Kobe #40

[hockey878]

Kobe will be fine. A lot of what we saw last night, especially on defense, was rust. Having said that, he's 36 and isn't going to be the defender he was even 4-5 years ago (even without the last 2 injuries). He's smart, knows how to move his feet and position himself, but he's going to struggle against smaller, quicker players. The Lakers will need to play good help defense to cut down on getting burned in those situations.

Easier said than done with Carlos Boozer on the court

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Kobe can play great or bad.
Most nights won't make any difference.
Going to be a long, bumpy ride for both he and the Lakers this season.
Shame Randall went down.
When it rains it pours.

 

[MrHoople]

Well Kobe has focused his energies on offense the last couple of years that has been obvious. He just cant play both sides like he used to, and to me im fine with him expending more energy on offense. Anyway its the first game . His O looked as good as ever though. Everyone looks rusty tho.

"His O looked as good as ever though."

He took 17 shots just to score 19 points. That's a 35%FG. Not as good as ever for Kobe.

I think he will need a few weeks to get his legs completely back. Just staying healthy right now is the main goal.

 

[trojanfan12]

"His O looked as good as ever though."

He took 17 shots just to score 19 points. That's a 35%FG. Not as good as ever for Kobe.

I think he will need a few weeks to get his legs completely back. Just staying healthy right now is the main goal.

Yep. It's been awhile since he played an actual regular season NBA game. As far as his moves, I didn't see any real difference between last night and what he was able to do before the Achilles injury. What was missing was the "finish". That should return once he shakes off the rust and as you say, gets his legs completely back.

 

[starbigd]

He looked like Wizard Jordan Jr last night......I was expecting rust......not suckage.

He looked every BIT of 36 with the mileage on his legs......

Now, I'm SURE he's going to have games where he looks brilliant, even like the Kobe of 5, 10 years ago......but my guess is those games will be farther apart than some here would like to see.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

He looked like Wizard Jordan Jr last night......I was expecting rust......not suckage.

He looked every BIT of 36 with the mileage on his legs......

Now, I'm SURE he's going to have games where he looks brilliant, even like the Kobe of 5, 10 years ago......but my guess is those games will be farther apart than some here would like to see.

He made 1 less field goal than Harden, yeah he should be ashamed of himself lol.

 

[trojanfan12]

He looked like Wizard Jordan Jr last night......I was expecting rust......not suckage.

He looked every BIT of 36 with the mileage on his legs......

Now, I'm SURE he's going to have games where he looks brilliant, even like the Kobe of 5, 10 years ago......but my guess is those games will be farther apart than some here would like to see.

I agree to a point. I think he can be pretty close to the Kobe that we saw in the season when he suffered the Achilles rupture. He wasn't looking like the Kobe of 5-10 years ago either, but he was still able to take over games when needed.

But I agree that the "vintage Kobe" games will be few and far between. At his age, it'll be more about "picking his spots". I don't think he could go on a run like he did season before last when he dragged the Lakers into the playoffs virtually by himself. If he tries, he'll likely run out of gas pretty quickly.

But he can "take over" portions of games which can help the Lakers get a few more wins than they did last year.

Like Barkley always says "Father Time is undefeated". I expect Kobe will fight that with all that he has, but end of the day, "the older we get, the better we were".

 

[starbigd]

I agree to a point. I think he can be pretty close to the Kobe that we saw in the season when he suffered the Achilles rupture. He wasn't looking like the Kobe of 5-10 years ago either, but he was still able to take over games when needed.

But I agree that the "vintage Kobe" games will be few and far between. At his age, it'll be more about "picking his spots". I don't think he could go on a run like he did season before last when he dragged the Lakers into the playoffs virtually by himself. If he tries, he'll likely run out of gas pretty quickly.

But he can "take over" portions of games which can help the Lakers get a few more wins than they did last year.

Like Barkley always says "Father Time is undefeated". I expect Kobe will fight that with all that he has, but end of the day, "the older we get, the better we were".

Agreed.

He's going to have that "old man at the Y" game going......that fadeaway from the baseline game......and he's going to have to put up a LOT of shots for this team to compete unless Lin or Young or somebody steps up the lighten the scoring load.

Really, where the team is hurting is on defense. They don't have anyone that can defend in the paint, and their wing/perimeter defense is poor too. I can't imagine Scott will stand for that for long.

If this team wins 35 games I'll be shocked. I'm really more curious about how long Kobe puts up with this. I have no doubts he wants that 6th ring......but there's no way he'll get it in LA before he's nothing more than a minor contributor. Does he force a trade? Or does he simply fade into the sunset?

 

[Mecca]

Easier said than done with Carlos Boozer on the court

I honestly expected Carlos to start off hot the first Month.

That Dude is fools gold.

 

[lakersrule]

Yep. It's been awhile since he played an actual regular season NBA game. As far as his moves, I didn't see any real difference between last night and what he was able to do before the Achilles injury. What was missing was the "finish". That should return once he shakes off the rust and as you say, gets his legs completely back.

I don't think he will get that pre-Achilles injury explosion back. His game is pretty much below the rim now. I think we will see lots of games where his point total is not far above his FGAs. He is not going to get to the free throw line much anymore.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

He made 1 less field goal than Harden, yeah he should be ashamed of himself lol.

Not looking to pile on, but I saw 6/17 shooting.
That's very inefficient.

 

[Lakers+USC=#1]

Not looking to pile on, but I saw 6/17 shooting.
That's very inefficient.

And Harden was 7/17.

He got to the line though.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Not looking to pile on, but I saw 6/17 shooting.
That's very inefficient.

I agree that it's not very efficient. He's in his mid-thirties and only played 6 games last year yet practically matched Harden's FG percentage who's being referred to as the best SG in the game by a lot of people. It's not a great start but it certainly isn't a bad one.

 

[Wamu]

I honestly expected Carlos to start off hot the first Month.

That Dude is fools gold.

Just goes to show ya that you can't trust most of those former dook players!

 

[Wamu]

I agree that it's not very efficient. He's in his mid-thirties and only played 6 games last year yet practically matched Harden's FG percentage who's being referred to as the best SG in the game by a lot of people. It's not a great start but it certainly isn't a bad one.

Kobe Jellybean Bryant is done:rollseyes:. Time to replace The Mamba w/ Wayne Ellington for the rest of the year!

 

[Mecca]

Kobe Jellybean Bryant is done:rollseyes:. Time to replace The Mamba w/ Wayne Ellington for the rest of the year!

 

[Mecca]

Not looking to pile on, but I saw 6/17 shooting.
That's very inefficient.

Totally agree.

But, the rest of the team was so HORRIFIC that it made his struggles look marginal.

Seriously, what did the Lakers do to piss off the Basketball Gods?

All the injuries are bad enough.

But, you give them the Suns today, Clips on Friday and the Warriors after that?

They better have the trainers on standby with lots of oxygen

 

[Mecca]

Just goes to show ya that you can't trust most of those former dook players!

Including Kyrie?

Should he even count since he missed a ton of games that year too?

 

[Wamu]

It's all good, I'm in an undisclosed location right now.

 

[Wamu]

Including Kyrie?

Should he even count since he missed a ton of games that year too?

Dammit I keep forgetting that Always Injured Irving is in fact a dookie. Which only means one thing: he's a Communist!