Kobe Needs to Let It Go

[Tonyism74]

We all know this, whether we shriek in silence or not, Kobe needs to start passing. In the past, his physical gifts allowed him to takeover and it produced W's, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he limits his team. Its not fair that he gets to shoot a very low percentage shot just to get some rhythm going, and then stares down another player that missed an open shot, or who didn't pass the ball up to him.

Kobe needs to start facilitating more; I recall various times when he would facilitate and allow his other players to gain some level of confidence or rhythm with some pretty good results.

He took nearly 40 shots yesterday at a lower fg percentage than the other starters. How many assists? 1.

[Slava]

Bro, its like you guys haven't followed him for his first 18 seasons. He will shoot more when we aren't winning, he will shoot more when he is in doubt and generally he shoots until he shoots us to a win. This is even more magnified when you lack a proper offensive system or philosophy for the role players to remain confident about.

[Kilroy]

Kobe truly believes every time he shoots that the ball's going in. He's never questioned it. He doesn't have that internal voice that questions the logic of shooting the shot.
So he needs and EXTERNAL voice. In Scott's system, that has to be the PG.

Kobe's been in the media basically begging Lin to take the ball out of his hands. So Lin needs to stop responding to the iso calls and run the plays he knows will be productive.

Like when Hill had the hot hand against the Clips... They should have been riding that until his arms fell off.

[crazyeights]

Tale as old as time:

Facts: Lakers lose, with Kobe shooting a high volume of shots.

Fan #1: Kobe shoots too much!!!

Fan #2: Yeah, but take a look at [2nd/3rd "best" player]--he doesn't have any help!

/end scene

How many damn years am I gonna see the same deflection--no the blame should go here!...do we realize that these concepts aren't mutually exclusive?

Kobe did shoot too much. AND his teammates lacked aggression. Just want people to realize that, you know after 19 seasons of watching the same old **** over and over. Both can be true. It's pretty simple. Kobe can be both at fault AND needing more help.

[madmaxmedia]

Just like crazyeights said- he may have shot too much, but he also kept the Lakers in the game. The bigger problem is that the team overall is not good.

He wasn't super efficient, but got more points than shots and looked a lot smoother than expected for someone who basically just started playing again after over a year off. I feel like it's equally possible that he will get better or worse later in the year- he'll either be really warmed up in 20 games, or his 36 year old high mileage body will start getting gassed single-handedly trying to keep them in games.

At some point in 4th quarter, it SHOULD be Kobe time (just like MJ did his whole career.) Absolutely no one else on the team can create a makable shot out of nothing like he can. But hopefully before that, a few of the other guys have established some sort of rhythm in case the ball goes their way. I think MJ was better at pacing himself and his team in the first 3 quarters.

[Sina24]

Who do you expect him to exactly pass the ball to Lin is absolutely lost on the court Carlos boozer hasn't played basketball since he left Utah nick young injured Wesley Johnson don't know how he still even in the league all he has is Jordan hill that he even trusts

[13th Man]

Lin was quite assertive yesterday early on. He started off really well actually and was iced by BScott for a long time, I do recall Lin picking up a few fouls but feel that he didn't need to sit that long when he was contributing effectively.

Lin wasn't really able to run the show while playing only 27 minutes while the rest of the starters all play over 30. Kobe played 44. Lin took 8 shots in 27 mins and got to the line 5 times, not too passive.

[Jedi32]

I agree lin should have played more.

[ArC_man]

Lin wasn't feeling well, he was taking some medicine mid game.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ7jib0Qn1c&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

[ChokeFasncists]

Lin wasn't feeling well, he was taking some medicine mid game.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ7jib0Qn1c&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Thanks! Lin didn't look quite right last night.

That may explain why he played so well at the beginning and then sat out for so long.

