He sets the tone for the team everyone is chasing this season. Maybe he has taken a step back, but no one enjoys trying to score against him when he is locked in mentally. For five consecutive years, coaches have made him a first-team All-Defense selection. They still don't call plays to run through the man he is guarding. http://nba.fanhouse.com/2011/01/06/nba-defensive-player-of-the-year-dwight-howard/ This kind of thing just drives me batty. Tim Povtak of FanHouse, ranking Defensive Player of the Year candidates, has Kobe fourth on the list. Does anyone watch the guy play? I mean, ever? You know why no one calls plays "to run through the man he is guarding?" Because he guards the weakest perimeter scorer on the opposition! I don't blame Kobe for this - it's part of the scheme, Phil doesn't want him expending a lot of energy on defense or getting into foul trouble. And Kobe is certainly capable of playing good defense, and even does it for a few minutes in important games. But the vast majority of time in the vast majority of games, he is a disinterested and very poor defender. That's just how it is, folks. by Steve Perrin http://www.clipsnation.com/2011/1/6...veryone-is-chasing-this-season-maybe#comments
There is no doubt Kobe has been an overrated defender for a while. I will agree that (in the past), he could play very good stretches of man-to-man defense when he decided to. Even then, elite players like Brandon Roy would still toast him.
Obviously, the game against the Pistons, he let an old ass Mcgrady run past him for a coast to coast dunk. He is vastly overrated.
Kobe can arguably be the best defender in the league when he's focused and playing aggressive on that end. The thing is Kobe rarely does that during the season. He steps up his D when the playoffs kick in though.
yes he is. Just remember how some morons sent him to the first All-NBA D team couple of years ago over D-wade, who did everything for Miami defense in his redemption year, especially in the first part of the season, before Jermaine arrived. He played excellent man on man, he was huge on defending the passing lane, set all nba record in blocks for a guard and all their system was on his shoulders. Kobe played real D just few times in that season: on T-Mac, on Artest, against Celtics and in couple of other games but he was put in the first team instead of wade, who did it all season long Argggghhhh
kobe is a great defender, evidenced by his selection of all nba defensive teams, but he doesn't try nearly as hard in the regular season, but he's a lock down defender in the playoffs
Absolutely, the man has been on the All-Defensive 1st or 2nd team ten times in his career. For comparison, some players who have less all-defensive team appearances: Ron Artest - 4 times on 1st or 2nd team Shane Battier - 2 times on 2nd team Bruce Bowen - 8 times on 1st or 2nd team Hakeem Olajuwon - 9 times on 1st or 2nd team Michael Jordan - 9 times on 1st team Ben Wallace - 6 times on 1st or 2nd team David Robinson - 8 times on 1st or 2nd team Dennis Rodman - 8 times on 1st or 2nd team
No. There is no argument about that. Crazy talk. When he tries hard to defend, Kobe can be very good in man-to-man situations. But to suggest he goes to the top is nonsense or a ridiculous exaggeration.
Hugely over rated. Massively. He could play good D, but doing both that and being the scorer for your team the other end is tough. Many superstars have the same issue, Mac back in Orlando, everyone knew he could be a great defender but his job was to carry the load on offence, doing both would be extremely difficult. I rekon Melo could play decent D, but he is just concerned about the offence. D Wade did an amazing job playing awesome D and O at the same time.
I disagree, I'd rather have kill-mode Kobe Bryant (back when he was 100%) than Thabo Sefolosha or Ron Artest and he's on par with Tayshaun Prince. Kobe is not on the level of prime Shane Battier though. Again we rarely see that Kobe nowadays.
If given the task of being a defensive role player, I think he'd perform at a consistent elite level. I believe that is how most coaches view the all-defensive team selections. Some role players are really good defenders because that is where all their energy is devoted but if some of these stars were in the same role they would have a significantly larger impact. And yes, this only comes from an evaluation of their defense in a few key stretches in big games. I would like to see guys like Chuck Hayes who work hard and have true defensive talent get recognized but I'm not in the camp pushing for guys who hustle like crazy on D for 20 minutes a game but aren't really doing anything different from someone with equal desire would do in their role to get awards.
So....you're saying he's not overrated, but he's not as good as Battier in his prime? But Battier only has 2 total All-Defensive team appearances (both 2nd team) compared to Kobe's 10 total All-Defensive team appearances. That seems like he's extremely overrated.
This was never true. In his prime, he was certainly capable of playing excellent defense for a few plays and even very good defense for an entire game but he was never arguably the best defender in the league.
he got by on reputation. if you actually get LP and watch him play defense, you scratch your head sometimes. however, he likes to do his defensive stances ala KG to show that he plays D (but gets blown by frequently)
Kobe might not be the defender that every hypes him up to be. He's also not very consistent. But like LeBron, Tmac, and the other superstars who only play defense once in a while... if they get focused and actually try; their defense is pretty good.
