Originally Posted by
JD617
Like DC mentioned, Kobe is maybe the best ever at making difficult shots, but MJ didn't take quite as many of those shots with an insane degree of difficulty. He was slightly more athletic in his prime and used his explosiveness to get easier looks, which is why he was at or above 50% shooting during his high scoring years. I know Kobe played on some garbage teams and was forced to carry the team singlehandedly at times, but he's never been as efficient of a scorer as Mike.
As for Kobe in '02-'03... it was a great year, I'm not saying it wasn't, but I don't get the argument that it was hard for him to score 30 because Shaq was also scoring 30. I know you hate stats like this, but look:
Kobe was third in the league in usage %, so he should've been scoring 30, it's not like he wasn't getting enough touches... he was using more possessions than Shaq.
That's fine and dandy. How much more could he have produced without Shaq getting 20 shots a game? It's a chicken and an egg argument regardless, maybe Kobe would be worse since defenses would be on him non stop with no other threat, but the same would be true in that defenses being on him even more, might mean even more free throws. Bottom line, can't produce points, unless you shoot. More shots you take, more chances you have to produce. Since we all know he's pretty good at getting shots off out of horrible situations, I'm pretty certain that if he had 3-4 more shots a game (the rest would be divvied up with a decent replacement at C, it's not like Kobe would get every shot of every game) but 3-4 sounds reasonable. And off that, an extra 2 free throws, and maybe an added 3 attempted per game, you're talkin about a guy at 24 who would have done similar numbers to MJ's. And the result would have been the same, Kobe and the Lakers wouldn't have won anything. Just like late 80s MJ.
It should also be noted, you all have heard of Phil telling Mike, ya know Mike, we have guys that can score, you could take it easy, rest more and be stronger in the playoffs, you don't HAVE to score so much. MJ waived him off. Naw, I'm gonna win the scoring title, AND the NBA title.
That's the great irony to me in that everyone claims Kobe is so selfish, when MJ did and said things like that. Kobe has actually let some of his scoring go down. He could still gun for 30 a night if he wants, you all know it. But he's settled into a 26-28 point a game mode, he'll turn it up when he needs too. (MSG, the first game back vs the Grizz, a lull game in a road trip, a game where 1-2 other players are sitting out)
*shrugs* Just points to consider, like I have said, MJ will be #1 for a long time, ifbe gets to #2, I and any other Laker fan won't have a problem with that. (or at least, any other Laker fan shouldn't have a prob with that)
