His numbers are down because of the broken finger.
Printable View
His numbers are down because of the broken finger.
[QUOTE=Kellogs4toniee]What i'm trying to get at is that the majority finally understanding that Kobe is taking that drastic decline [B]just now[/B] is in itself an amazing testimony to the legend of Kobe Bryant's physical and mental take to the game.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much. Even though I think Kobe is on a decline in terms of consistency, his skills are still polished and effective. If any of you actually watched MJ, he did the exact same thing that Kobe is doing and that Dwayne Wade will have to do....more mid range shots and more scoring in the post. At this point, it's less about athleticism and more about superior footwork/shooting skills. That evolution of his game is pretty cool to see I think.
His finger looks terrible. Its like completely crooked and facing in a very unnatural direction.
[IMG]http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/726/interviewx.png[/IMG]
That looks pretty disgusting. Of course, ISH would lead you to believe that it doesn't effect him. :oldlol:
Kobe from October to January showed no signs of drop off and he maybe was even better than he was in 08-09. He was putting up 31/6/4.5 on 49% shooting. Of course, he doesn't have the explosiveness and quickness are leaving him but his effectiveness hasn't decreased in my opinion.
It's hard to be at your best when you can't dribble the ball or shoot the way you want to.
[QUOTE=KenneBell]That looks pretty disgusting. Of course, ISH would lead you to believe that it doesn't effect him. :oldlol:
Kobe from October to January showed no signs of drop off and he maybe was even better than he was in 08-09. He was putting up 31/6/4.5 on 49% shooting. Of course, he doesn't have the explosiveness and quickness are leaving him but his effectiveness hasn't decreased in my opinion.
It's hard to be at your best when you can't dribble the ball or shoot the way you want to.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. Im not sure why people do not acknowledge injuries when it comes to star players. I know the great ones make it LOOK easy, so one would believe that Kobe is merely having quite the drop off, and is shooting poorly due to him being on somewhat of his last legs these days, but the reality is ....Dude HAS BEEN playing through injury for a majority of the season. And that finger DOES IN FACT hinder his play pretty damn greatly.
Which is why I dont understand why dude is playing for the national team this summer. (at least I believe he is?)
[QUOTE=KenneBell]That looks pretty disgusting. Of course, ISH would lead you to believe that it doesn't effect him. :oldlol:
Kobe from October to January showed no signs of drop off and he maybe was even better than he was in 08-09. He was putting up 31/6/4.5 on 49% shooting. Of course, he doesn't have the explosiveness and quickness are leaving him but his effectiveness hasn't decreased in my opinion.
It's hard to be at your best when you can't dribble the ball or shoot the way you want to.[/QUOTE]
The bball season starts practically November 1. It was from there until about mid December that he was putting up those numbers. That's hardly enough of a sample size to ASSume he'd be doing it all year. Especially considering he's NEVER DONE IT BEFORE. What, at age 31 he was going to?
As for the injuries thing, you Kobe guys have used it so much that even when it may be legitimate, people :rolleyes:
It's like the boy who cried wolf. Every time Kobe has had a bad game in the past 8 years some fanboy whines that he was "injured" or "the rape case affected him" or "he's facing the greatest defense ever in the NBA" or some such garbage.
[url]http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bryanko01/splits/2010/[/url]
Look at the huge drop-off in FT%/FG% after the injury in late December...Not a coincidence..
Knoe Itawl does have a point, but I did see a different Kobe than any other version I had seen earlier. Despite not shooting 3's, his TS% had to be up there with any other seasons, but more importantly he was more consistent. He wasn't have the huge 45+ point games, but he was almost a lock for a solid 30+ point night with a few efficient 40 point games and the Lakers were winning. He looked almost unstoppable in the post. Not saying he would have kept up 30/6/4.5 on 49% for the entire season, but I do think he would have had a better season(which is reasonable considering the injury). I'd say atleast 28-29 ppg on 47-48% shooting.
