Kobe Bryant could score 100 in a game in today's NBA - Tracy McGrady

I mean Harden will never get to 100, or probably anywhere near 81, largely because he coasts for stretches of games and acts like a decoy.

I just think 81 was about the peak of what Kobe could do with his built in inefficiency. He wasn't a good enough 3 point shooter for the increase in volume to matter.

This is assuming we are talking about the reasonable flow of a game (as reasonable as these crazy usage rates can be considered lol) and not him literally taking every single shot because sure, if he used 100 possessions he could probably do it.

 

I have thought it, but couldnt even put it into words like you did...thank you, you are right in saying the softest shot in basketball is the mid-range shot.

I cant stand it when people say the 3 point shot is a bail out and when former players pretend like they didnt take them as much for that reason. Fact of the matter is it is incredibly hard to shoot those shots at a 38% clip (much less un-assisted, step back, 3 to 4 to 5 steps back like Harden does). A lot of the players in that generation were driven by FG% (before analytics took it to the next level of TS%) and they didnt want to deflate that one stat. Kobe and tmac shooting the 3 as much as harden at a 28-32% clip would have made them even more of chuckers than they already were. Period.

 

Kobe's FGA 70. Rest of the team, 12.

 

Kobe's effective field goal % was always around .480 with an occasional peak at about .500

Jordan was .525 - .550 with an occasional trough at .480

Harden, this year is .545 and other than his rookie year has always been above .500

Curry's low is .535 with a high of .630 for perspective on the greatest shooter the game has seen

Kobe is the poster child for inefficient shooting but anybody that watched him knows he turned it on at the end of a game like no other.

T-mac is bitter, if he took less shots he would of won a playoff series. If Kobe shot less, Malone and Payton would have a championship ring from the Lakers. In the 07 year, the year the rockets won 20+ in a row without Yao, T-mac shot .442. if other people, ie Luis scola shoot the ball more the rockets have a better chance to get out of the first round of the playoffs, Tracy was awful for 3 of the 6 games. So yeah, he needs to live through Kobe's accomplishments.

Harden's story hasn't been completed yet so no need to compare him to Kobe but he is more efficient at getting points and than Kobe so far.

Note: Kobe played for most of his career after the hand check rule was added. He didn't play in Jordan's era so there is no excuse for such low field goal % Jerry Buss was a great owner and that can make a difference.

 

I watched the whole opening Jump segment w Tmac & PP ...
The revisionist history narrative from bitter ex-players against Harden and "THIS ERA" is getting ridiculous

Just a few counterpoints to both MeMac and Pierce I would have loved to make in person on that set if given the chance:


- "The game today is so easy for offensive players without hand-checking"

Hand-checking rule was changed in 2004
Tmac was 25, had just joined the Rockets, and was entering his 8th of 16 NBA seasons
So Tracy played more than half his NBA career during "THIS ERA", including the bulk of his prime years

Jordan played the first 5 of his 15 seasons in the 80s, when scoring and pace of play was HIGHER overall than it has ever been since league-wide
So basically, these guys are reminiscing about 'the good old days' from 1990-2003?!? When the style of play was at it's ugliest?!?

90s ball to me was defined by 2 qualities:

• Grinding, physical defensive teams (Pistons, Knicks, j*zz, Spurs)
  • won by mauling opponents into boring games where neither team could manage 90 pts
• Individual ISO ball (Iverson, Francis)
  • stars would play 1-on-5 in half-court to dissuade the brutal doubles, while effectively killing team basketball

This trend bottomed-out in the Spurs vs Nets Finals
The on-court product had become so wretched to watch that the league HAD to make major rule changes after Jordan just to keep its fans
Boring ball always won playoff series, so the league reacted to encourage a more entertaining style that was also capable of winning

These are the Glory Days for which everyone is now pining?!? PLEASE


- "MJ or Kobe could've scored 100 in THIS ERA"

As mentioned, Jordan played the first 5 of his 15 seasons in the 80s
Kobe played 12 of his 20 seasons after the hand-check was banned in 2004
Already mentioned McGrady above

Let's see how the best scoring season from each compare to Harden right now ...

HIGHEST SCORING SEASONS

Jordan 1987 - 37.1 PPG (high-flying 80s era)
48.0 FG% on 27.8 FGA
18.0 3P% on 0.8 3PA
85.7 FT% on 11.9 FTA

McLady 2003 - 32.1 PPG (pre-handcheck 90s era)
45.7 FG% on 24.2 FGA
38.6 3P% on 6.0 3PA
79.3 FT% on 9.7 FTA

Kobe 2006 - 35.4 PPG (post-handcheck 00s era)
45.0 FG% on 27.2 FGA
34.7 3P% on 6.5 3PA
85.0 FT% on 10.2 FTA

Harden 2019 - 36.5 PPG (modern 3-&-FREE 10s era)
44.1 FG% on 24.2 FGA
37.4 3P% on 13.4 3PA
87.0 FT% on 11.6 FTA

So ...
MJ & Kobe actually jacked up 3 more shots a game, while MeMac was the same 24 as JH, and all shot around 45% overall
MJ actually went to the line MORE than JH for all those insisting he flops every time there's contact, and none of the other 3 convert better than JH at 87%
Only MeMac shot better from deep than JH, but only slightly better, and on half the attempts JH takes this year

What, exactly, makes those others so superior to what James Harden is doing right now?
I don't see it

Other than the obvious league-wide trend that Harden has made the conscious choice to trade long 2s for 3s
That's just playing smart, which is why literally every good team the past 5 years has embraced this style

So all those great scorers from the past were better than their modern counterparts because ... they were stupid enough to take more of the worst shots in basketball (mid-range 2s)?!?

 

First of all, Kobe played in “today’s NBA”. He retired 3 years ago and played most of his career jn the post-handcheck era.

