Yesterday, I was sitting comfortably on the couch in my
living room at home, eating a late breakfast, watching The Herd with
Colin Cowherd, on ESPNU. Colin must’ve had the day off, because he wasn’t
in the studio, so, instead, they had one of the many ESPN replacement talking
heads in his place. This guy, whoever he was, opened up a segment by having the
Worldwide Leader’s NBA Insider Chris Broussard on as a guest to talk about the
latest news and rumors in the NBA. I watched silently and emotionlessly as he talked
about Cleveland ’s recent improving play, and the abysmal and dysfunctional Knicks, among other things. Finally,
before letting him go, the host asked Broussard about Kobe Bryant and the
Lakers.
My ears perked up. I’m not sure why I was so interested in the
best player on a 6-16 team that’s destined for the lottery, but for whatever
reason, any Kobe talk has always drawn me in. That guy is one of the most polarizing athletes to ever put on a uniform, and someone who is endlessly fun/frustrating to talk/write/think about.
Unfortunately, Broussard, someone who I have a decent amount
of respect for as a basketball thinker, said maybe the dumbest thing anyone has
ever said about Kobe this season.
I’m paraphrasing, but basically, here was his opinion on Kobe :
“To me, despite his poor shooting percentage, he’s enhanced his legacy this
season, because of his play as an individual player”……
What? Seriously? A guy having one of the least efficient
(he’s shooting 39%!), and largest and most egregious volume scoring season in
the history of the NBA, is enhancing his legacy?
And the worst thing was, this talking head host didn’t even
challenge him on that statement! How could you not with an opinion as ludicrous
as that? Where is the voice of reason on Kobe
in the national media? Only a few analysts and journalists have really criticized him, and
most, like that clown Bill Plaschke, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, have
gone as far as saying that he was having a “great season”, because he’s putting
up "unbelievable" numbers (Really? Great?) at age 36.
And those in the media who have been critical of Bryant
really haven’t gone far enough, in my opinion. Why are they afraid to say that Kobe ,
truthfully, has been legitimately terrible this season? Why are they
afraid to say that the Black Mamba might be the main reason this team is 6-16,
and the worst Laker team ever?
Just looking at his stats, you could be deceived into think
that Bryant is having a pretty good season. He’s averaging 5 rebounds and 4.9
assists per game, and his 25.5 points per game are just .1 behind James Harden
for the league lead. That looks pretty good right? Sure, I guess it would,
until you look deeper; Kobe , as
mentioned above, is shooting a porous 39% from the floor, on 22.4 shots
attempts per game, the 5th highest total of his 19 years. Plus, he
doesn’t really capitalize on his obscene amount of shot attempts, as he only
makes 8.7 of them a game, meaning there are an average of 13.7 Laker possessions
per game that end with a missed Bryant field goal. That doesn’t seem like all
that much, until you look at the four other highest scorers in the league:
James Harden: 25.6 points per game, 41.9 field goal
percentage, 7.5 made field goals per game, 17.9 field goal attempts per game,
10.4 possessions per game that end with a Harden miss.
Anthony Davis: 25.1 PPG, 56.9 FG%, 9.8 FGM, 17.1 FGA, 7.3
possessions per game that end with a Davis
miss.
LeBron James: 24.8 PPG, 47.5 FG%, 8.6 FGM, 18.1 FGA, 8.9
possessions per game that end with a James miss.
Blake Griffin: 23.7 PPG, 50.3 FG%, 9.1 FGM, 18.2 FGA, 9.1
possessions per game that end with a Griffin
miss.
Those missed shots add up over the course of a game, a
month, and a season. Plus, there’s no real way to numerically quantify the
amount of his teammates’ will that he breaks every game by looking them off and
forcing up a terrible 28 foot shot despite the fact that he’s double teamed.
Eventually, when guys figure out that they aren’t going to get the ball, they
stop moving on offense (leading to a bunch of guys standing around), they won’t
be willing to pass the rock if it ever magically finds its way into their arms,
and if they’re big guys, they’ll stop killing themselves to get offensive
rebounds.
I’ve watched the Lakers way too many times this year, and
I’ve seen multiple games this season where you could physically see Kobe making
this decision: “Screw these guys, we’re losing, I’m the Black Mamba, and
instead of continuing to be a good teammate by involving them on the offensive
end, I’m instead going to hog the ball, shoot as many times as possible, and go
one-on-one (or one-on-three, or one-on-four, whatever it takes) for the rest of
the game. Oh yeah, and I’m going to yell and curse at them when they get beat
on defense, or don’t get back to stop a fast break, despite the fact that I
might be the laziest defender in the NBA”.
