A detailed look at Kobe Bryant's on-court impact | Greatest Peaks Ep. 10

after michael jordan retired there was a race to crown the heir apparent the next dominant shooting guard who could score pass and defend as we saw last episode kobe certainly fit that bill when he was young 360 degree dunks wild shots and some huge defensive plays under phil jackson's tutelage and that led bryant to be seen as a michael jordan redux because of his build and style but the thing is he wasn't the next michael jordan he was the first kobe bryant you are watching what greatness is all about where's larry bird in all this has it blocked by elijah michael jordan saves the day this series tackles one question who was the best at his best we start at the aba merger and go through the best multi-year stretches examining the legends who provided the most on court impact these are the greatest peaks this is my man this is my man this is showboat we call him showboat but y'all know him as kobe bryant this is my main man mark my words nah and i said this earlier in the season it's gonna be unbelievable kobe was one of the most versatile robust scorers in league history he was kind of like a scoring artist painting the court in just about every way possible there were highlight finishes in the air crafty creative hoops that's a street ball move in a playoff game what's that and everything else fadeaways with his back to the basket pull-up jumpers from the mid-range pull-up jumpers from three even up fakes that send opponents straight to the house of highlights to illustrate this scoring diversity take a look at the shot charts of the leading scorers around this time larger hexagons mean more attempts so you can see lebron's largely rim dominant and dark red indicates a higher shooting percentage compared to league averages now here's kobe for better and sometimes worse he scored from anywhere and everywhere some of this blossomed out of necessity he didn't have mj's first step or lebron's bionic size and strength at the hoop in 2006 a 28 year old brian had a good first step and fluid high level athleticism to build off of as a base he was quick enough to punish slower players or big ben out of water he turned the corner on tim duncan like this a few times in the 2008 western finals but he couldn't just blast by players like certain guards who relied on quickness and it wasn't really acceleration that made kobe a dangerous penetrator he used craft guile and feel a little hesitation to start a drive and he loved this hard spin back at the rim he heads right here but is cut off so the spin sheds the defender and then off the wrong foot adjusts under lebron to finish here it is in transition the hesitation and then feeling the defender recover he spins back hard and leads with his body for free throws these counters took remarkable balance and body control along with great instinct kobe was only around 6'5 barefoot and he couldn't always elevate over defenders at the hoop so instead he might absorb contact while contorting to release a shot although that didn't work every time instead he was snake-like at slithering into different angles to release the ball in traffic his crossover was sharp enough to shake opponents and kobe senses a recovering duncan and angles it right up on the glass but this time the finish is different he's strong enough to stay balanced without losing bruce bowen but because duncan is stationed under the hoop kobe throws his body into him and banks it at his apex this is subtle but his intuition helped him audible at the rim when attacking big men in space he liked that in and out dribble and then altered his stride length as needed approaching the goal perhaps the ultimate example of his malleable finishing was his instinct for flowing to the other side of the rim where he'd throw off a potential shot blocker's timing by striding into a reverse layup now these hesitation moves were so effective because defenses were worried about his pull-up and he could play these threats off each other as the screen comes over duncan and bowen are worried about this shooting pocket and bryant uses that against him with a nasty cross yet the threat of a dribble drive was enough to create airspace for his jump shot defenders had to sell out hard on his mid-range game and that could be a problem for slower-footed opponents kobe had these fundamentals down note how many of his moves come from a triple threat position and involved up fakes or jab steps and he was so proficient getting to his spot and then rising up he could also fire fairly accurate shots off a variety of setups heading to his right or left from just about anywhere on the floor that one was a long two and kobe trafficked in these jumpers just inside the arc which made for impressive shot making but also suppressed his overall scoring efficiency from 2006 to 2008 he attempted more two-point shots outside of 15 feet than anyone in the nba but he only made 41 of them which is exactly what the rest of the league made on these shots during that period kobe's scoring numbers during those seasons were the best of his career but his efficiency lagged a touch behind some of the other huge volume scorers in this series in part because he bled some value by not making those long shots worth three points when they went in he was a bit ahead of the curve with his pull-up three-pointer able to make a respectable 35 percent of these at decent volume many of his shots were really difficult often scoring despite a large hand in his face videographers have sliced together edits of jordan and kobe making similar shots but on this one kobe's is way harder going off of his wrong foot and double clutching before shooting for my money brian is the best tough shot maker in league history or certainly the most prolific he'd regularly drill jumpers with a hand in his face and almost no air space and sometimes he'd