HOOPLOG: Kobe Bryant

Kobe For MVP

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:43:58 -0800

Kobe Bryant is our MVP. And LeBron's too.

"I’d give it to Kobe. What he’s done this whole year, to carry that team to the No. 1 team in the West right now. He’s playing his best basketball all around. I’ve watched him the whole year. I saw it last summer when I played with him with USA Basketball and the sacrifices he’s made for the team and he’s done that with the Lakers."

—LeBron James

Kobe4MVP.com

Kobe For MVP

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:43:58 -0800

Kobe Bryant is our MVP. And LeBron's too.

—LeBron James

Kobe4MVP.com

KOBE: Play With Strength. Live With Honor.

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:53:40 -0800

More Kobe Bryant hotness over at nikebasketball.com/kobe »

2007 NBA Season At An End

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:02:45 -0800

The San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in what had to be one of the least watched NBA Finals in many years. Watching the Lebron-led Cavs break against the solid as a rock Spurs left everyone here at Hooplog looking forward to the off-season, as the Eastern Conference has a lot of work to ahead to match the likes of the Western powerhouses, Spurs, Suns, and Mavericks. With Kobe possibly on his way out in L.A., maybe he could help revitalize an Eastern Conference team.

2007 NBA Season At An End

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:02:45 -0800

One Liners

Fri, 05 May 2006 12:14:05 -0800

- Kobe Bryant is absolutely, hands-down the greatest basketball player on the planet.

- Flash Gordon's curveball is making a lot of Phillies fans forget about Billy Wagner.

- If Peter Forsberg is truly "The Best Player in the World" then he alone should have willed his Flyers over a Sabres teams whose most recognizable player is Chris Drury.

- How incredible would it be to see Kobe's Lakers vs. LeBron's Cavs in the NBA Finals?

- It's pretty clear at this point that A.J. Soprano will never be another Michael Corleone.

- The Rangers, Flyers, and Red Wings sent a ton of players to Torino and maybe it's not a coincidence those players are now on the golf course.

- Barry Bonds comes to Philadelphia this weekend and I hope to God that the Philly fans there don't embarrass the rest of us too badly.

- The 2006 NFL will go down as the best draft ever for the Eagles, beating out 2002's when they drafted Lito Shepperd, Brian Westbrook, Sheldon Brown and Michael Lewis.

- If Allen Iverson does get traded this offseason, the deal better not include Ricky Davis as the other centerpiece as was the case in a rumor I read this week.

- If you haven't already heard of Cole Hamels, you will by the All-Star break.

- Finals week during the Spring Semester is probably the longest week of the year.

No comments

Thoughts on Kobe, Lakers ready to face Nash, Suns

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:43:39 -0800

A response to Kobe, Lakers ready to face Nash, Suns:

I keep hearing people ask "Which of the Suns is gonna keep up with Kobe?" "How're the Suns gonna cope with Kobe?" How come no one's asking "How're the Lakers gonna cope with Steve Nash?"

Geez! Two MVP-caliber seasons and the guy still can't get any credit! People still continue to underestimate what the guy can do on the court, and the influence that he can have on a game. I became a believer definitively last season after watching the Suns-Mavericks closing game; the guy was a one-man dynamo!!!

I'm taking a different route from that of most commentators; rather than predicting that the Suns won't be able to stop Kobe, I predict that the Lakers will not have an answer for Steve Nash. Kobe's a game-changer, to be sure, but I think his influence on a game tends to come in (big) spurts, whereas Nash has an incredibly subtle influence on the flow of the entire game.

No comments

Kobe Closing In on Scoring Title

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:55:30 -0800

Ross Siler of the LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS writes, "Even if the Lakers come up short in the first round of the playoffs, even if the Maurice Podoloff Trophy for MVP goes to somebody else, Kobe Bryant at least can take something of significance from this season. With four games left in the regular season, Bryant is almost certain to win his first NBA scoring title and could become the first player since Michael Jordan in 1987-88 to average 35 points per game."

Kobe Bryant: 2006 NBA MVP

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:50:41 -0800

Check out this article at ProBasketballNews.com for my take why Kobe Bryant should win the 2006 NBA MVP:

Who Should Win MVP?

