A great Twitter post about Kobe being more valuable than he appears to the TS% crowd

[Im Still Ballin]

:applause:

https://x.com/databallr/status/1857168222925234491


There’s 3 things that made Kobe more valuable than he appears to people who over-focus on his efficiency.

1) His self-generated shot volume was very high, even compared to other stars. This makes +3 rTS more valuable than it appears.

2) A major value of iso ball is turnover economy. Kobe lowered team turnovers and ran low turnover offenses during his peak. There’s a difference between him and Durant in this area.

3) Kobe offenses ran an aggressive offensive rebounding strategy and were above average in second chance points almost every year of his prime. There are players who have shiny efficiency numbers but they require sacrificing second chance points in the name of ‘spacing’ to achieve them. A true efficiency calculation should consider the expected points off the miss too. Shots taken in lower spacing, higher orb contexts are worth more at the same efficiency.

Contextualizing stats is key.

[3ba11]

It's interesting that various angles arrive at the same conclusion that Kobe's presence enhanced offensive rebounding... Firstly, the OP shows how Kobe's expert jumpshooting skill and ability to shoot over defenses meant that he didn't need spacing, so teammates could crash the offensive glass rather than camp at the 3-point line..

Secondly, Kobe commanded double-teams, which kills the opponent's defensive rebounding ability, according to Jeff Van Gundy (here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Xz4K42gXM&t=03m12s))...

People don't realize that the only guys that require double-teams are hot jumpshooters, since rim-attackers like Lebron are met at the rim with multiple defenders... The lack of commanding double teams is why Lebron doesn't hurt the opponent's defensive rebounding like Kobe, MJ and Curry do.... And Lebron also requires spacing, so teammates must spot-up and can't crash the glass as much.