Kobe Bryant hasn't blocked a shot yet this season

[TheGreatBlaze]

17 games in at 37 MPG and he has yet to record a blocked shot. Didn't he used to be considered one of the better shot blocking guards in the league? Just noticed that and it seems kinda odd.

[Real Men Wear Green]

He's 34.

[Batz]

He's a guard.

[kNIOKAS]

LA BABy
http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/502a70deecad048452000001-400-/dwight-howard-los-angeles-lakers.jpg

[White Mamba]

D12

[Dwade305]

This a surprise or something? Earl Watson has had better blocking seasons in the past.

[Djahjaga]

Wait, seriously? Even with the dearth of elite SGs in the league right now?

I mean, I don't expect a block per game, or even half of that, at this point. But not a single block at all?

[ChrisPosh]

It's called shooting guard... not blocking guard. :kobe:

[pauk]

wow, didnt notice that... that is kindof just randomly unlucky, he will pile up some blocks im sure

[SCdac]

Age and position are no excuse IMO, going by his own standards he's usually blocked at least 1 shot by now. At the same rate, it's not a huge criticism (calm down kobe stans), he's a shooter first, second, and third. This is Kobe we're talking about, despite his accolades he's not known for defense.

Wade has blocked 9
Ginobili has blocked 5
Mayo has blocked 4
Ray Allen has blocked 2
Terry has blocked 1

Surely Kobe can get on the board with all the minutes he's playing. He's leading all of them steals, so it's not like he's inactive.

[takai]

He's a guard.

/thread.

[I<3NBA]

It's called shooting guard... not blocking guard. :kobe:
so point guards point?

[HorryIsMyMVP]

Not one block and he will make the all NBA defense team. That is the biggest joke of all because him making it is the NBA's way of trolling viewers.

[oh the horror]

Not one block and he will make the all NBA defense team. That is the biggest joke of all because him making it is the NBA's way of trolling viewers.


Dude do you have an alert that goes off whenever someone makes a Laker/Kobe thread? You troll these threads like its your job

[R.I.P.]

Only Mr. Fantastic can block shots being 10 feet away from the next opposing player. :roll:

I wonder who

[CavaliersFTW]

He's 34.
Jerry West in his final season 35 years old only played 31 games, but in those 31 games he had 23 blocked shots. I'm starting to believe Kobe's defense is genuinely the most overrated part of his career. Age/position is not an excuse for ZERO blocked shots.

[HorryIsMyMVP]

Dude do you have an alert that goes off whenever someone makes a Laker/Kobe thread? You troll these threads like its your job
No I have a real job and actually I post way more infrequently then you do. Nice try though but it's hard to think clearly with Kobe's defensive nut's in your mouth.

[daily]

I can think of two in the last couple games that could have been blocked shots. One he got called for a foul but it was all ball on replay and the other the player was called for traveling.

Obviously with Howard defensive roles on the Lakers have changed

[HorryIsMyMVP]

I can think of two in the last couple games that could have been blocked shots. One he got called for a foul but it was all ball on replay and the other the player was called for traveling.

Obviously with Howard defensive roles on the Lakers have changed
:hammerhead:

No same as it's ever been actually.

[DuMa]

its because hes never in position to contest a shot.

[Clutch]

Even Steve Novak has 4 blocks :bowdown:

[STATUTORY]

Kobe excels in a underrated aspect of defense that's difficult to capture in the stat book.

on ball defense.

u put a guy in front of kobe and he will be able to lock him down and take him out of his comfort zone if kobe wants to.

blocks are an overrated measure of defense. it's largely pointless, i would guess more than half of the shots that get blocked would have missed anyways

[OldSchoolBBall]

17 games in at 37 MPG and he has yet to record a blocked shot. Didn't he used to be considered one of the better shot blocking guards in the league? Just noticed that and it seems kinda odd.

Huh? Shotblocking has never been a strong suit of Kobe's, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.

[Droid101]

Age and position are no excuse IMO, going by his own standards he's usually blocked at least 1 shot by now. At the same rate, it's not a huge criticism (calm down kobe stans), he's a shooter first, second, and third. This is Kobe we're talking about, despite his accolades he's not known for defense.