I address the criticism that players who shoot a lot and score a lot do not merit MVP consideration by placing Bryant's season in historical context. Bryant's scoring average has hovered around 35 ppg for most of the year and, with one exception, every player who has averaged 35-plus ppg has finished in the top five in MVP balloting. One could argue that the previous 35 ppg scorers should not have received such strong MVP consideration and that a lot of players could score 35-plus points if they took a lot of shots--but this line of reasoning is faulty because very few players could consistently get off 25-plus field goal attempts a game in the NBA, let alone convert enough of them to score 35 points while also rebounding, passing and defending. It may be true that there are a lot of NBA players who are capable of scoring 35 points in a game but very few are capable of averaging 35 points per game for a season.

The criticism that all Bryant cares about is scoring and that his style of play is not conducive to team success is refuted by the fact that the Lakers have a better winning percentage when Bryant scores 40-plus points than when he scores less than 40 points. He is carrying what otherwise would be a Lottery team to the playoffs.

Kobe spoils Hornets' return to New Orleans

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:49:55 -0800

The NBA returned to New Orleans Wednesday night, as the Hornets and Lakers played in front of a sold-out crowd. And while Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a 113-107 win, the 17,744 fans in attendance were more than happy to have their team back home.

Nothing fits forever

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:49:48 -0800

It would seem that last night’s infernal burst of Gilbertology might truly need no comment from ours truly. As in, we live in heaven, he lives alone, our souls are intertwined and the moment need not be soiled by explanation. The more and more I gazed upon that fascinating still—one as destined for iconic status as Tiger with the fist pump or Yao’s scream of antiquity—the more brutally apparent it becomes to me that Arenas, far from being an oddball, is the living, breathing god of my favorite kind of NBA player: the kind you watch, instead of just view. What Iverson, Kobe, Nash, and a handful of others I go out of my way to see play have in common is this ability to not merely produce on any given night, but to casually redefine themselves through masterstrokes of basketball impressionism.

Let me put briefly put aside the strained fire and brimstone that guides this site long enough to admit, as I did last week, that this is by and large a league of consistency. Unlike baseball and football, where one can be violently up and down from one game to the next but still get recognized overall as a fantastic contributor, to be a credible contributor a guy’s got to come with steady output. Freaks and streaks can be profound, but no player’s a recognizable force (or definite failure) in this league until he can be counted on; to scrape the ridges of Mount Dunkmore, he’d better be guaranteed to account for a serious percentage of his team’s production, both in the box score and as a reliable force when the ball hits his hands. Until then, he will always get saddled with the p-word, no matter how impressive he is in spurts.

When you reach the rarified air of superlative hoops accomplishment, there are at least three kind of consistency. Most obviously, there are the rock-solid bequeathers, under-appreciated and often big men like Duncan, Brand, Bosh, Dirk, Jamison, Kidd, Ray Ray and Redd. These folks give it their all with frightening regularity, churning it out from the opening bell and expected to operate as if to a rhythmic tick. I want to stop short of saying that you can intuit them from looking at a box score, but by and large there is no dramatic arc to their in-game performances. Professional, workmanlike, whatever you want to call them, these are consummate anchors of an offense, the given you pencil in at most moments during the season’s onslaught.

In the next category, you find explosive players with a tendency toward predictable outcomes, who ebb and flow over the course of a game, occasionally make you doubt, and ultimately bring you right back to who you always knew they were. I’m talking about Garnett, Pierce, Wade, Vince, Billups, Bibby, Gasol, Melo, Richardson, Jefferson, Sheed, Marion, and Artest himself—unquestioned experts who sometimes lull, sometimes soar, but never have to redeem themselves and are constantly working within their own limits and images. This isn’t a knock on any of these fine, hurling turtles; merely to point out that if you turn on the television to see them play, you know what you’re getting and will be accordingly excited. Each game reinforces their , with ups and downs that end in a pointed reminder of yeah, that’s him.

Gilbert and his gang, as I will now aptly dub them, rest upon their own set of shaggy shoulders. To return to last week’s trope of half-assed existentialism, All-American and yet bleakly Continental, they are players constantly exceeding themselves, or at least engaging in what feels for all the world like a motherfucking statement game. It can LeBron or Amare exerting and expanding their dominance, Kirilenko or Gerald Wallace twisting up the parameters of a box score, Nash working his conductor-ly magic, or Kobe, Iverson or McGrady scoring not only at will, but as if it’s unnatural for them to miss—or even repeat themselves out on the floor. Arenas is a must-see, not only because he’s likely to put on a show, but for what each and every game can do to your sense of him as a player and personality. If Wade proves with each big game that he’s still Wade, still proud, then Gilbert does it up in a way that’s not only unpredictable; with each of these self-transcending events, he also manages to seem unlikely all anew. As does Kobe, Bron, et al. In the crucible of the game, their legend is broken down and created anew, surprising you not only with this most recent installment but, in its reconstitution of the player’s most basic essence, shock you yet again they exist at all, that anything they do has ever happened in the glare of man’s senses.

