In the Pau years, Kobe has missed 17 games. The Lakers record in those games is 11-6. Keep in mind that three of those games were in the final days of the season where the Lakers weren't playing for anything and lost to the likes of the Kings and Clippers.
MJ never played on teams with even close to the offensive firepower as Kobe has now. He was also a far more efficient scorer than Kobe. It's ok for this year's Durant to be a ballhog too, because his teammates are primarily spot up or otherwise limited offensive players. Kobe can't say the same, and further he's not nearly as capable a scorer as Durant or threepeats MJ.
So half of your analysis is based off of the first few games last year? That's a bit ridiculous. When the Pau/Lakers were in their prime and winning they had a better record with Kobe. It's a joke that you are using those games to make a conclusion
Clippy just really dislikes Kobe. All his analysis stem from a negative bias and an agenda of getting people to de-value Kobe from the all time list. Kobe is top 15 all time regardless of what happens this or the next season. If he does change his game up and brings his team success from here on out, he can only move up the list. Everything else is just talk.
What are you talking about? The games Kobe missed last year were at the end of the season and featured some impressive wins such as Bynum's 30 boards to win in San Antonio. But you can go back to the Shaq years to see that the team has always done fine without Kobe. Contrast to guys like Shaq and LeBron; their teams have horrible records when they've sat out.
I meant the end. The Bulls did fine the year after Jordan left but that doesn't mean he was some marginal upgrade. Using your logic Jordan didn't do much for the Bulls.
I do dislike him, but you are misunderstanding the motivation. I dislike him because his style of play is not conducive to good basketball and this affects me because idiots emulate this on the playground. Kobe is supremely talented but he is not as good as he thinks (eg his ludicrous claim that he could destroy LeBron in one one one) and he wants the glory so much he will play hero ball instead of using his teammates. If he sits out this year, you'll see exacly what I'm talking about. Even a team featuring Nash and Gasol and three scrubs would be .500.
Like you need all 4 of them to have a winning record. Kobe (best SG in the game) and Howard (best C in the game) have played the majority of the season, TOGETHER.
MJ routinely made over half of his shots. This is a career year shooting for Kobe, and he is still making less than half of his shots.
What's your point? He's arguing they'd be better without Kobe. What you just said in no way addresses what I'm talking about.
Why is it so hard to accept the possibility that the Lakers would be better without a perimeter player monopolizing the ball on a team with two fantastic interior scorers and one of the best distributing guards in the league? Especially given the aforementioned numbers that show that Laker teams have always fared well when Kobe sat.
Because they don't have shooters, they don't have depth, and they have a coach that is going to utilize Pau and Howard properly.
I said before the season started that the Lakers would be better without Kobe simply because I thought he wouldn't pass much and the team would depend too much on him. That's pretty much what has happened. I still think that a Nash/Gasol/Howard combo is amazing. They just don't get as many chances to contribute as they should because Kobe feels like he needs to win himself (and so does everyone else on the team I guess).
lakers are a damn mess, what a diaster it will be missing the playoffs with the addition of the best Center in Dhoward and Hall of Fame PG Nash....
You can't judge a player's impact by him being gone a few games. If Kobe went down with a season-ending injury, Lakers would eventually sink like a millstone. Teams sometimes get short-term boosts from weird events because they can rise to the occasion for a known period of time. But if the Lakers lost Kobe for good, not only would the Lakers play even softer than they do now, the attitude of teams facing them would instantly change. It would get very ugly in a hurry, especially against the good teams. Inspired efforts like against the Heat would not happen. Close losses at home would become blowouts. For someone who despises the Lakers like me, it would no longer be fun to watch them lose.