fire these at all kinds of crazy angles he's lost all momentum here and his feet are actually crossed when he jumps but hey no biggie we saw some of this feel with larry bird in episode 4 subtle little adjustments to change the arc of a shot in a tight spot and this concentration was especially prominent on the backside of his offensive peak at the end of the 2000s where it was a touch harder to generate clean looks so this shooting adaptability took over he could just come to a stop and pump fake players into oblivion and then shoot without any momentum which is crazy difficult on many of these he's jumping from a complete standstill to find just enough room to arc it in and he could trap defenders with these up fakes which helped boosted his free throw rates especially during these peak seasons where he was slightly behind the all-timers but still went to the line more than most players he was also an early practitioner of the rip through move as we discussed in episode 8 with akeem olajuwon these difficult shot attempts helped kobe's play off scoring numbers compared to his regular season ones because he could still generate moderately efficient shots almost on demand even against stingier postseason defenses of course he could score with his back to the basket out of the post where that balance and body control blended with his footwork quite nicely he pivots into a tough shot here but he could just as easily swirl into the lane in the same situation he went to his post game a bit more by the end of the 2000s and he was sturdy enough to bang into little turnarounds or even use the threat of his fadeaway to set up defenders for the old up and under in a sense kobe and shaq were scoring opposites o'neill dominated with incredibly high percentage shots whereas bryant couldn't quite assault the rim with the same frequency so he propped up his scoring with versatility and resilient shot making but if there's one thing we've seen throughout this series it's that scoring alone doesn't make someone a great player but what i'm seeing is i'm seeing an opportunity to really demolish the spirit of their team by attacking carmelo offensively after watching this game i was really really upset with myself i don't see trevor sitting over there on the wing trevor's arms after this shot goes up he didn't pass it to me damn it in the 2008 finals the celtics suffocating defensive scheme defanged bryant clogging his driving lanes and inviting him to take jumpers the celtics overloaded his side when he had possession and this kind of early rotation would have been illegal defense in the 80s or 90s yet it was a strategic departure from what other high-end teams tried against the lakers during their deep playoff runs for instance in the 09 finals orlando played these driving lanes straight up relying on rotations after kobe penetrated without a lightning quick first step to escape these gambits or great size to pressure the rim the celtics held kobe to 51 true shooting and shaved five points off his 2008-2009 playoff scoring a good reminder that playoff matchups can heavily influence numbers boston also banked on kobe looking to score in some of these tight spots instead of repeatedly passing the exact point kobe discussed in that clip against denver when he missed the kick out to trevor ariza here he's covered by a bigger man and forces a tough fade away into a packed paint instead of kicking it out to a good shooter much like we saw in episode 6 with michael jordan kobe was always a little over calibrated towards shooting versus play making here he has two corner options when phoenix collapses into the paint but probes for an extra beat and it's a turnover i don't think this small imbalance chipped away at too much value because kobe could make some of these double team shots and the rest of the time he was looking to punish defenses who loaded up on his scoring like this by finding open teammates he was tactical and often patient about getting opponents to commit to then free up a shooter as that nugget series progressed in 2009 whenever denver slid a defender down to spy on him he opted for the kickout pass more and more the year before against the celtics there were certainly moments where he missed early passing chances as he hunted for scoring angles that didn't end all that well yet even in that series he made plenty of early reads a defender is slid way over into his driving lane here so he shuffles it to the open shooter kobe was known for his studiousness and he could certainly read and react to how teams shifted toward him in order to generate easy shots for his bandmates yes he shot into plenty of double teams but he dissected a ton as well boston sends help and these two defenders are covering three lakers and kobe threads a dart into the lane for free throws against the clock kobe grew up idolizing magic johnson and while he wasn't his equal he dropped some gorgeous dimes from time to time or would be dimes some of these passes in dynamic non-traditional situations demonstrated a strong ability to map the court and his athleticism helped with a variety of passing deliveries here he feels the help in the air looks for his big man and just tries to slap it in his direction most of his best passes were to big men like this there's that patience to wait for help to leave pau gasol and this one takes even sharper vision finding the rim runner with a jump pass to the front of the cylinder over the course of his career kobe's best most consistent pass was probably the laydown something he always had great feel for occasionally he'd shoot in these spots but if he sensed a defender coming over on a drive he'd usually hone in on his open big man here he spots a teammate on the backside maybe the perfect pass arrives now but kobe knows if he collapses the zone an easier angle will emerge so he air drops it over for the layup and hey walton's back sort