If Kobe Was So Smart...

I found an interesting article that Kobe Bryant's opinion is that Anthony Davis is better than Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball combined.

Yahoo Sports: Kobe on Kuzma, Ingram, Ball: “Are the three of them better than Anthony Davis? No!”.
https://sports.yahoo.com/kobe-kuzma-ingram-ball-three-213158841.html

My problem is so many try to turn Kobe Bryant into a basketball god. Yes, he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. And yes, he led the Lakers to 5 championships with the help of Shaquel Oneil and Pau Gasol. I feel if he was that goood, he should have led the Lakers to 7 to 8 NBA Championships.

I count the 2 NBA Finals that the Lakers lost with Kobe. I felt the Lakers did have good enough teams to win championships, but there is a reason why Kobe has the all time record for missed shots in the NBA. He failed to pass when he was double and triple teamed. When Kobe was on, he would make everything, but when he was off, he would keep shooting until the Lakers could not come back.

This reminded me of playing pickup basketball at LA Fitness. Today this kid was playing on the same team as his father. They both could shoot well, but his kid would dribble the ballinto a double team and because he wasn't that big or strong, they would take the ball from him almost every time. I would expect him to learn or at least his father teach him to anticipate the double team and pass the ball ahead of the double team.

And on another instance playing at LA Fitness, I explained to this guy, who played semi-pro basketball in the past, that I get frustrated by him because he doesn't use the screens I set for him. I spoke with him about it one day and he told me, "What if they double team me?"

Ah, "Pass me the ball. I will either shoot it or pass it back if they double team me." This is basketball 101 type of stuff. I am not a professional basketball player, but I do play one on the XBox. But given these issues are simple and continue, I can understand a little more why Kobe didn't pass as much as he missed shots. It wasn't because he didn't have players that could hit shots. Clearly Kobe Bryant's basketball mentality is not one that I give a lot of credit although I am a diehard Lakers' Fan.

Kobe might have modeled his game after Micheal Jordan with his shot and dunks, but Jordan passed out of double teams to open players who shot the ball. Kobe thinks players that have the ability to take over a game are great, but he needs to open his eyes and watch the film of Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram this season. They have been able to take the ball to the hoop to score or pass the ball as the facilitator. I do agree that Anthony Davis has those same skills, but he is one player. If he gets injured, there is nobody to take his place.

This season Lonzo Ball missed a large number of games, Kyle Kuzma missed a number of games, LeBron James missed a lot of games and Brandon Ingram is lost for the remainder of the season. Injuries happen as New Orleans knows and why they have showcased Anthony Davis with limited minutes and no forth quarter minutes in the 2nd half of the season.

Nothing would be worse than to trade Ball, Kuzma and Ingram to get Anthony Davis and he get injured and miss the majority of the season. Meanwhile these players will have their greatest career season in the next 2 years become all stars and question why did the Lakers trade them like D'Angelo Russell for the Nets and Brooke Lopez for the Bucks this season. Julius Randle is another the Lakers let go as he enters his prime.

The Lakers have enough tallent they can deal without shipping out the best players for the Lakers future. Now if the Lakers could get Zion Williamson and Anthony Davis, ship them all out. lol