There's no case of an all time great suddenly falling off at 31. Every Top 20 great was beasting at that age. Maybe not as well as they did in their late 20's, but they were all still legit superstars in the game. It's foolish to think a supremely skilled player like Kobe has declined so steeply at 31, especially when there was no drop-off in his play this season prior to his injury.
Kobe's declined with age, no doubt about it. But his biggest problem right now isn't tired legs or decline, its his finger. Kobe has always been good enough to make tough shots and find ways to get a shot off nomatter who is guarding him. He always takes so many ill-advised shots. Its just now he's missing more of em because of his fingers.
If kobe stays out of international ball this summer and heals his fingers, I think next season he will be back to form. Not explosive awesome super kobe like when he was younger, but back to the kobe we saw the first few months of this season, who was playing very very good ball. He has declined, but not enough to just toss him out in the wind. He still has a few seasons of greatness left. If he can get healthy and rest.
The problem is, dude just refuses to rest, and or get surgery to repair that finger. He keeps playing, and playing, and playing.
i disagree on the point that kobe's jumper can't improve due to his declining lift on his shot. i think he can and probably will last in the league for years to come similar to MJ did where they become above average shooters more or less, and stll draw the attentiion because they are still a huge threat at it. that lift is a bunch of crap imo, jumpers can be on/off for players season to season where its mostly about feel and comfortability of that year.
kobe still has days where he looks good driving but i agree for the most part you can't rely on him being able to do that, where he more or less turns everything into a jumper. when they're not falling he hurts them more than helps most of the time, and thats my biggest criticism of kobe. he's just not always a smart player imo, more than coming across as selfish and it being about him more than the team. which is why i really think manu would help the lakers more overall than kobe, for how wacked that sounds. manu rarely is dumb like that.
if he were to focus just on his jumper more or less knowing thats all he has at some point, i think he can be better at it than now. MJ became a better jump shooter when he became more 1 dimensional later in his career imo. and a lot of kobe's shots are mid range these days, especially his game winners. but really the problem with EVERY more or less 1 dimensional jump shooter, including ray allen, is when they're shot isn't falling they SUCK. whch happens a little too often...
hopefully, Kobe will get some rest this summer. He needs it. From the championship, Olympics, to season again. He needs rest.
I don't know the full story on his fingers, but hopefully they, too, can heal to 100%.
He no longer has a great first step and thus increasingly relies upon outside shooting. Therefore, his fingers need to be 100%.
[QUOTE=bleedinpurpleTwo]hopefully, Kobe will get some rest this summer. He needs it. From the championship, Olympics, to season again. He needs rest.
I don't know the full story on his fingers, but hopefully they, too, can heal to 100%.
He no longer has a great first step and thus increasingly relies upon outside shooting. Therefore, his fingers need to be 100%.[/QUOTE]
I agree, I think Kobe needs to get surgery after the playoffs, rest the entire summer until he's fully healed and if he needs to sit out the early part of the season then he has to do that. The Lakers have enough talent that he doesn't have to kill himself all regular season long, and really entering his 14th year he won't be able to. It would also benefit him to have his minutes limited moore like 2008-2009 or even more. He averaged 36 mpg in the 2008-2009 season and then he was ready for the playoffs where he was great. Killed Denver in the tune of 34/6/6 on 48% shooting in the WCF and he averaged 30/5/5 for the entire playoffs.
[QUOTE=Indian guy]There's no case of an all time great suddenly falling off at 31. Every Top 20 great was beasting at that age. Maybe not as well as they did in their late 20's, but they were all still legit superstars in the game. It's foolish to think a supremely skilled player like Kobe has declined so steeply at 31, especially when there was no drop-off in his play this season prior to his injury.[/QUOTE]
Who do you have in your Top 20 that came straight out of High School besides Kobe Bryant? With this new generation, you have to measure it based on the amount of games / years they've played, not there age.
No one sane has said he has [B]"declined so steeply."[/B] It's just that it's more obvious this year then previous years that he has lost that athleticism from his earlier years. People tend to forget his career numbers and just think of all his high-light athletic plays. Then they compare that to this season and "think" he has declined. In terms of numbers, he is doing just fine and still posting top five player stats.