Has Kobe been "hogging" the ball lately?

[Saskibaloia2]

Has Kobe been "hogging" the ball lately?

Pau Gasol thinks so.

What do you think?

Will this change come the playoffs or will Kobe try and be his oldself and try to dominate the game for his OWN glory?

 

[b3lowzro2]

hehehehe lol at this thread, he's been doing that since Shaq daddy bolted out of the Lakers

 

[Federoy2]

Has Kobe been "hogging" the ball lately?

Pau Gasol thinks so.

What do you think?

Will this change come the playoffs or will Kobe try and be his oldself and try to dominate the game for his OWN glory?

I'm a fan of Kobe, but there's some merit in Gasol's complaint. Apparently his Olympic experience hasn't taught him anything about taking a lesser role so his teammates can get involved. For as much as people knock LeBron "the Traveler" James, he at least understands his duel role as both an offensive weapon and a facilitator/assist man for his teammates. As much as I like Kobe, I'd pick James to be on my team before Bryant anyday.

 

[JGX2]

Well Kobe has always been a ballhog but in terms of shots/minute both he and Gasol are almost exactly the same as last year.

Apparently his Olympic experience hasn't taught him anything about taking a lesser role so his teammates can get involved.

He was a ballhog in the Olympics too. And took bad shots.

I'd pick James to be on my team before Bryant anyday

Absolutely. LeBron is the best player in the league by a large margin. Last two seasons have been amazing.

 

[Phantim3dx2]

kobe=ball hog, to speculate on this is like reinventing the wheel.

 

[LordOfLeyte2]

I never heard of Gasol complaining about Kobe's tendency to ballhog when Kobe scores like 40 something and when the Lakers were winning and on a roll last season.

 

[Saskibaloia2]

Cheers boyz!

I thought I was the only one who still thinks Kobe is a HOG!

When will he ever learn?

For Kobe to stop hogging the ball would be like seeing Tim Duncan do fancy shots during the game or for Steve Nash to average 1 apg.

 

[durden_tyler2]

The Lakers though have more chance of winning with Kobe being a ball hog than Pau Gasol on offense flailing his arms like a girl and looking for a foul.

At least that's what happens in crunchtime anyway.

So yeah, i hate the guy (Kobe) but it's not like Pau and the Lakers have better options.

 

[mvblair2]

The Lakers though have more chance of winning with Kobe being a ball hog than Pau Gasol on offense flailing his arms like a girl and looking for a foul.

Well, I wouldn't say that's what Pau does.

So yeah, i hate the guy (Kobe) but it's not like Pau and the Lakers have better options.

I also hate Kobe, so we can agree on that.

I haven't seen the most recent games, so I can't really comment, but I will say this: Pau Gasol has always been a very, very smart player. I think he's right.

During their 3-game losing streak, Kobe shot 36/71, which isn't that bad, except he missed 12 three pointers during those games.

I think most teams that don't run the fast break very well need to work the ball into the middle. Give it to Pau and Bynum. When any team plays against Miami and Charlotte and Orlando with a foul-troubled Howard, they need to put the ball in the post.

 

[robbe2]

Well, I must say that I am moderately optimistic about developments in the NBA. It seems that there is a young movement towards learning about the game through advanced statistics and quite specific surveys, and that could lead one day to maybe not the complete elimination, but to the reduction of the NBA's most obvious illnesses, like ballhogging, ill-advised shot selection, overusage of superstar players. For too long, it has been all about the boxscore. Main obstacle won't be filtering the statistics and drawing the right conclusions, but making players buy into the concept. Example.

There was also an article from last year's playoffs in a local LA newspaper's website (article isn't online anymore), where Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw said that some of the Lakers' plays are based on the concept of keeping Bryant as far away from the ball as possible (in the opposite corner), because otherwise he swallows the ball whenever he touches it ... "Deny-offense". Instead of making him understand that he has to pass the ball, they are eliminating him from the play. Think about the absurdity in this.

 

[mvblair2]

Good, long discussion about LA from Kelly Dwyer. Click the link to read the whole thing.