[MoLakers]

Totally agreed. Yeah when the team sucks we know he shoots more. Thats the problem. Nbas a team game and players need their rhythm. He had a nice pass to lin but a whopping 1 assist total and what 40 shots? Every fast break he never even looked at his teammates. Lin has very little fault here. He needs the ball to be affective. We all know lin can drive and feeds bigs and gets good looks. He had a tough matchup with ebled but man kobe is shooting everytime he gets it. I dont care if we lose but trust.. If we move the ball and get everyone involved, we'll be in most games. Its not about nick young, nash, randle being out. We need to move the ball and have everyone be involved and it starts with kobe having some sense to pass. Maybe bring lin off the bench so he can get away from kobe for a few minutes. I thought james harden dominating the ball was bad for him but dang kobes sky high usage rate and miniscule desire to pass gives me other ideas

[-G-]

Yes, he should pass to Wesley Johnson and Carlos Boozer. Good call.

We really should play Ellington over Johnson, and at least Wayne can spread the floor a little. Good lord.

[D Nice]

Tale as old as time:

Facts: Lakers lose, with Kobe shooting a high volume of shots.

Fan #1: Kobe shoots too much!!!

Fan #2: Yeah, but take a look at [2nd/3rd "best" player]--he doesn't have any help!

/end scene

Not really. It was OK in 2006 and 2007 because he was twice (at least) the player he is now (and also, even with him shooting that many shots the triangle kept the floor balanced and the other 4 pieces on the floor in motion).

If this were 2006/2007 Kobe I'd have 0 problems with him shooting this many shots. It's bad now because he isn't nearly the player he was 7-8 seasons ago. Everytime he shoots a 3 pointer it looks short, even the ones that go in (i.e. I thought that 3 he made at the end of the game had no shot of dropping). His mid range game has clearly fallen off compared to those seasons, where a 17 footer from Kobe might as well have been a layup.

He was completely justified shooting this many shots 7-8 years ago. The team was complete @ss and Odom was an awful fit as a 2nd option (no jumper, no timely or consistent aggression). Now, it's chucking, it's Wizards-MJ type stuff, and it needs to stop. Or actually, it would need to stop if the goal was to win basketball games, but since it's in our best interest to tank on, maybe he should just continue to put up 30 shots.

It's entirely possible (actually, it's the truth) that in the past the actions were defensible/the right call and are simply no longer because of a drop-off in his efficacy. People who were against him shooting like this in those seasons had no perspective on exactly how anemic those squads were, particularly in '06. We had the #7 ranked offense in the league during BOTH of those seasons...that's absolutely unreal given the "talent" (lack thereof really) on those squads.

Watching him not even be able to make free-throws consistently is a bit disconcerting though, but hey, #tankswag. Never imagined a universe where Kobe > Pau as a tank commander but I'm all in for Towns/Johnson to pair with Randle moving forward. And I want Goran Dragic signed and Ed Davis retained. The rest of this team can be poofed into nothingness for all I care (unless a GSW big gets hurt badly and we manage to parlay Hill and maybe the Rox Pick into Barnes).

[Fresh360Waves]

Lin wasn't feeling well, he was taking some medicine mid game.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ7jib0Qn1c&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

No wonder he looked ill during the post game interview in the locker room. Somethin' didn't seem right.

[ChokeFasncists]

USA Today and even Business Insider talks about it! ~lol~

Kobe Bryant misses more shots than 99% of the NBA attempts
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/11/kobe-br ... shot-stats


Kobe Bryant Is Taking An Absurd Number Of Shots
http://www.businessinsider.com/kobe-bry ... ts-2014-11

I really don't mind him taking so many shots; but he runs out of gas at the end of games and that means losing, and that's not so good, he's gotta learn to save himself for the end.

[Tonyism74]

Kobe truly believes every time he shoots that the ball's going in. He's never questioned it. He doesn't have that internal voice that questions the logic of shooting the shot.
So he needs and EXTERNAL voice. In Scott's system, that has to be the PG.

Kobe's been in the media basically begging Lin to take the ball out of his hands. So Lin needs to stop responding to the iso calls and run the plays he knows will be productive.

Like when Hill had the hot hand against the Clips... They should have been riding that until his arms fell off.

So...youre saying thaat Kobe is begging Lin to take the ball out of his hands? I dont know what games you've been watching but from a fans perspective, Kobe is ot giving anyone else on his team an honest shot. He gives them an open pass, they miss...he uses that miss to justify why he needs to take over. Yesterdays game..the other starters were shooting much better than Kobe, but he just jacked up lots of shots...with only one assist.