This is conjecture, but it seemed to me that Kobe was basically gunning for 100 in his very last game. All he got was 50 FGA and 6/21 from 3 for a grand total of.... 60 points. Barely halfway to 100, and with that high usage too.

I’m sorry, but Kobe wouldn’t score 100 in “today’s NBA” (such ridiculous phrasing given he is recently retired). Kobe just wasn’t efficient enough of a scorer.

That said, I don’t see anyone scoring 100 outside of (A) a multiple OT game coupled with (B) a historically hot shooting night and (C) extremely high usage. The circumstances have to be so perfect that I don’t see it happening.

 

I am not on T-mac's/Kobe's side (revisionist history with the "eras"), but to be fair, while the "hand check" era was over in '04 I do think that harden and the rockets are ushering in a new era that began about 3 years ago. The era of "analytics" which is telling us to shoot more 3's. Maybe that is the "era" they are thinking of/referring to. Even so, they didnt shoot the 3 ball as well as Harden does.

 

T-Mac is getting annoying to me and he's definitely settling in nicely w/ the ESPN clowns.

Not sure if you guys saw a segment of him putting Harden 3rd in the MVP vote couple days ago.
He has Giannis 1st & PG13 second & Harden 3rd... really?
Giannis, i kinda can agree since his team is the best in the league.
PG13??? Just because he had one big game 47/12/10 against the blazers and he went all out like he's been putting #s like that the entire season.
GTFOH
PG13 is nice and consistent but it's no where near the crazy games Harden is putting up in the last 30 games.
The media tend to get used to #s harden is putting up & completely forgot that the team is playing w/out CP3, Clint, & Ennis (in & out due to his hammy problem).
He was carrying a team with a couple 2ways contract dudes & rookies and took the team from 14th place to 4th and now to 6th.
Rockets could easily turn into a bottom feeder team if it wasn't for Harden's ridiculous streak.

 

I call this the "3 & Free Era"
It's centered around trading off long 2-pt jumpers for more 3's and more close shots (which typically lead to more FTs)
Basically taking fewer bad shots for more efficient good shots ... AKA smart basketball


Yes, it is true that only in the past 3-5 years this has become the dominant style across the league ... but ...

The Kings of CWebb-Peja-JWill were the first team after the 90s I recall that started to win PO series playing a more wide-open, OFF-first style
That was almost 20 years ago

Then the D'Antoni Suns of Nash-Matrix-Amare won 60+ games basically ignoring DEF and the shot-clock
That was 15 years ago

Hell even Daryl has been trying to get here for over almost a decade now by bringing in Kevin Martin, who was essentially Harden-lite in this style of OFF


Plus, it's not like EVERYTHING that has changed the past 5-10 years has made things easier for perimeter OFF players:

- Teams have adjusted personnel to favor longer, more athletic players to defend ball-handlers on the perimeter
This means Harden often faces lineups with 4-5 guys capable of defending him 1-on-1
So in effect, he is going against DEFs designed specifically to defend his modern style
The Warriors can role out Dray-KD-Iggy-Klay-Curry ... all 5 guys can switch and stay in front of Harden, eliminating obvious mismatches
You telling me Jordan had it so much harder going against the 90s Knicks with plodders like Ewing, Oak, Mason and others on the court together, and all packed in the middle, just because they could hand-check?

- Zone DEF
Jordan, Kobe, Tracy and every other retired player played the bulk (if not all) of their careers in an era when teams were forced to play Man DEF
Now teams can float, shade, double guys without the ball ... all changes to the game which favor DEF when trying to contain an elite scorer like Harden
How effective would Jordan's famed Triangle OFF have been if teams were allowed to sag off a career 30% 3P shooter (MJ) trying to initiate the OFF with a post entry pass?
What would have happened to Kobe's Lakers if teams were allowed to double Shaq before he even had the ball?


I'm not saying that, in general, the game has not evolved to a modern style that favors perimeter scorers over the past 20 years

It's just silly to me to hear older guys talk about the ridiculous numbers Harden, Westbrook and others are posting regularly now and dismiss their greatness because the league has eliminated hand-checking, restrictions on freedom of movement off the ball, etc ...

Teams have adjusted to this new OFF era with personnel, DEF schemes, etc
If it was so easy to score the way Harden has been the past 6 weeks, or to avg a triple double for multiple seasons like Russ, then they wouldn't be the only 2 guys in the past 4 decades to do it

These jealous, bitter old farts need to quit complaining and give props when due

 

All great points

 

I thought you would put Vanessa on it.

 

We ought to thank TMac... Watching his inefficiency for years has given us the ability to truly appreciate Harden's historically efficient play.

 

Yeah T-Mac used to be my favorite player but the way he talks about Harden, who is leaps and bounds better than T-Mac, is disrespectful and delusional. Screw him. Still liked watching him play though

 

All excellent points.

In particularly, it's never mentioned enough that Harden is a tank. He's been getting battered like no one else in the league for the better part of a decade, and I can't recall a single major injury. An unmentioned crown he might end up wearing by the end of his career is "Most Durable Player Ever." He's a strong guy built to absorb damage, and he uses that to the fullest. Oh, and he has every other offensive tool as well. McGrady, Kobe, and most guards would be broken into a million pieces trying to do what Harden does, and Harden would survive in their eras just fine.

 

Kobe wouldn’t be able to score 100, wack ass T-Mac needs to stop it with this BS

Do u know how many shot attempts and free throws he would need to get there? Is Kobe gonna take 60 shots and get 30 free throws all in the same game? Gtfoh with this nonsense.

 

Wilt was better than Kobe as a scorer anytime. Averaging 50 points in a season even with fewer teams in a different era is unheard off.

 

T Mac would be a quitter in today's NBA