Peak Only: Kobe/KG vs Curry/Giannis

[KGtabake]

Such as Giannis being the best player out of the 4.

You can make such case, but you can also make a case that he's the weakest player out of the 4. I think these 4 players are all reasonably close.

Yep. But he had it coming with the irony.

[MyUniBroDavis]

How do you envision Kobe and KG playing together on offense? What sets or triggers you think they would go to?

Hmm, i was thinking more their two way fit but offensively it’s interesting. Kobe was a very versatile off ball player and could shoot coming off of screens and was a great cutter, KG’s passing is obviously going to benifit that a bit, so that’s from KGs side, Kobe otoh I think grades out as an outlier in terms of his effeciency in isolation and post ups compared to the rest of the pack during his peak so the bucks system might be good with that. Ditto the other way around, garnett was pretty good at driving too, and if he’s the center on the floor which makes sense he can be the focal point in penetration if they want a different look as well, since the bucks sometimes will put a small in the dunkers spot so the help is pretty weak

It’s versatile, I know Kobe graded well as a cutter finishing wise throughout his prime so maybe even some inverted pick and roll although I have way more doubts about that.

Their pick and roll game should be pretty great, Kobe showed he had aptitude for it in 2013 and I’m sure if you gave him a few years doing it he’d end up absolutely elite in it. With bron and AD, they have issues against switching. Im not sure if Kobe and KG would have those issues because you kind of have a similar situation where KG isn’t like Jokic or Shaq that a strong wing would just get sealed and die down low in pick and roll situations though

Thinking about it more Curry and Giannis might mesh better offensively. Trapping Curry doesn’t work because even if Giannis isn’t as much of a playmaker as draymond in the short roll, Giannis catching it on the move with space is a death wish, and if they do anything else Curry hits a 40 footer. Switching works way less too for obvious reasons

Defensively I think Kobe has two points of value, I think with less of an offensive load he probably gets better on the defensive side and he’s never gonna be a player to switch hunt while Curry is.

I might go with Curry and Giannis thinking about it more, my main thing was I’m really high on Kobe in today’s game (I think he has GOAT offensive type impact today maybe) and KG’s defense would be an easy DPOY today, otoh the pick and roll combination of Curry and Giannis might be too disgusting to pass up on. Giannis mismatch hunting with Curry as the screener creates a double issue since I’m sure with how their offense is they can use the threat of Giannis getting that mismatch to get Curry open looks if that makes sense (like if they overplay trying to stop the switch while the actual goal was getting Curry through some sort of action with Giannis mismatch , hunting as a decoy)

Idk it’s interesting lol, thinking through the Curry and Giannis combo honestly seems more exciting, I’m just really high in Kobe’s offense today tbh

I don’t think Curry has to be in a motion offence to have his impact nor do I think Giannis needs to be in the bucks offense for his impact, Currys obviously absurd on ball and Giannis as a cutter or a roll man is absolutely ATG at those things, so I do think you can make a very versatile tricky offense if you have those two

Thank you, very interesting answer. If you don’t mind, could you perhaps elaborate on why you think Kobe would have possibly GOAT level offensive impact in the modern game? I would think I’d personally still prefer the likes of Curry, MJ, Nash, Magic, Lebron, Jokic etc.

The majority of those players I’d have around the same tier

Most of it comes from how I think he’d do with better coaching and in modern spacing (I’ve heard a lot about the triangle being poop for him )+ I think he was very effective at his archetype, I had synergy for a bit and over 06-10 what stands out is his basically super high tier in his isolation and post effeciency relative to the league, and his overall efficiencies in every regard are pretty absurd, but in general his “archetype” just wasn’t effective during the 2000s, most effective offensive wings offensively were p and r guys and I think Kobe could have been elite in that regard. I think synergy his p and r effeciency, including off passes and stuff is comparable to bron and wades in that 08-10 period as well (in 09 at least idr for the other years I could check tho). The triangle essentially necessitates low shotclock isolation possessions anyways.

We kinda saw this reneissance in 2013, which I think is more interesting because he had been on a pretty vicious decline by then, and there had been an article by cranjis (it was like Kobe cpoe or something, idk where it is now) that made it seem like it was the only year his role shifted

I view him as a kind of supercharged Kawhi offensively with better playmaking, and I’m very high on Kawhi offensively (especially the last few years). I think most impact data has Kawhi pretty consistently near the very top offensively (outside of 2019 ironically), with the added thing that the offenses he’s been on can run without him as well, so I think a supercharged version of that is best in the league type.

L

[An Unbiased Fan]

Such as... how wonderfully does Giannis do Euro-4-steps on KG when Kobe locks Curry up?

You know I’m pretty high on Kobe relative to everyone else but he’s not gonna lock Curry up lol

I think peak Kobe would be an absolute monster today, so I might take him and KG because that might mesh better, although the Curry Giannis luck and roll would be crazy

How do you envision Kobe and KG playing together on offense? What sets or triggers you think they would go to?

They would play the same way Kobe/Pau did

[Max123]

You know I’m pretty high on Kobe relative to everyone else but he’s not gonna lock Curry up lol

I think peak Kobe would be an absolute monster today, so I might take him and KG because that might mesh better, although the Curry Giannis luck and roll would be crazy

How do you envision Kobe and KG playing together on offense? What sets or triggers you think they would go to?

They would play the same way Kobe/Pau did

And how did they play?

[Cavsfansince84]

Kobe and KG. As expected, this poll is the opposite though... 9-4 in favor of Curry/Giannis.

there are few arguments to vote against

Such as... how great Giannis is going to Euro-4-step when Kobe locks Curry up?

I'm not sure that Kobe's defense on Steph is even relevant to the op. I took it as which duo would you rather have as opposed to these duo's squaring up in a hypotheticcal finals or something like that.