Wade has blocked 9
Ginobili has blocked 5
Mayo has blocked 4
Ray Allen has blocked 2
Terry has blocked 1

Surely Kobe can get on the board with all the minutes he's playing. He's leading all of them steals, so it's not like he's inactive.
So he tries to strip the ball when it's down low rather than try to challenge when it's up high? Sounds like good, fundamental basketball to me. :confusedshrug: Leave the blocks to your last line of defense, Dwight/Pau.

[BIZARRO]

Kobe is ridiculously amazing. One of the top 10 players ever. You could easily argue higher.
Though I don't place him there, I would have no problem if someone came to me and said he's the 2nd greatest after Mike.
When he decides to put in the effort and lock down, he is the second greatest one on one lockdown defender I've seen after Mike. Just a sick will he has when he gets after someone.
However, for all of you who play ball, to not have a single block is an absolute indictment on the effort he is putting in on the defensive end. I mean, if you're playing in a pickup game, you can pickup easy block here or there many times and often, by helping down in the post, sneaking back from behind, challenging jumpers, getting in the lane after offensive rebounds and going up. Unless you are totally not challenging, it is next to impossible to not come away with a single block over almost a quarter of the season.
It is currently proving all of the Laker haters right who say he is coasting, and has coasted, for a long time on D, weakens his longevity greatness argument as he half a**es it on the defensive end (half the trips on the floor) often, gives credence to why his block/steal numbers have always been lower than they should be for an elite defender of his stature, and giving alot of credence to another reason why the Lakers perimeter D always sucks.
Get up on someone man.
I mean, I will defend Kobe all day, as he is just a freak baller. Spectacular. But anyone who defends him on this is an apologist.
Don't care if he's a guard, don't care if he's stripping the ball, don't care if it's not his strong suit.
Before he "kicks anyone's a**", "put your big boy pants on" and get a block.
Just one. ONE.
It is a true indictment.
And is really and completely inexcusable if he's putting in any effort on the defensive end.

[White Mamba]

Kobe is ridiculously amazing. One of the top 10 players ever. You could easily argue higher.
Though I don't place him there, I would have no problem if someone came to me and said he's the 2nd greatest after Mike.
When he decides to put in the effort and lock down, he is the second greatest one on one lockdown defender I've seen after Mike. Just a sick will he has when he gets after someone.
However, for all of you who play ball, to not have a single block is an absolute indictment on the effort he is putting in on the defensive end. I mean, if you're playing in a pickup game, you can pickup easy block here or there many times and often, by helping down in the post, sneaking back from behind, challenging jumpers, getting in the lane after offensive rebounds and going up. Unless you are totally not challenging, it is next to impossible to not come away with a single block over almost a quarter of the season.
It is currently proving all of the Laker haters right who say he is coasting, and has coasted, for a long time on D, and giving alot of credence to another reason why the Lakers perimeter D always sucks.
Get up on someone man.
I mean, I will defend Kobe all day, as he is just a freak baller. Spectacular. But anyone who defends him on this is an apologist.
Don't care if he's a guard, don't care if he's stripping the ball, don't care if it's not his strong suit.
Before he "kicks anyone's a**", get a block. Just one. ONE.
It is a true indictment.
And is really and completely inexcusable if he's putting in any effort.

:applause:

trough I agree with your point I do think he and MWP put up some good effort on the defensive end in some close games this season (like nets game and some others) so the fact that he got 0 blocks right now is bad but its not like he is not playing defense, he also got at least 1 steal in every game this season except @POR.

[KyrieTheFuture]

I don't understand why it's a plus that Kobe is a lock down defender when he wants to. What happened to hard working man you're all in love with? What kind of lazy ass star plays D only occasionally?

[Noof]

He did get a clean block that was called a foul. I don't remember who it was on.

[JellyBean]

:rolleyes: Dang. What next, Kobe hasn't bought popcorn for the ushers? The Kobe hate on this site is sad. At least I know if I lose my job, I can always blame Kobe.

[clayton]

No defense.

[TheMarkMadsen]

Kobe couldn't block the 9/11 terrorist attacks so I don't know how anybody can place him top 10 all time


Do majority of ISH watch games or do they watch box stats awaiting a good player to have a bad night so they can make a thread about it?