The Lakers Are Where They've Been All Season -- by Kelly Dwyer, March 9, 2010, Yahoo! Sports

Times are not nearly as troubling as a three-game losing streak would have some suggest, but the Los Angeles Lakers are in need of a significant philosophy adjustment if they are to glide to consecutive NBA titles...

...[The reason for LA's recent struggles] involves Kobe Bryant needlessly trying to dominate games offensively. It involves him playing the hero late, which he's done to great acclaim this season, but sometimes to the detriment of his team offensively.

Like on Sunday. He scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, but if you take 16 shots in the quarter (as Kobe did), you sure as hell better score 18 points. At least 18 points. How would Lakers fans like it if Jordan Farmar had a game that saw him take 16 shots to score 18 points? They'd ride him out of town, chanting something rude about "volume shooting" the whole trip out.

And then there's the worry about Ron Artest, which we've had since last summer. Would he shoot Los Angeles out of games?

Early in the season, it didn't appear he would...

...Ron played great defense on Sunday, but he also was too aggressive at times, needlessly overplaying on screen and rolls, caring only about his man, taking himself out of position. Worse, he's missed 16 of 19 shots the past two games....

...But he [Kobe Bryant] is not to be lauded nor tolerated for playing at times in a style and with a level of intelligence that is beneath him.

There is no reason a player like Bryant, on a team this good, should be averaging 22.2 shots per game. That's over a shot more per game than last season, and while you may think that insignificant, it isn't. Not with this roster, this relative health and Kobe's own injuries. To say nothing of the fact that his shooting percentages are down across the board.

....It's one thing to see Kobe wave off Andrew Bynum (having already sealed Dwight Howard five feet from the hoop) to try and post up Jameer Nelson(notes) 21 feet from the hoop (actually happened Sunday, terrible possession, ending in a missed Artest 3-pointer as the shot clock ran down). It's another to see Fisher call his own number time and again. He made four of his 12 shots Sunday, which was one fewer attempt than Pau Gasol. And Fisher has made only 38 percent of his attempts this season.

The execution? I put part of this on Jackson....


....And while he's Kobe and he's awesome and you think they're going in, these aren't great shots that he's taking and, sometimes, making.

The team element, the five-man offense that offers myriad options and is designed to topple any defense you throw at it? It's gone, replaced with orthodoxy. Screen-and-roll. Kobe isolated. That's not the Lakers. They're greater than the sum of their parts.....

 

[Saskibaloia2]

There is no reason a player like Bryant, on a team this good, should be averaging 22.2 shots per game.

Right on the dot!

You look at the offensive weapons of the Lakers and the depth of their bench and yet Kobe still tries to take over the game rather than try to be a conductor. Sure enough that may not be his game, however, it is about playing efficiently and effectively. Kobe as we all know is an incredible scoring machine but wouldn't it make sense that if he developed his PASSING GAME he would be twice as dangerous than if he stuck to his "ball hogging" ways.

 

[sinobball2]

Tonight..


This season...






You are not a ballhog if your team wins.

 

[mvblair2]

Sino, I can't view those videos (I'm supposed to be working), but I think I know what you're saying. I think a lot of people are saying LA would be much better if Kobe did share the ball a little more. For example, last night, in a victory, Kobe shot the ball 20 times, while Gasol and Bynum together only shot 23 times.

Of course, Pau might be complaining about Artest, too, who deserves a lot of criticism for his offense. He was 1 for 5 last night. Shannon Brown, another outside shooter, was 2 for 9.

 

[Saskibaloia2]

Tonight..


This season...






You are not a ballhog if your team wins.

That's true that LA wins BUT my question is "Could LA DOMINATE?" if Kobe shared and I'm sure they would DOMINATE like what the Bulls did back in the 1990s.

What more could you ask? Twin Towers, a deep bench, experienced role players ... LA is awesome but rather than be the top team Kobe could transform them in a GREAT TEAM but he loves passing in one direction ... the hoop ... not to a team mate

 

[JGX2]

There was also an article from last year's playoffs in a local LA newspaper's website (article isn't online anymore), where Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw said that some of the Lakers' plays are based on the concept of keeping Bryant as far away from the ball as possible (in the opposite corner), because otherwise he swallows the ball whenever he touches it ...