[Tonyism74]

Tale as old as time:

Facts: Lakers lose, with Kobe shooting a high volume of shots.

Fan #1: Kobe shoots too much!!!

Fan #2: Yeah, but take a look at [2nd/3rd "best" player]--he doesn't have any help!

/end scene

Not really. It was OK in 2006 and 2007 because he was twice (at least) the player he is now (and also, even with him shooting that many shots the triangle kept the floor balanced and the other 4 pieces on the floor in motion).

If this were 2006/2007 Kobe I'd have 0 problems with him shooting this many shots. It's bad now because he isn't nearly the player he was 7-8 seasons ago. Everytime he shoots a 3 pointer it looks short, even the ones that go in (i.e. I thought that 3 he made at the end of the game had no shot of dropping). His mid range game has clearly fallen off compared to those seasons, where a 17 footer from Kobe might as well have been a layup.

He was completely justified shooting this many shots 7-8 years ago. The team was complete @ss and Odom was an awful fit as a 2nd option (no jumper, no timely or consistent aggression). Now, it's chucking, it's Wizards-MJ type stuff, and it needs to stop. Or actually, it would need to stop if the goal was to win basketball games, but since it's in our best interest to tank on, maybe he should just continue to put up 30 shots.

It's entirely possible (actually, it's the truth) that in the past the actions were defensible/the right call and are simply no longer because of a drop-off in his efficacy. People who were against him shooting like this in those seasons had no perspective on exactly how anemic those squads were, particularly in '06.

Watching him not even be able to make free-throws consistently is a bit disconcerting though, but hey, #tankswag. Never imagined a universe where Kobe > Pau as a tank commander but I'm all in for Towns/Johnson to pair with Randle moving forward. And I want Goran Dragic signed and Ed Davis retained. The rest of this team can be poofed into nothingness for all I care (unless a GSW big gets hurt badly and we manage to parlay Hill and maybe the Rox Pick into Barnes).

I think Kobe needs to sacrifice his wanting to prove his doubters that he is still the man. He needs to facilitate more and if the argument is that Lin cannot, it gives more of a reason for Kobe to do so.

[D Nice]

I think Kobe needs to sacrifice his wanting to prove his doubters that he is still the man. He needs to facilitate more and if the argument is that Lin cannot, it gives more of a reason for Kobe to do so.

I agree with your "that" but disagree with your "why." I don't believe Kobe's aggression is coming from a place of "gotta show up these foolish haters," I sincerely believe he's in 06/07 mode where he's looking around, seeing one of if not THE worst supporting cast in basketball, and saying "well F**** it, if these guys can't/won't step up, I'll do it myself."

The problem with this mentality is that in 2006/2007 he was one of the 10 greatest players of all time at the absolute peak of his powers. Now, he's a 36 year old guard rocking a .488 TS%, having an impact akin to a 6'6 Antoine Walker with an ultraviolet green light.

I completely agree that he should be more of a facilitator as it would help breed continuity and confidence moving forward (not to mention amp asset trade value), but I think the idea was to take away playmaking responsibilities so that he could conserve energy and focus his efforts where he's most efficacious. Of course, this isn't actually what is going on, and if he's going to be run into the ground like this I'd prefer it be done with him balancing setting guys up with trying to take over (ala 2013).

Lin deserves a lot of blame though. He's been awful this year, and is not being aggressive. Of course Kobe is going to call for the ball, it's what he does, it doesn't mean he doesn't want Jeremy to lead the offense/attack. Not once did Kobe ever berate/cold-stare D Fish down for waving Kobe off and calling his own number or that of a teammate, and Lin is 5x the playmaker Fish ever had the potential to be. He's playing timid (just downright bad really) and he needs to pick it up.

Still cannot believe I'm deprived of my Randle watch this year, but as an east coaster at least I have more of a reason to not get 4-5 hours of sleep and be miserable the morning after every Lakers game (which, like the Laker-addict I am, isn't working out so well, as I've only skipped 1 game so far this year ).

[mubarak23]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/philjackson11/status/530141694054772739[/tweet]

Only GOATs can understand other GOATs, nomimsayin?

[GeorgeDillion]

He should have just told him that on 11/3/07 that Michael Jordan failed to score 30 points on 39 shots.