[The Macho Man]

Blocks? He's not Andrew Bogut, he's looked great out there.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Jerry West in his final season 35 years old only played 31 games, but in those 31 games he had 23 blocked shots. I'm starting to believe Kobe's defense is genuinely the most overrated part of his career. Age/position is not an excuse for ZERO blocked shots.
West may well have had more leaping ability than Bryant near to his end. Almost no guards get over half a block per game at that age. West is an outlier there like he is in most areas. Players generally lose explosion as they get old and this is what's happened to Bryant. He averaged a half-block over his career, getting none now isn't because he stopped trying, it's because he's not the same athlete. I agree with you that Bryant's career defense was overrated (there were times he didn't give a high effort like most star scorers) but not getting blocks as a guard in his 16th season doesn't prove anything.

[7_cody]

Kobe is ridiculously amazing. One of the top 10 players ever. You could easily argue higher.
Though I don't place him there, I would have no problem if someone came to me and said he's the 2nd greatest after Mike.
When he decides to put in the effort and lock down, he is the second greatest one on one lockdown defender I've seen after Mike. Just a sick will he has when he gets after someone.
However, for all of you who play ball, to not have a single block is an absolute indictment on the effort he is putting in on the defensive end. I mean, if you're playing in a pickup game, you can pickup easy block here or there many times and often, by helping down in the post, sneaking back from behind, challenging jumpers, getting in the lane after offensive rebounds and going up. Unless you are totally not challenging, it is next to impossible to not come away with a single block over almost a quarter of the season.
It is currently proving all of the Laker haters right who say he is coasting, and has coasted, for a long time on D, weakens his longevity greatness argument as he half a**es it on the defensive end (half the trips on the floor) often, gives credence to why his block/steal numbers have always been lower than they should be for an elite defender of his stature, and giving alot of credence to another reason why the Lakers perimeter D always sucks.
Get up on someone man.
I mean, I will defend Kobe all day, as he is just a freak baller. Spectacular. But anyone who defends him on this is an apologist.
Don't care if he's a guard, don't care if he's stripping the ball, don't care if it's not his strong suit.
Before he "kicks anyone's a**", "put your big boy pants on" and get a block.
Just one. ONE.
It is a true indictment.
And is really and completely inexcusable if he's putting in any effort on the defensive end.

Actually, you said it, Kobe roams on defense. I'm pretty sure it's be design. He hardly ever plays his man tight, and when he closes out he does it carefully to avoid the foul. It's easy to pick up a few quick fouls and Bryant does a great job of avoiding foul trouble.

But you're right, not even one block is a bit weak. This is coming from a huge Kobe Bryant fan who thinks he is having an excellent season this year, but of course like every player, I can make a list of bad games or things he is doing wrong as well.

As far as I'm concern, this thread is a valid point. Maybe Kobe should stop roaming in the fourth quarter when he only has one or two fouls. He hasn't really played defense for years now, but when he does, he's among the beast defensive guards in the league.

[7_cody]

West may well have had more leaping ability than Bryant near to his end. Almost no guards get over half a block per game at that age. West is an outlier there like he is in most areas. Players generally lose explosion as they get old and this is what's happened to Bryant. He averaged a half-block over his career, getting none now isn't because he stopped trying, it's because he's not the same athlete. I agree with you that Bryant's career defense was overrated (there were times he didn't give a high effort like most star scorers) but not getting blocks as a guard in his 16th season doesn't prove anything.

I highly doubt it - it was a different game back then, first of all. His team probably didn't use the funnel strategy that we use now. I don't really know the answer to why West was able to average those blocks, as I haven't watched all those games, but I doubt it's because he's more athletic then Kobe Bryant. Bryant doesn't dunk because he doesn't want to, but he still can. He's very athletic even today. For NBA standards he's probably around average now, but he can get up if he wants to.

[guy]

West may well have had more leaping ability than Bryant near to his end. Almost no guards get over half a block per game at that age. West is an outlier there like he is in most areas. Players generally lose explosion as they get old and this is what's happened to Bryant. He averaged a half-block over his career, getting none now isn't because he stopped trying, it's because he's not the same athlete. I agree with you that Bryant's career defense was overrated (there were times he didn't give a high effort like most star scorers) but not getting blocks as a guard in his 16th season doesn't prove anything.

