Technical Question: Bynum and Double Teams?

[tsherkin]

Kobe's biggest thing is he likes to be the leading scorer, and to score a lot. And there's nothing wrong with that. Nash is going to facilitate Kobe shooting a lot, and getting better looks.

I can't fathom a conflict here.

[dockingsched]

Kobe's biggest thing is he likes to be the leading scorer, and to score a lot. And there's nothing wrong with that.

eh, i don't know about that.

[tsherkin]

eh, i don't know about that.

What else is he going to do? He isn't a Pippen-like facilitator (though talented), he can't impact a game on D the way he used to. He's a scorer.

Remember 97 Jordan? 98 Jordan? Kobe is playing a similar role.

The Lakers can afford to have him scale back his volume from its current levels, no doubt, but he'll still be the primary scoring weapon and Nash will help make that a worthwhile choice. Kobe's shot selection should, in principle, improve this season except in clutch situations (and maybe even then) because of Nash's presence on the team.

I wouldn't want to ram the ball into Bynum too much; Phil knew that, Bynum isn't a good enough passer or a quick enough thinker to justify using as a primary offensive tool and we've seen what Pau does as a #1. It's clearly Kobe here, especially with Nash orchestrating the offensive balance.

[dockingsched]

i think there's a lot of room between being a pippen like facilitator and taking shots at the highest rate in the league with the lowest efficiency of your career. there was plenty wrong about that this past season. im hopefully with nash here and a training camp, that'll change.

[tsherkin]

i think there's a lot of room between being a pippen like facilitator and taking shots at the highest rate in the league with the lowest efficiency of your career. there was plenty wrong about that this past season. im hopefully with nash here and a training camp, that'll change.

Yeah, notice how I distinguished between "being the leading scorer" and "top 10 single-season USG%," yes?

Kobe's 11-12 season wasn't as bad as his 05-06 season (which is the highest single-season USG% ever in the NBA), but it was 9th overall. 23.0 FGA/g in 38.6 mpg at a team pace of 90.5 possessions per game. Yikes. Especially next to his highest TOV% since 04-05 (although it was still not bad in general, especially against that volume of usage).

He'll be able to relax a lot more, and his efficiency should rise based on the type of shots he gets. I could see him settling back to his 08, 09 levels and that would be great.

[dockingsched]

i think there's a lot of room between being a pippen like facilitator and taking shots at the highest rate in the league with the lowest efficiency of your career. there was plenty wrong about that this past season. im hopefully with nash here and a training camp, that'll change.

Yeah, notice how I distinguished between "being the leading scorer" and "top 10 single-season USG%," yes?

""top 10 single-season USG%" is what i'd refer to as "when wanting to be the leading scorer goes wrong", so yeah, i wouldn't say "there's nothing wrong with that". clearly there can be something wrong with it if taken to extreme levels like this past season.

Kobe's 11-12 season wasn't as bad as his 05-06 season (which is the highest single-season USG% ever in the NBA), but it was 9th overall. 23.0 FGA/g in 38.6 mpg at a team pace of 90.5 possessions per game. Yikes. Especially next to his highest TOV% since 04-05 (although it was still not bad in general, especially against that volume of usage).

He'll be able to relax a lot more, and his efficiency should rise based on the type of shots he gets. I could see him settling back to his 08, 09 levels and that would be great.

i hope so, and think he will. with nash, he has to.

[tsherkin]

""top 10 single-season USG%" is what i'd refer to as "when wanting to be the leading scorer goes wrong", so yeah, i wouldn't say "there's nothing wrong with that". clearly there can be something wrong with it if taken to extreme levels like this past season.

I didn't say there was nothing wrong with what he did this past season. I think that's harmful. But Kobe's shown that when the team is working (such as in 08 and 09 and even in 10), he's willing to drop his usage a little. He did it in 04, he did it earlier while he was ramping up with Shaq...

He just wants to be the team's primary focus and leading scorer... which is just fine. If the team can curb him back to between 30 and 32% usage, which seems very likely, he'll be fine and so too will the team be fine.

[dockingsched]

you separate wanting to be a leading scorer from anything he did last season, i don't. just semantics.

on a more long term look, kobe's desire to be a leading scorer is why i think kobe will retire "on top" like he said he would rather than go through an ugly downfall which i no doubt would expect.

[Kilroy]

I want Kobe to take all the shots he want's... As long as he's making them at a high rate...
And if he's not, I hope he trusts Nash to find someone who is.

As for Bynum and Double teams, does anybody think our offense has a lot to do with his inability to pass out of doubles?
It seemed like we like to dump the ball to him and then clear out to his weak side... His back is to the basket and all his passing targets except maybe Blake or Sessions were behind him where he couldn't see him... Or am I making **** up?

[The Skyhook]

You're not making anything up. The great thing about Nash is his basketball IQ is too high for him to allow something like this to happen. I've said it in another thread and I'll say it again. I believe Nash will help Bynum get better at passing out of the double team.

[tsherkin]

you separate wanting to be a leading scorer from anything he did last season, i don't. just semantics.

No, that's wrong. Kobe has shown throughout his career that he doesn't NEED to set astronomical, record-setting levels of usage, and that he only does it when the team is really, really crappy. C'mon, 05-06 was an insane period of down-time for roster talent and the team was HORRENDOUS last year after Odom's departure because of the spacing issues and lack of competent perimeter play besides Kobe. It was inevitable that he was going to do that. And they had similar troubles in 2011 at times, with various pieces of internal turmoil contributing. 08-10 should be taken as a more likely scenario here, only even more advantageous because Nash is a far better facilitator than Odom will ever be (no disrespect to Lamar, of course, since he played very well).

[dockingsched]

i never said he NEEDS to go ape **** on the attempts, i simply said he has and therefore makes the comment "there's nothing wrong with that" something i can't agree with. there was plenty wrong with it last yr.

[tsherkin]

i never said he NEEDS to go ape **** on the attempts, i simply said he has and therefore makes the comment "there's nothing wrong with that" something i can't agree with. there was plenty wrong with it last yr.

Right, but "there's nothing wrong with it" was never intended to justify what he did last year. That's your own invention.

I said there's nothing wrong with him wanting to be the leading scorer on the team, not with him setting NBA records for usage. That's the mistake your making here.

[dockingsched]

like i said, you make a disconnect between what he did last yr and with him wanting to be the leading scorer, i don't.

[rand0m]

Baffles me that someone would say Bynum doesn't get doubled. And Kobe may not be a great at catch and shooting from 3pt but he's far from "never made a catch and shoot 3 pointer in his life". He simply does not get many. And his shot selection from 3 was really frustrating this year. Kobe has never been a catch and shoot player his whole career. It's just not his game so why would anyone expect him to settle for one when he gets a pass.

[tsherkin]

like i said, you make a disconnect between what he did last yr and with him wanting to be the leading scorer, i don't.

They're related only so far, since he's previously proved capable and willing to defer that kind of shooting volume if the offensive talent and organization around him supports it. He does that when he feels the team needs him to do it... and last year, they kind of did. Just like in 06. With Nash, it won't be an issue.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Goods points from everyone but know need to argue what Bynum would or wouldn't do as a #1 option because no one knows until he's put in that position. Had he never been injured I'm sure he'd be close to that though

He is the #1 option now.

We shall see.