Basically, when he goes into that mode, you know it’s over
for L.A. He kills their wobbly
chemistry, and destroys any positive energy or impact created by his teammates
during the game.
And yes, I realize this is a terrible Lakers’ roster. You
knew it was going to be a long season in Los Angeles when the teams’ five best
players were a 36 year old Kobe, Carlos Boozer (a guy who would rather have a
colonoscopy than play defense), post-Linsanity Jeremy Lin, rookie Julius
Randle, and Swaggy P. This roster was destined to suck, and be one of the worst
defensive teams ever. They were set up to fail. So what can Kobe
do about that? I see him having two options: either he can strangle every
member of the team, and then build a time machine that magically transports the
Showtime Lakers to 2014; or he can just start acting like he gives a crap
defensively, and at least pretend that he cares about his teammates. And since
time travel, at least at this point, is impossible, coupled with the fact that
he can’t legally murder all of his teammates, I guess he’s going to have to, as
painful as it is for him, go for the second option.
Clearly though, he isn’t, and never has, chosen to make that
decision. He made news just yesterday by calling his teammates, “Soft like Charmin”, and he seems to take great joy in publicly berating
everyone in the organization. Bryant, a guy who, early in his career, was real
skiddish/didn’t care about talking to reporters, seems to have figured out that
the media really cares about what he says. They will literally run with whatever he
gives them, and spin it in a positive light. It doesn’t matter what he says,
they’ll always find a way to make him look good. If he's openly critical of his teammates, or the front office, he's just a "competitor, and a five time champion, so he can say that". Or something like that. I was legitimately horrified
when I heard a story Smush Parker told Dan Le Betard about Kobe .
Supposedly, when he and Bryant were teammates, Parker approached him to talk
about something non-basketball related, only to have the Mamba tell him, “You
can’t talk to me. You need more accolades under your belt you come talk to me”.
Real nice Kobe . What a sweetheart.
The only thing more shocking than that was the media’s reaction to that story,
which has basically been nonexistent. Can you imagine the negative backlash LeBron
would face if it ever came out that he said something that self righteous to a
teammate? It would dominate every talk show for days or weeks, and Skip
Baseless and Screamin’ A. Smith would both spontaneously combust yelling at
each other about it. Actually, I might want that to happen. Please, I’m begging
you former/current Heat or Cavs beat writers, if you have a story like that,
please leak it to the media.
Anyway, with Kobe ,
a story like that is swept under the rug, and ignored. I can’t remember any
other athlete having this many excuses made for him throughout his career. For
example, Bryant was legitimately horrible for long stretches of the 2010 NBA
Finals (he shot 40.5% during the series, including the legendarily bad 6-24 in
Game 7), but because the Lakers won, everybody magically forgot that, hyped him up for the entire summer, and moved him way up on their all
time players list.
Are we so desperate for this guy to be this generation’s Jordan
that we’ve ignored his flaws, bad games, and shortcomings? Are we so blinded by
rings, flashy highlight films, and the “he’s a winner,
he’s a killer” narrative that we can’t have a proper perspective on Bryant, and
his place in NBA history? People automatically throw this guy in their top 10
players of all time, while simultaneously ignoring the great feats and
accomplishments of so many legendary players.
Now don’t get me wrong, Kobe
is a great player, and a definite Hall of Famer, but it’s hard for me to see an
argument for him as one of the 10 greatest players of all time. He’s never had a
season where he shot over 50% from the field, or even 47% (his high for a
season is 46.9%, in 2001-02). He has averaged 25.5 points per game in his
career, but he’s also led the league in total shot attempts 6 times, and is leading
the league again this year. I’d argue he’s achieved that high average mostly
due to the fact that he’s been given free reign to do whatever he wants on
the offensive end since Shaq left. And what does Kobe
love to do? That’s easy, it’s to put up as many shots as humanly possible. And
his “great” season this year isn’t really that impressive when you consider
this: how many NBA players could, given that they were playing in a Kobe-like
role on their team, average 25.5 PPG on 22.4 FGA, while shooting at least 39%
from the floor? Half? And how many would average more points, and shoot a
higher percentage? 25% of them? Maybe more? I have no idea, and we’ll never
know, because there are hardly any players that have that much freedom on the
offensive end, and those that do (like LeBron) realize that it would destroy
their team’s chemistry if they decided to play a Kobe
game.
