I disagree about the double teaming, because I saw him get double-teamed all the time. He wasn't double-teamed out ont he perimeter(like you see with Carter, Iverson and the Rockets guards, cause it'd be useless), but he is always doubled when he brings the ball closer to the basket. And since when have the Lakers been better than average defenders - Grant is nothing to write home about, and Fox is the one who really benifits from O'Neal behind him. Other than O'Neal and Bryant, the Lakers are not that good defensively - something they spent the majority of the year proving to me. As for Detroit, its impossible to say because its a purely hypothetical situation, but put Bryant on the Pistons and they make the playoffs. Looking at the situations where he did have limited offensive freedom, he put up some unreal numbers - Imagining Bryant w/a green light on every possession and he'd put up 32-35 shots a game, heck he nearly did that earlier in the year, even w/Shaq. And no one sags off of Bryant to cover O'Neal lest they be idiots - First, you don't leave Bryant on defense, he's too good. Secondly, no shooting guard is gonna be able to pressure O'Neal on the double. He'll either spin away from it or lob it to Bryant for a dunk. The defenses always leave Grant, Fox or Fisher, before they try Bryant. ------------------ This space currently being renovated. We apologize for the inconvenience.
I can't believe that no one has yet mentioned one of the most important aspects of MJ's game that took him years to get but that Kobe has already: the referees. It took MJ a while to gain respect to the point that he got almost every call, but Kobe seems to have that already. ------------------
That's called help defense, not double teaming. You're selling the rest of the Lakers short when it comes to defense. Rick Fox has always been known as a good defender. Horace Grant can hold his own, and has played solid D on some of the best power forwards in the league(Duncan,Wallace, Webber) throughout the playoffs. Fisher plays solid D as well. Hell, even their bench players like Horry and Shaw play decent defense. Detroit doesn't make the playoffs with or without Kobe. He doesn't improve that team dramatically if he's on it. You have to look at both sides of the coin, and realize that even though he would have offensive freedom, teams would actually gear their defenses towards him for a change. He's not gonna make the players around him that much better. It's kind of ironic that you mention Kobe putting up all those shots at the beginning of the season, because the Lakers were struggling at the time, and it's not a coincidence either. It's not Kobe's man that will be sagging into the lane. Kobe's man will rotate due to the double team on Shaq so that the next defender over will have to pick up Kobe. In having to pick up Kobe, he has to run at Kobe, which allows him to have a headstart with the defender on his heels. Shaq is always doubled by guards. Teams aren't stupid enough to bring their power forward from the weakside to double, leaving the backside wide open. ------------------ [This message has been edited by tacoma park legend (edited May 30, 2001).]
I don't see it as help defense - help defense to me is when one player comes over to cover after another player has been beat. That happened a lot this series. Thats not what I refer to though, even while still covered by Daniels, another player would come and double on Bryant. Often he would just elevate over the defense and either pass out of it, or shoot it. They were struggling, but they still would've made the playoffs in the east. And if you look at the players on the Pistons they had role-players like Wallace and Williams, players who don't really get involved in the offense anyway. As opposed to LA, where they had a bunch of players who need to get into the offense to really succeed. Bryant could've launched 35 shots a game and it wouldn't have alienated his teammates in Detroit like it did in LA. I've seen O'Neal doubled more times with the power forward than a guard if simply because the PF is the only player who can double effectively on O'Neal. I've seen him doubled before with guards, but it rarely seemed to faze him, he either spun away from it - or passed over it. ------------------ This space currently being renovated. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Well I guess if we just compare stats at age 22 that Shaq (3/6/72) is a better player than Dream (1/21/63) too. G FG% FT% RBS AST PTS 68 52.6 64.5 11.5 2 23.5 79 58.3 53.3 13.2 2.4 29.3 Dream leads in FT% but Shaq is better everywhere else. My point is the numbers don't tell all. Shaq obviously has a higher FG% because of all the dunks, the same reason MJ had such a high FG% because he constantly went to the basket. It doesn't say anything about any of the players, just that possibly that the stats don't tell the whole story about who is the most complete player.
If this is true, that's another plus for Jordan. Bryant was getting all the calls almost right when he came in. He didn't have to earn any respect -- the refs immediately bought into the hype. It's always easier when you're getting all the calls.
