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Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

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Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a team. Not as an individual. Kobe taking 50 shots and going for 40+ is orthogonal to the team winning.

Lakers win-loss record w/ Kobe Bryant (up to 2013): Regular Season: 878-468 (.652) Post Season: 137-89 (.606) There is a strong correlation between Kobe Bryant's scoring, and winning Laker's seasons.

Kobe Bryant being integral to the Laker's success is absolutely correct. The Laker's made the strategic decision to structure everything around him and it worked well. No doubt that would have failed with a less talented individual.

However, it is important to view his accomplishments in that light. He scored 40+ points in games because the team basically said "Let's have Kobe score 40+ points today". Because of that, his absolute point totals aren't great markers for individual talent.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#122
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a team sport, though. There's more players than Kobe out there.

How many of those players are as skilled as Kobe? The biggest knock people seem to have against Kobe is that unlike Jordan, he didn't elevate the game of his teammates.

Which I find to be a pretty weird idea. The list of players that played their best while playing with Kobe is long and varied.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#123

Knowing almost nothing about Kobe Bryant (I haven't followed the NBA for years), it looks like there's an interesting trend in 3 point attempts. At any given year of his career, the distribution of 3 point shots made compared to other shots made seems fairly balanced, as one might expect. However, the number of attempted 3 point shots (or 3 pointers missed) seems to rise significantly in the latter half of his career…

Part of the reason may be that three point shooting has become much more popular in the NBA. Consider it: In many cases, if you shoot from a few steps further back then your reward increases 50%. Current MVP Stephan Curry is the epitome of this trend.

Also, driving to the basket, probably his leading alternative, takes speed, strength, and the ability to take a beating. Probably all those abilities declined as he aged.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#124
post #48
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The differences in their gifts also account for a lot. If Curry continues through his prime like he's played the past two seasons, he'll be the greatest shooter of all time. Kobe was never a great jump shooter but was remarkable at finding ways to get shots, as well as getting fouled. Typically, in the NBA, the best scorers fit closer to the Kobe mold than Curry mold, Jordan and Lebron, for example. It will be intere…

Curry is a great shooter that also benefits from the rule changes to give shooters more space outside the paint. I never liked the constant hand checking allowed, and am glad they stopped it. I wonder how Curry would fare in the 90s NBA given his smaller frame. I think he would still be a great shooter, but could he get his shot as easily? Debates like this are what makes sports fun.

His father Dell is an inch taller with the same listed weight and played from '86 to '02. He's probably a good initial comparison.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#125

A 14 foot dunk[1]? That'd be a pretty impressive jump. [1] http://i.imgur.com/H81YlNl.png

Tagging error, most likely.

A sports database guy I know found the shot and it's certainly not a fourteen foot jump: https://twitter.com/seanlahman/status/720668150258393088

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lakers win-loss record w/ Kobe Bryant (up to 2013): Regular Season: 878-468 (.652) Post Season: 137-89 (.606) There is a strong correlation between Kobe Bryant's scoring, and winning Laker's seasons.

Kobe Bryant being integral to the Laker's success is absolutely correct. The Laker's made the strategic decision to structure everything around him and it worked well. No doubt that would have failed with a less talented individual. However, it is important to view his accomplishments in that light. He scored 40+ points in games because the team basically said "Let's have Kobe score 40+ points today". Because of that…

I wonder if on some forum for Basketball fans somewhere, some folks are sitting around discussing PG's impact on technology and startups.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#127
post #56

It's amazing that there's a noticeably higher hit rate on a very precise line right down the middle and a relative shot gap 10 degrees on either side before reaching his "sweet zone". Anyone know why being only a few degrees away from center makes it harder to score?

When you shoot from directly in front of the basket, if the shot hits the rim it can bounce off the rim, hit the backboard, then bounce back into the rim. This is actually pretty common.

When you are shooting from the side and miss, the ball will be much more likely to bounce off the backboard to the side.

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#128
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their height and weight differences justify the different style, though. Curry is 1.91 / 86kg, hard to penetrate inside with force since he lacks the mass. Jordan and Kobe are both 1.98, you can compare them better.

Just for my fellow Americans: 1.91m = ~6 ft 3in 86kg = 189.6lbs 1.98m = ~6 ft 6in edit: oops, 6ft 6in, not 6ft 8in

1.98m is closer to 6'6"

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kobe Bryant being integral to the Laker's success is absolutely correct. The Laker's made the strategic decision to structure everything around him and it worked well. No doubt that would have failed with a less talented individual. However, it is important to view his accomplishments in that light. He scored 40+ points in games because the team basically said "Let's have Kobe score 40+ points today". Because of that…

I wonder if on some forum for Basketball fans somewhere, some folks are sitting around discussing PG's impact on technology and startups.

[deleted]

Re: Every shot Kobe Bryant ever took

#130
post #69

Of the 30,699 shots, he missed 16,966 and made 13,731. At the smallest level of performance it is nice to see that you can fail more often than you succeed and still be very successful over all.

shot percentage is a pretty arbitrary stat. a .350 batting average is also very good. a .900 hockey goalsave percentage is abysmal. to keep with the sports metaphor, you can always move your goalposts.

It's only arbitrary when using it against non-comparable stats. For example, comparing shot percentage to goal save percentage is pointless, because they measure completely different stats.

A quick search shows that an NHL team will generally get around 30 shots per game. If your goal save percentage is about 45%, then you're not going to have a career much longer when the rest of the league hovers around 94%.

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