Comments on: Kobe says he always admired Larry Bird’s determination

By: dedalus13

dedalus13 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:43:42 +0000

Wow! Is averaging 18-19 ppg just hanging around? Is this an actual quote (from who…)?
For a full season this is about 1500 pts. Just for the record, the 5 last seasons only 55 players topped this mark, for a combined 113 times. So in average just 11 players per season… I wonder how many NBA players would like to just hang around like this only once in their career…

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:36:58 +0000

Without a doubt J.West

By: ambitoos

ambitoos — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:12:07 +0000

I read somewhere that Kobe was the greatest Laker ever. I beg to differ. The greatest Laker ever is Jerry West. Not because he scored more but because he was a great player, a great coach, and a great GM of the Lakers. He was Mr. Clutch. He brought great players to the Lakers including Kobe Bryant. He got things done and made things happen. He will always be my favorite Laker.

By: LPad

LPad — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:03:19 +0000

You are aware that Bird spent last two years of his career battling back injuries and at no point in his career was he not the primary scoring option (only time Bird dropped less than 21 a game where years he was injured). In fact, Bird and Kobe actually had the “determination” to battle through painful injuries.

Bird last 5 years:

87-88 BOS 76 GP 29.9 PTS
88-89 BOS 6 GP 19.3 PTS
89-90 BOS 75 GP 24.3 PTS
90-91 BOS 60 GP 19.4 PTS
91-92 BOS 45 GP 20.2 PTS

By: genericcommenter

genericcommenter — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:08:58 +0000

Bird was never “hanging around averaging 18-19 ppg,” especially not for “years.” In his next to last season, he averaged 19.4, easily his lowest scoring season ( I don’t think we can count the 19.3 that one season when he only played 6 games). He added 8.5 boards, 7.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1 block per game, while shooting .454/.389/.891. In his last season he averaged 20.2/9.6/6.8 while shooting .466/.406/.926

Averaging 24.3/19.4/20.2 the last 3 seasons with high numbers and percentages in just about avery category isn’t really “hanging around.”

I guess someone like Reggie Miller – not to pick on him but most people here consider him a sure- HOFer for his shooting/scoring- was “hanging around” for his last 13 seasons, since he only averaged more than 18-19ppg twice.

By: conjecture101

conjecture101 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:43:49 +0000

Kobe’s doing everything he can to not reveal how badly he wants to catch Jordan.

By: zblott

zblott — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:45:58 +0000

I wonder what Kobe thinks of the last few years of Bird’s career when he was “hanging around averaging 18-19 ppg,” something Kobe said he’d never do. I’m guessing that “determination” he admired in Bird had more to do with the seasons Larry Legend was shooting 20+ times a game and not the seasons he was contributing to a winning team in other ways, sometimes even in ways that weren’t counted in the boxscore.

By: loungefly74

loungefly74 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:29:49 +0000

alright…i guess that was a bad analogy. my bad guys.

By: loungefly74

loungefly74 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:25 +0000

…makes me think of the scene in Pulp Fiction with the “The Wolf”…

The Wolf circles the car examining it.

Jules and Vincent stand aside, their clothes are literally a
bloody mess, but they do have a sense of pride in what a
good job they’ve done.

THE WOLF
Fine job, gentlemen. We may get out
of this yet.

JIMMIE
I can’t believe that’s the same car.

THE WOLF
Well, let’s not start suckin’ each
other’s d*#ks quite yet. Phase one
is complete, clean the car, which
moves us right along to phase two,
clean you two.