But Kobe doesn’t
care about that, and ultimately, he’s always been a guy on the basketball court
that views the game like this: “Whatever is best for me is best for the team,
and forget what my teammates think about it”. That, among other things, is
why he falls short of the top 10 for me. Michael Jordan, as selfish and
soul-crushing as he was towards his teammates at times, eventually realized
that he needed those guys to win, and figured out a way to coexist with them,
eventually growing to accept their shortcomings compared to his immense skill
set. Guys like Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Tim Duncan, were great
teammates throughout their entire careers, and did an excellent job of elevating
everyone’s level of play around them. Plus, all four of those guys just
happened to be better players than Kobe .
Bryant never quite impacted the game in all facets like
Larry Bird did, and as impressive as his longevity has been, it can’t come
close to touching Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s, who won Finals MVP’s 14 years apart
(1971 and 1985). Wilt, by all accounts, was a selfish jerk, but there’s never
been such a singularly overpowering force in the history of the Association.
LeBron, despite playing fewer seasons, has already surpassed Bryant’s overall
legacy (James has four league MVPs to Kobe ’s
one), and King James, like Bird, consistently impacts the game in more facets
than the Bryant ever dreamed of. I’d rather have Hakeem Olajuwon (he averaged at least 20
points and 10 rebounds per game for the first 12 years of his career) and Shaq
(he averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for the first 13 years
of his career) than Kobe, because I don’t have to deal with all the bad
teammate stuff with those guys. Plus, I get more consistent game-to-game
production from them, even if I have to worry about Shaq deciding that
he’s going to coast through large stretches of multiple regular seasons.
There’s ten players right there. And I haven’t even
mentioned guys like Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, who I’d also rank above
Kobe, or Moses Malone, one of the greatest rebounders of all time, who also happens to be a 3 time league MVP, and the best player on one of the greatest
NBA teams of all time, the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. I’d stick Bryant at 14th, and feel great about it. And there’s no shame in being the 14th
greatest player of all time. Why should there be? You’re a Hall of Famer, and
an NBA Legend. But let’s not act like it’s a problem to acknowledge that there
were other guys who played the game better.
There’s only two guarantees about the Lakers’ next two
seasons (years in which Kobe will make 23.5 million and 25 million, by the
way): they’re going to lose a ton of games, embarrassing and crapping on the
Laker brand; and Kobe is going to shamelessly and coldly gun, and go after his
own stats. I hope destroying the team’s chemistry just so you can climb up the
all time scoring list is worth it. We’ll never know. Only the Black Mamba will.
Now, onto my NFL picks….
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For the first time since August, we have a weekend without
any college football games, save the Army-Navy game, which would be a really
big deal if this was 1940. And just for the record, I’m taking Navy, who has
won 12 games in a row in that series.
We’ve got 3 weeks left in the NFL season, and the pressure
and stakes have never been higher this year in every locker room. It’s going to
be an exciting stretch run (Home team in CAPS).
Cardinals over RAMS
I had the Cards last night, and was extremely worried that
they were going to fly into St. Louis ,
in one of those kooky Thursday night games, playing against one of the hottest
teams in the NFL, and just get blitzed. Drew Stanton against that defense?
Sheesh. And when he injured his knee, they brought in Ryan Lindley, a guy I’ve
never heard of who I instantly had less faith in than Stanton .
But they played great defense all night, and the offense did just enough for
them to win. Isn’t it a shame that this team, as talented as they are, could
end up falling way short of their goal because of a few dumb quarterback
injuries? If Stanton ’s injury is
serious, good luck the rest of the season with Lindley. You aren’t winning a
playoff game with that guy starting for you.
Steelers over FALCONS
Normally I would just say, “Atlanta
sucks!” and move on, but the Falcons played their most impressive game since
Week 3 on Monday night, against the best team in the NFL, Green
Bay . After an abysmal first half, they scored 30
second half points, and lost by only six after they attempted two of the worst
onside kicks I’ve ever seen. Julio Jones was unguardable the entire night (11
catches, 259 yards, 1 TD), and if he plays like that again, Atlanta will be in
this game for the duration. Unfortunately for the Falcons, Pittsburgh
has won a few games this season simply because their pass rush was so
overwhelmingly dominant, and Atlanta ’s
O-line is terrible. I can’t see them keeping Steeler rushers out of Matt Ryan’s
face. The Dirty Birds will be competitive, but they’ll ultimately come up
short. Good thing they play in the terrible NFC South, because it doesn’t
really matter if you lose week-to-week, as long as you win your division
games. What an embarrassment.