of where were we laydowns kobe would carve these out and then was able to deliver at a variety of angles depending on the situation going with a soft lefty lob here after being corralled on his drive the other option in those spots was the kick out where if defenders pinched down from the perimeter he could spray it back out for three point practice after two hesitation moves he runs into a wall here but since the guard sinks in to help on gasol the kickout becomes the weakness to exploit using our best estimates kobe created plenty of shots like this for teammates ranking behind only jordan james harden lebron james and tracy mcgrady among non-point guards point guard is sort of a misnomer here since these are all lead guards spearheading the entire offense as dual threats for instance kobe ran plenty of spread pick and roll notice all the extra space compared to prior episodes and he could score or play make out of this action he didn't really have an ideal pick and roll partner before gasol although andrew bynum's emergence as a roll threat provided a little chemistry in 2007. when pow did arrive in 08 kobe ran the two-man game with him more frequently and he could pop or roll comfortably next to bryant there's a little manipulation from kobe by using the no look pass to hold the defender that one didn't always work but it shows the capacity for higher level ideas he could also make the little pocket pass this one is delayed until the big commits to kobe and then he threads the needle beautifully and while he didn't anticipate tons of passes he could drop wonderful dimes after reacting to the defense the big man contests so he audibles by bouncing it through a tight window the kobe pow pick and roll was a nasty option to fall back on late in a possession that look away technique holds the help defense this time it's successful and pow could pass off the roll too on this one the defense sits on gassol's roll so kobe whips it to lamar odum who makes the extra pass and both laker big men could pass or finish in these spots 2008 was a huge upgrade in roster construction from prior seasons where mediocre shooters and passers flanked kobe lamar and utility big men odom was always able to create some offense and act as a secondary playmaker next to kobe but gasol took the lakers to another level with his diverse offensive package his post game made him an all-nba level player stocked with a full pantry of post moves that includes soft touches with his right and left hand around the basket and after his arrival the lakers offense exploded from 2008 to 2010 la's playoff efficiency was about six and a half points better than what their opponents allowed in the regular season since kobe's offense slowed down a bit chopping off 2010 might better capture this team at its brief peak a fantastic stretch that was a rung down from the all-time greats there were a few holes in kobe's passing game he was willing to try tight passes this one is picked off but it's also a delivery issue where if he doesn't throw it higher he needs to throw it earlier or with a different delivery angle altogether he didn't really whip fastballs off the dribble at different angles like some players and instead he often tried some of these tight squeezes well in the air in lieu of shooting these all might be audibles out of shots but i wonder if he went to the jump pass because he wasn't that big size could bother him on traps and lead to some blind spots we saw the much taller lamar odom make this exact pass a second ago and kobe was inconsistent about hitting the roll man on this action when the defending big man jumped him hard he also missed some straightforward passes that's there for the taking and in my study he mostly seemed to miss wings and smalls in these home run situations so while he had some limitations as a passer his playmaking was an enormous part of his offensive attack but his offense wasn't nearly as polarizing as his controversial defense bryant's size was also a small factor on the defensive end for instance he had mixed results holding down the fort against bigger stronger players in the post there are some plays where the engagement isn't entirely there and then others where he battles hard with more success similarly kobe wasn't much of a vertical presence around the basket when he was near the rim he often went to a swipe down move and sometimes these connected beautifully and did the trick on occasion he'd turn a running start into a highlight block but these high leverage plays were less common kobe averaged a block every other game during these years and only provided occasional rim protection as a guard these rotations in the paint can provide tons of value for a wing and kobe could be floor-bound on them and he couldn't afford to arrive late in these spots he should have rotated here once the double team arrived although in general he was usually pretty buttoned up with most of his rotations tagging the big man in pick and roll either from the baseline or elbow area and this is a great sequence where he re-helps on the drive then recognizes the corner is open and runs the shooter off the line unlike the facial he received a second ago this time he's early helping the helper and being early on these rotations is key for a wing versus a big man he can deter the pass or deflect it but arrive a step later and he would swipe for the ball and that's a foul around 2007 brian emerged as a vocal leader on defense you can see him pointing on this play as la switches a number of actions here and this was in conjunction with the lakers playing more complex schemes they zoned up or switched the weak side constantly as the league adopted more pick and roll offense although these rotations weren't always super crisp for example he's a little late sliding here and that leads to a desperate closeout in general kobe wasn't super active on the weak side like