The Kobe Thread

[persianbruin]

great article on Kobe and Duncan. Loved the last 4 lines

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Kobe-and-Duncan-are-still-better-than-you;_ylt=AouOlCPbEb2CE1S.JckGnWIoPKB4?urn=nba,211932

[EKBATAN]

true

[Babak]

If you watch the replay again, you see the Sacramento coach actually has his eyes literally glued to Kobe's feet after he catches the ball, even until after he has already shot the ball. Absolutely no doubt he would've complained about it during or after the game had he seen Kobe's foot touch the line.

[Babak]

seemed like his foot was on outbound line
overall, lakers need to win games more convincingly than last sec buzzer beaters, especially at home...this is like the 5th or more games this season that it went down to the buzzer

Seems like it at first glance, but who in a better position to see that and complain about it than the King's coach and players who were standing right there watching him? You know that if they didn't make it an issue, then they probably didn't like what they saw. He was standing on his toes, which allowed him to avoid having his heels touch the line.

And persianbruin, I agree it definitely wasn't your easy practice warmup jumper, considering the time constraints and pressure of the situation.

[EKBATAN]

Let's add this to "another day in the office" for Kobe. He may be wide open, but hitting that game winner is what separates the star from the good player.

seemed like his foot was on outbound line

overall, lakers need to win games more convincingly than last sec buzzer beaters, especially at home...this is like the 5th or more games this season that it went down to the buzzer

[ommy48]

thats not called wide open when you have to stretch that much to catch a horrible pass and then try to get back your balance and feet inder you and shoot it with less than a second left

[persianbruin]

Let's add this to "another day in the office" for Kobe. He may be wide open, but hitting that game winner is what separates the star from the good player.

thats not called wide open when you have to stretch that much to catch a horrible pass and then try to get back your balance and feet inder you and shoot it with less than a second left

[Team Melli Fan]

kobes doin well this season. gotta give him props.

[Babak]

Let's add this to "another day in the office" for Kobe. He may be wide open, but hitting that game winner is what separates the star from the good player.

[ommy48]

It's hard to have a reasonable discussion with you on a topic like this that you are so passionate about, so hold onto your opinion and I'll hold onto mine. The irony is that we both share the same opinion: Jordan is the greatest ever.
The difference between our opinion is that I think it's possible this "may" change one day depending on things that may possibly happen in Kobe's future. You refuse to believe that Kobe may one day be considered the greatest ever, regardless of what ultimately happens during the rest of his career. I choose to take a hypothetical scenario into consideration since that's what speculation and conjecture is all about. You don't.
Talk about hard-headedness.

fair enough...there is no doubting Kobe's greatness, and I greatly enjoy watching his game, probably more so than any other player currently playing, so this thread wasn't about denigrating him, but rather placing players in their appropriate historical context....we'll revisit the topic in another decade when Kobe's career is in the books; in the meantime I just wanted to refresh some of the younger members here, who probably never saw Jordan play in the 80's and who have no clue what he did, to learn a little about the history of the game...

[EKBATAN]

i gotta give it up to ommy though, jordan played in an era where NBA was MUCH MUCH better than it is now...AND foul calling wasn't as ridiculous as it is now


there isnt much competition in nba right now unfortunately and more than half the league doesnt even know how to shoot jump shots. There are players who just specialize in certain things and go for easy baskets in the paint.



but i agree that we shouldnt hijack a kobe thread to compare him to jordan....with all said and done kobe has done his job as stamping himself as one of the greatest ever...and if he can't be better than jordan then thats not a failure! His number is 24 which is the next jordan and he deserves that..

[djmo]

MJ is clearly a better player. But let's not act like Kobe doesn't deserve his own in regards to best SG of all times ...

[Milad-69]

lol what a typical cop-out from someone who can't back up his bold words with anything other than hot air, especially after he explicitly asked me to provide some solid "evidence" to back my "biased viewpoint". Keep running little man, cause you sure as hell can't back up anything you stated earlier in this thread with any empirical evidence.
LOOOOL and he has the nerve to say that I am avoiding Phil Jackson's two minute evaluation on a radio show 2 years ago, in which he conveniently avoided answering the question and made sure to compliment both players very tangentially....Phil Jackson is a shrewd man that is well known in NBA circles for talking out of both sides of his mouth and if you seriously think that he will give a straight and honest answer on this topic while he IS THE COACH of one of the players, one who he has had troubles coaching in the past, then you really don't know much about Phil Jackson and the politics of basketball. Phil also said that Kobe was the most uncoachable player he has ever had in his own book and yet came back to coach him when the Buss's ponied up 10 mill a year for his services again. The guy is a master of double speak and will hardly ruffle the feathers of his current superstar. If you don't think that had an effect on his coy answer then you really are naive. But really you should find yourself embarrassed to have responded to my presentation of UNBIASED stats, with your 2 minute radio interview. yeah and stats are only part of the equation , your keen unbiased insight is the other part I guess huh?
next time you make hyperbolic statements and comparisons, maybe you should think twice about doing so, cause I wasn't the one who started or broached the subject matter at all, you were, I sure as hell finished it though. I apologize for challenging your assertion and not buying your compelling argument for it by saying: "I said so that's why!" carry on.....

Why are you hijacking the thread?
Pay your respects and piss off.
There's no need for a 50 post comparison between KB and MJ.

[Babak]

Nice clip of Kobe rejecting Jordan during the All-Star game. You can see that Jordan is noticably heated after the play:

[Babak]

lol what a typical cop-out from someone who can't back up his bold words with anything other than hot air, especially after he explicitly asked me to provide some solid "evidence" to back my "biased viewpoint". Keep running little man, cause you sure as hell can't back up anything you stated earlier in this thread with any empirical evidence.
LOOOOL and he has the nerve to say that I am avoiding Phil Jackson's two minute evaluation on a radio show 2 years ago, in which he conveniently avoided answering the question and made sure to compliment both players very tangentially....Phil Jackson is a shrewd man that is well known in NBA circles for talking out of both sides of his mouth and if you seriously think that he will give a straight and honest answer on this topic while he IS THE COACH of one of the players, one who he has had troubles coaching in the past, then you really don't know much about Phil Jackson and the politics of basketball. Phil also said that Kobe was the most uncoachable player he has ever had in his own book and yet came back to coach him when the Buss's ponied up 10 mill a year for his services again. The guy is a master of double speak and will hardly ruffle the feathers of his current superstar. If you don't think that had an effect on his coy answer then you really are naive. But really you should find yourself embarrassed to have responded to my presentation of UNBIASED stats, with your 2 minute radio interview. yeah and stats are only part of the equation , your keen unbiased insight is the other part I guess huh?
next time you make hyperbolic statements and comparisons, maybe you should think twice about doing so, cause I wasn't the one who started or broached the subject matter at all, you were, I sure as hell finished it though. I apologize for challenging your assertion and not buying your compelling argument for it by saying: "I said so that's why!" carry on.....

It's hard to have a reasonable discussion with you on a topic like this that you are so passionate about, so hold onto your opinion and I'll hold onto mine. The irony is that we both share the same opinion: Jordan is the greatest ever.

The difference between our opinion is that I think it's possible this "may" change one day depending on things that may possibly happen in Kobe's future. You refuse to believe that Kobe may one day be considered the greatest ever, regardless of what ultimately happens during the rest of his career. I choose to take a hypothetical scenario into consideration since that's what speculation and conjecture is all about. You don't.

Talk about hard-headedness.