This may seem like two-bit metaphysics for those of you not in tune with my lifelong education on this planet (or anyone merely taking issue with my late night sloppiness). But next time you find yourself up past bedtime watching one of these aforementioned idols, think about whether or not you feel you’re seeing them for the first time, whether you’re transfixed partly out of the fear that you’re witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Not just a good game from your favorite NBA player, or one of those “instant classics” this blog will reference two years from now; I mean one of those performances where, in some ways, you feel like you’re discovering the sport again for the very first time.

NBA TV Top 10 Leaders

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:22:06 -0800

Kobe jumps ahead of Vince in the NBA Top 10 Nightly standings.

Isiah Thomas is an Excellent Driver

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:11:28 -0800

Though I enjoyed it very much, the slam dunk contest was a joke. The problems have been written about all over the place, so instead I'll offer a solution. Each of the four contestants get four dunks. The first three rounds are limited to three attempts per dunk with the last round having unlimited attempts. After all dunks are completed a panel of "experts" (as in former players who have at least the cognitive ability of a multi-cellular organism) will pick the four best dunks (one per player to avoid a situation where the fans split the vote between two dunks by the same guy). The public will then pick the winner, in 10 minutes of online and/or text messaging voting.

This prevents the judges' inevitable premature adulation: giving perfect 10s in first round when everyone knows better dunks are coming. Fan involvement is encouraged, likely to increase ratings (and revenue to whatever cell phone company sponsors the text messaging portion). Barkley and crew could banter about which dunk was the best for each player. Leaving the unlimited attempts round to the end will build anticipation on what crazy-ass dunk each player is going to pull out. During the voting period TNT could interview the active players in the arena that didn't participate. You know Iverson, Shaq and company would love to share their opinions on who should win and the crowd would eat that shit up. (Did anyone notice Kobe's reaction when he realized that Robinson had won instead of AI? He looked crushed; I thought he was going to buy some diamond encrusted fronts for Igoudala just to say he's sorry.) They could interview random posse members and celebrities as well. Running voting results could be displayed on the scoreboard. What's not to like?

Call me crazy, but I had absolutely no desire to see four Pistons playing at once in the All Star Game. This has nothing to do with my thoughts on whether they deserved the spot; it was simply boring. If I wanted to watch "Pistons basketball" I would watch a DET game. Do people really want to watch Rip running off staggered screens? And was anyone really surprised that four Pistons plus Pierce outplayed the West? Hell, four Raptors plus Pierce would likely beat the West, too. Virtually any NBA team playing team basketball would beat an All-Star team featuring guys trying lobs from half court. And yeah, I would feel the same way about four Spurs. I know how the Spurs play. I don't know how Manu would play with Nash, Marion, Dirk and Brand. That's what I would want to see.

My favorite part of the latest Isiah trade isn't that the Knicks will be paying $60+ million a year (including luxury tax) for Marbury and Francis. It's not that these two players are incompatible due to both of them being undersized for a shooting guard (not that they play much defense anyway). Nor is it that the combination will drive the lying, sniveling Larry Brown to a premature demise. The best part about this deal is that multiple media outlets are reporting that Isiah is stockpiling assets in order to go after Garnett in the summer.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I can see only one high-quality asset the Knicks have that MIN could possibly want. And that's Channing Frye. They have don't have any premium draft picks over the next two years. Meanwhile a team like CHI could offer some combination of Deng, Gordon, Duhon, Nocioni, Hinrich and Chandler plus multiple premium first round picks.

I didn't get to watch the SA-SEA game because the NBA League Pass channel was blacked out and I didn't notice until the game was already over. I'm beginning to see the early signs of Spurs withdrawal.

Here are my quick midseason player reviews; based on minutes of careful consideration and preseason expectations.

Coach Pop, B

Clearly trying to establish a rotation ASAP but stuck with Finley in the starting lineup way too long. Has successfully kept Manu's minutes down but needs to do the same for Timmeh; props for loosening the reins on Parker.

Mike Budenholzer, A+

I just like saying his name. Boo-din-hol-zer.

Sean Marks, B+

He's played well when given the opportunity and helped spawn a new catch phrase: AND SEAN MARKS FINISHES THE JOB!!!

