Shots fired: Kobe's defense

[Slava]

THE L.A. LEAKERS
An Open Letter to Kobe Bryant About His Defense
By Zach Lowe on March 26, 2013 1:27 PM ET
Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

Dear Kobe Bryant,

In the middle of a playoff chase that has you clinging tenaciously to the no. 8 seed and yapping about how you have to take more control of the team’s defensive strategy, why are you doing this?

In the 71st game of your 17th season, in the midst of a “heated” playoff “race,” why are you still watching your own errant jump shot while your mark, Klay Thompson, beats you back in transition for an open 3-pointer? Thompson doesn’t exactly take off like Corey Brewer, either, and he still beats you down the floor by several steps.

Why is this still happening? It’s almost April, and Bryant and the Lakers still can’t figure out transition defense, or defense in general.

Bryant, as the whole Internet (including this corner of it) has noted repeatedly, has been an irresponsible off-ball defender all season. He gambles out of scheme whenever he feels like it, often turning his back completely to his man, and several of Washington’s 11 3s during the Lakers’ home loss to the Wiz on Friday were the direct result of Bryant deciding he didn’t want to play team defense any longer.

. If Bryant makes first or second-team All-Defense again this season, I’m officially ignoring this honor indefinitely when it comes to assessing a player’s status and career accomplishments. There will be no more “Player X has seven first-team All-Defense appearances” in this space as a way of justifying a man’s place in the NBA hierarchy. Bryant isn’t the first player coasting to undeserved All-Defense appearances based on reputation, but if he makes it again this season, it will be his most egregious appearance ever, and one of the most egregious in league history. It’s probably already time to start ignoring these honors, since Carlos Boozer received what I hope was an accidental vote last season, but Bryant’s selection would make it official.

Grantland

[JohnVancouver]

Yup - I'm a believer that for the very special, the undisputed geniuses, that they make their own rules to some extent cf. Nash, in his prime, left his feet constantly when passing and made it work ... but Kobe is a brilliant basketball player and it should be as obvious to him as it is to everyone else that what he's doing just plain ain't working.

[Sedale Threatt]

Kobe is also exceptionally stubborn and arrogant, which does not lend itself to the kind of introspection that would yield such a conclusion. I would go a step further than Lowe and say Kobe's last few selections have been every bit as egregious. How he keeps making those teams is just baffling to me, especially considering they're voted on by the one group of people that should know the NBA's personnel better than anybody else on the planet.

[GeneralNash]

To be fair Kobe is coming off an ankle injury and the flu. Most people would not play for a month or two on a severe ankle sprain.

But at the same token he has left his man open on numerous occassions...but it just hasn't been kobe doing this...it has been blake as well...leaving guys open at the arc. This is a coaching problem as much as it is a Kobe problem.

I still think Kobe deserves 1st all defensive team because his on the ball defense this year is still second to none in this league. He shut down Kyrie Irving one on one...and a lot of younger quicker guys one on one to close out games.

[Imadogg]

I still think Kobe deserves 1st all defensive team because his on the ball defense this year is still second to none in this league. He shut down Kyrie Irving one on one...and a lot of younger quicker guys one on one to close out games.

[TyCobb]

From a nerf gun.

[Speedlot]

Honestly... it almost seems if the lakers WANT the 8th seed, and not the 7th or 6th seed.

[Kilroy]

I thought that too for a while, but this just reeks of ineptitude, not a master plan.

[Soul Chef Fresh]

I thought that too for a while, but this just reeks of ineptitude, not a master plan.

Maybe they're that damn good at acting? My heart strings can't take much more of this. I'm going to believe that they're gunning for 8th, rather than 6th or 7th.

[Tee212]

lol here we go again

[Wavy Q]

Too many shots fired: Kobe's offense

[Dr Aki]

here's another:

Last night, after the Golden State Warriors held on late to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers after bombarding them for three quarters, Kobe Bryant decided to pick up the microphone (relatively speaking) and say a few choice words about his team's defense. He talked about the scheme. He talked about the importance of communication. He talked about the need to make adjustments. His comments were 100% accurate. There's just one problem.

Kobe Bryant has no business criticizing the team's defense. Not when he's done this. And this. And this. Those are all posts, by three different authors, two of which are born and bred Lakers fans, criticizing Kobe Bryant for his horrific defense this season. Kobe has not been a consistently awful defender, but for large swaths of the season, he has defended recklessly, idiotically, or he simply hasn't defended at all. Kobe doesn't just gamble, he plays Russian Roulette without taking out any of the bullets. He doesn't just collapse to the paint, he ball-watches as if in a hypnotic trance.

It is impossible to tell if the Lakers have a defensive scheme problem, because first and foremost, their defense has a Kobe Bryant problem. The Lakers defense has rarely been on the same page, whether Bryant is involved or not. But Kobe's defense isn't even in the same book as the rest of the team's. I don't see anybody else on the Lakers double teaming random players off the ball. I don't see too many instances of anybody else comically over-gambling the passing lanes. And at least 80% of the Lakers' most egregious cases of ball-watching (something which does happen to everybody from time to time) seem to involve Kobe Bryant as well. If any of these actions are a part of the Lakers' defensive scheme, then Mike D'Antoni should have been fired the moment he unveiled it. But, since nobody else on the team is doing this ****, it seems pretty clear that Kobe is the one breaking the defensive playbook.

[Slava]

Yo imaDong tweet this **** to Kobe brah!

[Imadogg]

One of his followers need to do it I don't use twitter nor does he follow me

[Imadogg]

Too many shots fired: Kobe's offense

Wow so simple yet so perfect

[Doormatt]

One of his followers need to do it I don't use twitter nor does he follow me

'
he told me he wouldnt follow you anyway because youre a `****. his words not mine

[Free Rider]

Every single word in that article is absolutely true. Kobe's team defense this year has been inexcusable and has been endemic of the overall lack of defense on this team. Game after game he continues to blow key defensive assignments, displays a lack of interest in the concept of team defense, and has been one of the biggest offenders in the piss poor transition defense. He has no business being on first or second-team All-Defense this year and in all honesty probably shouldn't have been on the last couple either. You may have been able to rationalize his last couple of appearances (although personally I would have gone with Iggy, Wade and Tony Allen over him) but if he receives yet another they just need to get rid of the entire honor altogether because it's utterly meaningless.

[kobe808lak]

He treats whoever he is guarding like freaking Rondo.... just 8 feet off zone, mostly ignoring his man... also, gambling on every single pass that is on his side of the court.

[JohnVancouver]

More - it's dogpile on kobe time. Not that it ain't true


http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2013 ... -no-bounds

[Slava]

One of his followers need to do it I don't use twitter nor does he follow me

I'm surprised you don't have twitter. I'd assume you'd be sending Kobe DMs everyday and he must have blocked you within a day.