this not making a ton of plays that's sort of an errant gamble there and when he staked out these situations he was quite vulnerable to backdoor cuts he was actually vulnerable to backdoors in general throughout his career tracking the ball a bit too hard and when zoning two he took a somewhat extreme stance toward the ball handler and could idle a bit and this responsibility is really about anticipation and effort it's what made larry bird dangerous in these spots and i'm not sure kobe had the motor to go full tilt on plays like these and carry his enormous offensive load back on offense bryant drained additional fuel by moving without the ball regularly working for a better position in the post and staying active in order to pressure defenses when he was overplayed he had a nice back cut himself to escape defenders and he could comfortably flow into catch and shoot options in the mid-range this meant he could fit well next to other high-level passers but it also meant that he couldn't rest much on offense so without an all-time motor kobe couldn't go full throttle on defense for 40 minutes as well here he lapses for just a moment and loses contact with ray allen they wisely switched him off allen for the rest of the series after this and while he could do solid work chasing players around he wasn't ideal for this kind of task at this point in his career he could get a bit stuck at times navigating around screens especially against bigger screeners like this although he was pretty good at dipping his shoulder around them and staying fairly connected to his man his footwork in these spots wasn't always perfect big steps can make it tricky to bypass screens but kobe works hard to recover and stay in front of the ball here he couldn't always bring this level of intensity he kind of hops his way out of position against a dangerous pull-up three-point shooter here although when he did go all out he could provide good point of attack defense and this on-ball defense is what kept him on all defensive teams long after his defensive peak that we saw in the last episode he was versatile guarding the perimeter able to chip away a little at bigger forwards and in particular switch onto point guards he had fairly quick feet and used angles and his size well in their 2008 series kobe had successful moments against the lightning quick tony parker and here you'll notice he shades him left by design into the help bryant seems as studious and technical with his defense as he was with his offense only he wasn't that disruptive as a defender blowing up screening actions or flying into the lane to choke out advantages this is a great bit of awareness in transition sliding over to stop the ball but plays like that were rare during these years and kobe's steel rate was around the 75th percentile historically which was good but not great for a guard as we've seen he could attack the ball by pawing at it like this although there were a number of plays where he was reaching for a steal and that left him out of position in a 2007 game phil jackson said he had some river boat gambler in him and while i don't think he gambled nearly as much as someone like jordan he had his fair share of whiffs he liked to shoot the gap and this was also how he collected some of his steels and those interceptions were more memorable and look great on highlight reels kobe also had his fair share of blow bys off the dribble against quicker guards although some great defenders can be susceptible to breakdowns like this so i don't think they chipped away at too much of his value impact metrics like adjusted plus minus or pipm tend to view him as a round neutral on defense and i think that's in the right ballpark given his lack of involvement in the paint and sporadic guarding of opposing lead guards but despite his lack of a defensive motor i think his understanding of schemes combined with his versatility to provide effective point of attack defense against three positions makes him a small positive on that end the more interesting question is just how high were his offensive heights he could be shot heavy at times but his insane shot making provided a ton of resiliency in the playoffs after all the only defense to really slow him down during those years was the historically great celtics while most of his value came with the ball his off-ball skills were strong enough to provide impact next to other high-level teammates and so while his defense might keep him from competing with the best of the very best it's easy to see why so many people view kobe bryant as one of the best offensive players to ever grace the hardwood for more historical content and to support this channel head over to patreon.com thinking basketball and check out thinking basketball the book on amazon that goes deeper on a number of ideas explored in this series there are also longer discussions on many of these players on the thinking basketball podcast and if you're curious about stats from this video there's an entire stat series on this channel otherwise thanks so much for watching i hope you enjoyed this one and that wherever you are you're having a great day crossover and both big guys would have blocked it inside clearly duncan had it hey turn it over alley-oop back to kevin

Channel: Thinking Basketball

Views: 809,828

Keywords: NBA, NBA film analysis, NBA Analytics, Thinking Basketball, NBA highlights, NBA film breakdown, NBA scouting reports, scouting reports, Best NBA players, Best NBA players all time, Top NBA players, Greatest NBA players of all time, NBA GOAT, Best NBA players ever, NBA peaks, Best NBA peaks, NBA history, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, HD highlights, 90s NBA, 80s NBA, 70s NBA, Kobe peak, Kobe MVP season, 2008 Kobe, 2006 Kobe, Kobe's defense, Kobe analysis

Id: Jopi5e46PAY

Length: 26min 4sec (1564 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 25 2021