Beno Udrih, B

Yeah, Van Exel is a better ball-handler, but that's the end of the list in my book.

Fabricio Oberto, C+

He looks less lost every time he plays and always brings the effort.

Brent Barry, D

40.3% from the field and 33.7% from 3 isn't good enough for a guy that's getting $5 million a year to shoot the ball.

Robert Horry, NA

The regular season? We're talking about the regular season?

Nick Van Exel, D

Why do I have the feeling that Spurs fans will blame a key playoff loss on his poor shot selection and total inability to guard anyone with legs?

Nazr Mohammed, B-

I'm seeing improvement, but he needs to up his blocks and cut down on turnovers and the ubiquitous mental errors.

Rasho Nesterovic, B

As solid as ever, but he needs to cut down on his ubiquitous lack of athleticism.

Michael Finley, D-

How bad has Finley played? The lineup of TP/BB/MF/TD/RS has outscored its opponents by a whopping 13 points in 286 minutes. That amounts to 2.2 points per game. For a team with a 6.5 point differential.

The Sickness, B-

Swap Manu for Finley in the above lineup and you have a squad that has outscored its opponents by 113 points in 335 minutes; 16.2 points per game. Certainly not the same guy we saw in the playoffs, but, well, this isn't the playoffs. His regular season numbers from last year are similar and his grade would be higher if not for the injuries.

Bruce Bowen, A-

He's added to his offensive game without adding FGA, but I'll be damned if he hasn't lost a quarter-step on defense. Yeah, I said it.

Tim Duncan, B

Lowest, PPG, FG% and BPG of his career. 59% of his FGA are outside of the lane which is higher than Parker and Ginobili. Still an incredible defensive anchor but, like last year, not capable of offensively carrying this team to a title. His plantar fascia cost him a half-grade or so.

Tony Parker, A

Better shot selection this year and maybe the best guard finisher in the NBA (his eFG% inside is 71.1% compared to 55.3% for Wade, 52.3% for Bryant and 63.7% for LeBron). Still has the undeniable Achilles heel to his game that will be exploited without mercy during the playoffs.

When they dance, don't call me

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 12:40:57 -0800

There have been a small handful of FreeDarko posts that could truly have been called "short." Before today, that scurrying list included the day Finley signed with the Spurs (why did I ever give a fuck about that?) and the news of Amare's injury (still I grieve). For all you stat-keepers out there, break out the old abacus and add another notch on the fire.

I'm not only speaking as one of the world's foremost Arenas boosters: what do you have to do to land on the Eastern Conference reserve list? He's a ferocious scorer who actually knows how to lead a team at this point, fourth in the league in scoring, one of the Association's brightest young talents, and just generally a force to be reckoned with in any remotely perceptive human being's picture of the sport.

It's almost like he's reaping the backlash against Kobe. No one can dare question #8's latest chain of exploits, so the next closest thing in the league, role-wise, gets lambasted. Wade's more balanced (as in the opposite of imbalanced, game-wise and otherwise), Iverson's a rock; these are HOF caliber talents. And the only guards in the East better than Arenas. I don't want this to turn into a "how do we reward the Pistons" meditation or pile-on, but no way is Arenas not the third best guard in the East, top five league-wide (Kidd's on the decline, Paul may be the better pure point but is not the same dominant type of presence; Baron Davis is a joke).

Doesn't a franchise player having a career year deserve a spot? That's the argument being made for Pierce, and he's 1) not nearly Arenas's equal 2) on a shittier team 3) not as much fun to behold 4) not a legit superstar

This is all so fucking obvious I feel shamed by being the one who has to say it.

DAMN YOU, SKY ABOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Now the Recluse tells me that Melo's off, too. In the immortal words of Shoefly, "this is buuuullshit."

Double missive: I have a new rule about the NBA. It's called "fan loyalty to a particular player only lasts as long as he stays himself on the court." Case in point, K-mart. Loved him when he could do some things. Now, he's dead to me. Call it inhuman, but really, what's there to like about Martin if he's not rumbling about and playing in a way worthy of his bionic swagger? Now he's just some big dude who seems kind of pissy. This is a league of athletes, and personality or no personality, it's only so interesting, important or meaningful without the game to back it up and justify what these figures are to us.

Yao Tops in All-Star Balloting

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:11:26 -0800

In USA TODAY, David DuPree writes that Houston Rockets center Yao Ming "was the leading vote-getter in the fan balloting for the second consecutive season, narrowly edging Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers by 71,107 votes."