However playing on a team with a guy that has taken 153 shots more than the 2nd leading scorer in the league. But only has 13 more points !!!

kobe- 960 shots taken, 417 made

Kevin Durant – 805 shots taken, 404 made

LBJ- 718 shots taken, 396 made

I would be disengaged too, knowing that the likely hood of me touching the ball, is not very likely.

It’s not fair to kobe to compare him to MJ, for the very reason you mentioned, MJ’s career FG percentage was far superior.

Remember, Miami was minus Bosh and the Heat had played several tough games that week. It was purely a moral victory for laker faithfuls. Trust me, even kobe knows they wouldn’t beat the Heat in a 7 game series.

Good post anyway.

People said similar things about Jordan shooting too much. The difference is that Jordan had a better all-around game, and that if Bryant were shooting MJ’s career FG percentage, he’d already be passed him on the points list.

Yep, the Lakers need better kick-out shooting. If they played D like they did against Miami, however, a lot of this would take care of itself.

I find it coincidental that your user name is “Progress”, but you are referencing a regression in team play in the NBA. I completely agree with you that Kobe is not a team player who has unreasonable expectations of his teammates when receiving the ball with just a few seconds left. But the problem extends to the mindset of just about every NBA team in this day and age. Teams rarely play team orientated basketball anymore. Everyone wants to be Jordan-esque, and with all of the top players tying up most of the salary cap, the teams with big name stars rarely have an 80′s type Celtic or Lakers team where many players can take the shot. The quality of team play is such a distant memory that when teams surprise us with excellent team play (Ex: last year’s Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals showing), we are pleasantly surprised. And YES, Phil Jackson was an excellent coach.

But he missed the previous 5 by pounding the ball for 15 seconds of the shot clock and either jacked up a terrible shot or throw it to Bynum or Gasol with 1 second left on the clock and expect them to make a miracle shot.

Then have the audacity to get mad at them, throw his hands in the air and make one of those weird faces, when they don’t beat the shot clock or make a And1 type trick shot.

The gig is up ! This dude never learned how to play team ball. Trade and get another good scorer that is in their prime ( Monte Ellis ), draft picks and money and let kobe go try to win Vanessa back.

The offense isn’t the problem. It has been run to perfection at least once this season, even with all the excuses, (short season, new system, new coach, yada, yada, yada.) and Kobe was playing off the ball. Not chucking 5 crappy shots in a row.

Watch a Lakers game. Gasol and Bynum in the post is winning basketball. Dump the rock every single time down and good things are going to happen. Kobe – feel free and you’ll get that sixth. For the love of the Lakers, do it.