeS]

Kobe must have been efficient, because how do you win back-to-back championships as the #1 scoring option for your team without being efficient? Kobe was taking way more shots than everyone, so if he was shooting so badly they surely wouldn't have won back-to-back...

Thank you. In a few words, you may well have exemplified what every Kobe Stan thinks. Stats be damned. Kobe Standom exists in a realm of "alternative facts."

But how did Kobe win those 2 championships with Gasol? Gasol is really good, but he's not Shaq. And Odom/Bynum were flawed.
And I've never been a Laker fan, and Kobe has never been my favorite player, so I'm just using objective reasoning...
Winning TWO rings in a row is suppose do be really hard, and we've seen how hard its been in the last 10 years.

Show me the better front court than this in 09/10

Gasol 29y
Odom 30y
Metta 30y
Bynum 23y

[manlisten]

Kobe was 1000% a player you had to watch to truly appreciate. I think that maxim applies to him moreso than almost any other player. For instance, you could glance at a prime Harden statline and more or less assume what it looked like even if you didn't see the game. Kobe had a flair for the dramatic and a disregard for failure that led him to become one of the most entertaining performers of all time in any field. Phil Jackson accused him of purposely sabotaging high school games to make them more heroic and I completely believe he did the same thing in the NBA.

He was absolutely capable of playing a hyper efficient style and demonstrated this often. There were many games where he started off shooting a high percentage and then would appear to get bored and challenge himself with unnecessarily difficult shots that he wasn't taking prior. Numerous high efficiency games in the playoffs against teams like San Antonio in an era when guards weren't typically knocking down 50, 60% from the field. The game where everyone thinks he "quit" against Phoenix, he had 23 points in the first half on 61% from the field and 66% from 3. The Lakers were down 15.

Some people prefer a scorer like KD who could score 20 in a first half and finish the game with 31 points. Never taking any risks and declining full court heaves to conserve his precious FG%. Others appreciate the maniacal approach of Kobe who seemed to feed off of the pursuit of discovering the limits of human potential on a nightly basis even if it wasn't always pretty.

[iggymcfrack]

Kobe's tough shot making was amazing, but comparing it to uber efficient scorers like KD or Jokic, its value drastically diminishes

The thing with uber efficient players like Dirk or Jokic, is that when facing defenses that take away their strengths, there is seldomly any adjustment. So they disappear entirely because they get figured out. More so Jokic.

Since when does Jokic disappear in the playoffs? He’s top 10 all-time in the playoffs in PPG and top 20 in APG. 2nd all-time in BPM. He's probably the most consistent postseason creator since Jordan.

[bonita_the_frog]

Thank you. In a few words, you may well have exemplified what every Kobe Stan thinks. Stats be damned. Kobe Standom exists in a realm of "alternative facts."

But how did Kobe win those 2 championships with Gasol? Gasol is really good, but he's not Shaq. And Odom/Bynum were flawed.
And I've never been a Laker fan, and Kobe has never been my favorite player, so I'm just using objective reasoning...
Winning TWO rings in a row is suppose do be really hard, and we've seen how hard its been in the last 10 years.

Show me the better front court than this in 09/10

Gasol 29y
Odom 30y
Metta 30y
Bynum 23y

I know they had the best front-court in the NBA, and Bynum was a good scorer, but only attempted 10.0 and 10.6 shots per game during the 2 championship years.

And Odom didn't score much during the 2 championship years (11.3ppg, 10.8ppg), and Artest 17ppg the 1st championship year but only 11ppg the 2nd.

So if Kobe is as inefficient as people say, and as streaky as people say, its surprising they had enough offense to compensate for his bad shooting nights... because Gasol was the only one who could carry the offense when Kobe was off.

[druggas]

If you didn't watch his every game, you can't appreciate the player.

[bonita_the_frog]

I think maybe Kobe actually was very efficient and very consistent, because maybe if we look at his worst shooting games he probably knew he had to draw fouls in those games and get a lot of free-throws to off-set the bad shooting.
And Kobe had the best footwork in the NBA, so he was very good at drawing fouls when he needed to.

That's what happened in the famous Game 7 vs. Boston, he got 15 free-throw attempts so his 6-24 shooting didn't cost LA the championship.
BTW in that 2010 NBA Finals, Bynum averaged 7.4 points, and Odom averaged 7.6 points, and Artest 10.6 points, Gasol 18.6 and Kobe 28.6 points per game.

[The4thHorseman]

If you didn't watch his every game, you can't appreciate the player.

I appreciated his public trade demands more.

[og15]

I think maybe Kobe actually was very efficient and very consistent, because maybe if we look at his worst shooting games he probably knew he had to draw fouls in those games and get a lot of free-throws to off-set the bad shooting.
And Kobe had the best footwork in the NBA, so he was very good at drawing fouls when he needed to.

That's what happened in the famous Game 7 vs. Boston, he got 15 free-throw attempts so his 6-24 shooting didn't cost LA the championship.
BTW in that 2010 NBA Finals, Bynum averaged 7.4 points, and Odom averaged 7.6 points, and Artest 10.6 points, Gasol 18.6 and Kobe 28.6 points per game.

Basketball is played on both ends, Lakers won because they were a great on offense, defense and rebounding. Kobe didn't decide to get FT's because he was missing, it was just how they physical game played out.

They won in spite of the 6/24 because they defended, they rebounded (this includes Kobe). If Kobe's ability to impact games was mainly due to his scoring and he wasn't that great of an all-round guy, they don't win.

[druggas]

If you didn't watch his every game, you can't appreciate the player.

:lol: I appreciated his public trade demands more.

You proved my point.

[NoStatsGuy]

Kobe must have been efficient, because how do you win back-to-back championships as the #1 scoring option for your team without being efficient? Kobe was taking way more shots than everyone, so if he was shooting so badly they surely wouldn't have won back-to-back...

Thank you. In a few words, you may well have exemplified what every Kobe Stan thinks. Stats be damned. Kobe Standom exists in a realm of "alternative facts."

2025 and you still think stats tell the whole story?

no one said hes kevin durant in terms of efficiency. Your guys' obsession with efficiency doesnt apply to kobe's era at all.

you can say what you want, repeat as much as you want, Kobe has something about him that made him very special on the court. Just because YOU cant see it, doesnt mean its not there.

If you hate on him for the r*ape stuff, thats fair. Im not talking about that.

[hauntedcomputer]

You just explained "Mamba Mentality"

It's a cult delusion based on emotion instead of logic.

I mean, look at this thread.

"WILL TO WIN!!!"

"He just wanted the ball in his hands WHEN IT MATTERED!!!"

"Sometimes you got to miss some to make some!!!"

"There's just something you SEE when you watch him!"

At least now it's been long enough to discuss this without death threats.

[sashaturiaf]

One of Kobe's most famous quotes was this...

I would go 0-30 before I would go 0-9. 0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game.

This was the kind of knucklehead you were dealing with in Kobe.

Knucklehead had 5 titles where the 3rd best player on his team was usually Derek Fisher, I'd love to see what a high IQ baller could do in his place