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/06/brian-shaw.html

Q: As a coaching staff, do you guys have a process and is there a learning curve in teaching guys how to play with him?

Shaw: (laughs) You know, we haven't figured that out yet. And I say that because you can tell guys, and we tell them, start the offense away from him. Use this side of the court, see your options over here, and if nothing is there now reverse it to him. The shot clock is coming down, now let him do his thing.

But when he's out there on the floor and he's doing his little signals asking for the ball, there's kind of a pecking order that happens out there on the court. They don't want to piss him off, and they want to please the coaching staff as well. But he's the closest one out there to them on the floor, so a lot of times they'll force the ball in with three people around (Kobe) instead of making the right play. Fish (Derek Fisher) will do the right thing, but Fish has played the same amount of years, has been through all the wars with him. Some of the younger guys, they just want to make (Kobe) happy.

When I played, we always had a second. There were two dominant players. So if we went away from Kobe and threw it into Shaq, what can he say? Now, who is that guy who is on the same level that Kobe's on, that if they make a play over here to Lamar (Odom) and Kobe gets mad then they're going to play more to that because nobody's on that same level.

 

[mattyg2532]

kobe is not a ball hog!! he plays every year with tha thought of a scoring title and championship.. there may be times he takes hard unreasonable shots but he makes more of em which is why hes tha best individually skilled palyer

 

[mvblair2]

This article is from a guy who is frequently on "Pardon the Interruption," a sports talk show on ESPN. Normally, I think he tends to be a real Laker fan, so this article is pretty different.

Nothing Good to Take Away From This One -- by Bill Plaschke, April 22, 2010, LA Times

...the eternal Lakers debate raged....

...Good Kobe or bad Kobe? With the Lakers needing a lift to close out Game 3 and essentially clinch this first-round series Thursday, would his renowned postseason pops save the day, or ruin it?

...

This was bad Kobe. This was bad, bad Kobe.

The Lakers lost, 101-96, in a game that they led every moment for three quarters because Kobe Bryant imploded in the fourth. They passed on a chance to put the dagger in an increasingly dangerous team because — stop me if you've heard this before — Bryant simply would not pass the dang ball.

On the first 13 possessions of the fourth quarter, Bryant was the last Laker to touch the ball nine times. Only one of those times was the outcome positive, a turnaround jumper early in the quarter.

He missed seven jumpers, including two three-point attempts. He had one shot blocked by Kevin Durant. He lost another ball on a bad pass.

...

It was one on five. It was ridiculous.

...

"As a unit, we've got to respect every possession," Artest said. "We have to respect the game."

He wasn't talking specifically about Bryant, but it sure sounded like he could have been. Three games into what could be his most difficult postseason, the great Laker is lost, and Thursday showed that he is still not close to being found.

Bryant made two of 10 baskets in the fourth quarter, 10 of 29 overall, and has made just 28 of 76 shots in this series, a 37% blip.

Coach Phil Jackson said he was surprised that Bryant did not attempt one free throw Thursday night, but why should he be? The Kobe who shoots free throws is the one who drives the lane, not the one who stands outside and throws up, in this case, 11 three-point attempts, making only four.

Others, including Bryant, noted that his game changed when the Thunder suddenly stuck Durant to his back in the fourth quarter, the first time this series that Oklahoma City matched up on any consistent basis.

...

While Bryant was throwing up shots, Andrew Bynum was throwing off the much smaller Nick Collison inside. Yet Bynum took only two shots in the fourth quarter, One of those was a fast-break dunk on a pass from Bryant, who said he looked for Bynum at other times but couldn't find him.

"We tried to force it a little too much," Bryant said of Bynum. "We have to strategize how to get the ball into him. We're trying to throw it inside. We have to come up with another way of doing it. I'm sure we will."

It sure didn't look like Bryant was trying to throw the ball to Bynum. It didn't look like he was trying to throw to anyone but Artest, and then only when he was triple-teamed at the end of the possession.

Bryant had as many shots in that fourth quarter as the rest of the team combined, and the final numbers for his teammates showed it. For the game, Pau Gasol scored 17 points on 12 shots. Bynum scored 13 points on nine shots...