I don't think anyone is expecting him to get that many blocks but to literally have NONE at this point of the season is really ridiculous.

[necya]

who cares ?

[Real Men Wear Green]

I highly doubt it - it was a different game back then, first of all. His team probably didn't use the funnel strategy that we use now. I don't really know the answer to why West was able to average those blocks, as I haven't watched all those games, but I doubt it's because he's more athletic then Kobe Bryant. Bryant doesn't dunk because he doesn't want to, but he still can. He's very athletic even today. For NBA standards he's probably around average now, but he can get up if he wants to.
No unathletic guard is going to average over a half-block per game. West was a good leaper. Bryant is still probably an above-average athlete himself but 34 year-old guards generally don't get blocks. West is an outlier.

[CavaliersFTW]

No unathletic guard is going to average over a half-block per game. West was a good leaper. Bryant is still probably an above-average athlete himself but 34 year-old guards generally don't get blocks. West is an outlier.
Suggesting that Jerry West at 35 years old is a better leaper than Kobe Bryant right now at 34 years old is probably going to make every Kobe stan on this sites blood boil :oldlol: but I think you may be correct. There is footage of 33 year old Jerry West touching ~14-16" above the rim. And West was only about 188lbs at that age to Kobe's 205+ right now so West had more quickness due to his lighter build. Even if Kobe can dunk, I'm just not sure if Kobe can get up more than a foot above the rim anymore - and with his bulk and age the quickness and timing just isn't there anymore to block shots.

[upside24]

This thread is ****ing hilarious.

Haters really reaching.

[Sakkreth]

1. He's sg.
2. He's 34
3. He's not known because of shotblocking.

[chosen_one6]

Steals and blocks don't indicate a good defender. It's much like cornerbacks in the NFL. People think interceptions indicate a good corner but in actuality a shut down corner gets no stats because no one throws to his side.

[lakerspng]

An anomaly. He's active on d, getting a lot of steals, but their defensive scheme is to funnel the offensive players into their wall of shotblocking bigs. Either way I'm sure he'll pick up his fair share over the course of the seasn

[nightprowler10]

No defense.
None taken.

[SilkkTheShocker]

An anomaly. He's active on d, getting a lot of steals, but their defensive scheme is to funnel the offensive players into their wall of shotblocking bigs. Either way I'm sure he'll pick up his fair share over the course of the seasn

Has he closed out on a shooter all season?

[Legends66NBA7]

I was aware of that and it's not really that crazy when you think about it.

Bryant has blocked a combined 50 shots in the last 3 seasons. In 09-10 and 10-11, he blocked less shots combined (32) than his previous season before that in 08-09 (37).

The main reason he's not been blocking at least half a game anymore is because he's not in his athletic prime anymore and he usually doesn't gamble for blocks. He usually uses angles and face guards to contest shots, otherwise he's just late to close out.

For an all-time scale, he is 6 blocks away from 600.

[Duncan21formvp]

He's 34.
Steve Nash has a block and only played 2 games.

[upside24]

Steals and blocks don't indicate a good defender. It's much like cornerbacks in the NFL. People think interceptions indicate a good corner but in actuality a shut down corner gets no stats because no one throws to his side.
Great analogy.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Steve Nash has a block and only played 2 games.
So? Sometimes random things happen. 38 players have 1 block or less so far. 54 have 2 or less. This topic only exists because some of us will try and attack Bryant for any reason. I'm not a Bryant fanboy at all, I'm just trying to be fair about. Old guards don't block shots. This is a fact. Jamal Crawford (who isn't even that old) only has one block. Rip Hamilton only has one block. Does anyone make a topic?

[LJJ]

Defensebe.

[derb2k2]

http://img.allvoices.com/thumbs/event/609/480/81512070-wade-blocks.jpg

[IGOTGAME]

I'm confused as to why people care?

[Hoopz2332]

Not one block and he will make the all NBA defense team. That is the biggest joke of all because him making it is the NBA's way of trolling viewers.

:oldlol:

[TheGreatBlaze]

18