GIANTS over Redskins
Attention New York
Giants: Please thrust yourself into the Jim Harbaugh sweepstakes! He’s there to
be had, if you want him!
Attention Washington
Redskins: How does leveraging the entire future of your franchise for RG3 look
now? Is that the worst trade in the history of the NFL? It might be.
PATRIOTS over Dolphins
CHIEFS over Raiders
COLTS over Texans
J.J. Watt destroys all inferior life forms. Unfortunately
for him, Andrew Luck happens to be on the other sideline. Oh yeah, and don’t
forget to add in the fact that Houston
secretly isn’t that good. Here are their seven wins: Redskins, Raiders, Bills,
Titans (twice), Browns, Jaguars. Not overly impressive.
BROWNS over Bengals
I wrote on Monday that I wasn’t going to pick Cincy for the
rest of the season, just on principle, because Carrot Top plays the quarterback
position for them. Then, Cleveland announced this week that they’d be starting
Johnny Manziel, followed by Cincinnati starting to suck me in a little bit with their roster (which is immensely talented) and their strangely impressive record……
NO! I can’t pick them! Andy Dalton and this team have burned me too many times! IT’S JOHNNY FOOTBALL TIME!
RAVENS over Jaguars
Please. It’s Jacksonville .
Packers over BILLS
I’ve heard a lot of momentum building late in the week for Buffalo .
Why? I understand that the Bills are great in the trenches, but I get the
hottest team in NFL, quarterbacked by the NFL MVP, with one of the best
offensive lines in the league. Sure, the Packers’ defense isn’t great, and
oftentimes falls somewhere between “average” and “revolving door”, but Buffalo
doesn’t have the personnel on offense to make them pay for that. Kyle Orton?
When has he ever shredded anything besides a piece of paper?
Buccaneers over PANTHERS
I can’t believe it. I think I just picked Tampa
Bay Cam .
TITANS over Jets
Or, in other words, the worst game of the weekend. If they
played this one in my front yard, I probably wouldn’t stroll outside to watch
it.
Broncos over CHARGERS
This is not a must win for the Bolts. That would be the next
two games, assuming they lose this one (which probably won't happen, considering I'm picking against them). Their offensive line is so banged
up/confused/dysfunctional right now, and they won’t get the advantage of cold
weather and wind to knock down or alter Peyton Manning’s throws. San Diego won’t
struggle as badly on offense as they did last week, but Denver should be able
to get pass rushers through that patchwork offensive line enough times to
bother Philip Rivers, and keep him from playing his best game, which is what the
Chargers will need to beat the Broncos.
LIONS over Vikings
What a disappointing year for Cordarrelle Patterson. Fresh
off an extremely impressive and eye popping rookie season, I expected big
things from the Vikings receiver this season. Instead, it’s literally been the
exact opposite. Patterson has a paltry 30 catches for 350 yards, and one
touchdown. Incredibly enough, his longest catch of the season has only been 28
yards! How is that possible for a guy this talented and this gifted
athletically? It’s been so bad that Patterson has been moved out of the
starting lineup, and has played just four offensive snaps the last two weeks. Head coach
Mike Zimmer has reiterated throughout the season that he wants to see more
consistent practice habits out of him, and has said that Patterson’s biggest
stumbling block has been, “Consistency. It’s
being in the right place, doing the right things, running the right routes,
blocking the right people, lining up in the right place, that’s it”. Whatever
the reason is, I hope he’s able to figure it out. He was so much fun to watch
last season, and the NFL has missed his explosive, game-breaking plays.
Regardless, Patterson or no
Patterson, Minnesota Detroit
SEAHAWKS over 49ers
Amazingly enough, Seattle is
actually a ten point favorite in this game. That seems way too high,
even with the Niners’ and Colin Kaepernick’s recent struggles. I predicted on
Monday that the Seahawks would win out, and it starts this week. Kaepernick
looks lost under center, and appears to have as much confidence in himself as a
nerdy, glasses-wearing freshman on the first day of high school. San Fran’s
defense has been as great as ever though, and because of that, they’ll be able
to hang around for most of the game. But I just don’t have any faith in that
offense to put up enough points to seriously challenge Seattle
EAGLES over Cowboys
BEARS over Saints
Finally, the Monday Night
game. Do I have to make a pick on this one? I don't think I've whiffed on any two teams more than these ones this season. I’m going with the Bears solely because New Orleans
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So, like always, have a nice
weekend, and enjoy football on Sunday. You deserve it.
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