If Kobe played PG his whole career, could he have surpassed Magic?

[ceiling raiser]

Was thinking about this a bit.

At times when pundits complained about his shoot-first mentality, Kobe went into PG mode.

Racking up assists, creating opportunities, and running very strong offenses.

I almost wonder, if the triangle was more of a liability than a benefit?

In a more free flowing motion offense, Kobe could've really embraced his playmaking ability -- a category in which he exceeds his idol, Jordan, imo.

What do you all think?

[Colbinii]

The triangle was a benefit. It provided more spacing than most other offensive philosophies at the time.

[70sFan]

I know a lot of people question the value of triangle, but I strongly disagree with that opinion. Triangle isn't perfect for every team, you need a certain type of personel to make it work but it was a great system to create space, especially in era with limited three point shooting.

I don't think Kobe impact was reduced by triangle. Maybe he'd have even higher raw boxscore stats, but why would it change anything? I also don't think Kobe would be better as a heliocentric player than as an off-ball/post scorer. I think he played right way for most of the time.

[No-more-rings]

Kobe didn't have the handles or passing to be a full time point guard. I think that results in a lot of turnovers and takes away from his scoring which is absolutely his best asset.

[tsherkin]

I think Kobe's value, as with Jordan's, was helped by running the triangle when they had appropriate personnel. He never struck me as the guy you wanted spamming PnR or what have you. He wanted tobe MJ He became MJ lite and then, as with MJ, Phil got out lf Kobe's way for iso time. It worked well.