Here's another article from the great T. Rut. Listen to him on WFAN in NYC!
I think the argument has been settled. I think, looking back at games 2, 3, and 4 of the Finals, the conversation should be over. Sports radio hosts, sports TV guys, sports fans in general can now finally shut up: Kobe Bryant is no Michael Jordan. The way Kobe has played, one can make the argument that he isn’t even in the same league as MJ. Kobe is a great player, there is no question about that. But he lacks the one thing that MJ had, that others in that league of MJ had (Bird, Magic, et al), and that is the knowledge of how to win.
Superstars do not have to score to win. True superstars understand that there are many different ways they can help their team. This idea set MJ apart from many other super stars, because MJ understood the game; he understood that scoring, although important, is not the be all end all of how to win a game. He understood that if his shot wasn’t falling, he would get his teammates involved until his shot eventually came back. He understood how to go about getting his shot to come back. Kobe, especially in games 3 and 4, has not been able to really light up the scoreboard, and instead of trying to help the team by doing the small things, he has decided that the best thing for him to do is to keep shooting, no matter from where, no matter when, until he gets back on track. Couple problems with this theory: 1) his shot has yet to show, so no one on his team got a chance to score; b) his shot still has yet to show, and Detroit out-rebounded the Lakers 45-38. (And if that sounds close to you, know this: the Lakers only got 18 rebounds from everyone not named Shaq.)
Kobe shot 8-25 field goals, and 2-6 three pointers. He forgot, or he has never known, that one of the easiest ways to reset your shot is to get to the free throw line. He only had 2 free throws, and although he made them both, two is not a good number. Through his playoff career, Kobe has averaged 6.7 free throw attempts per game. Michael Jordan averaged 10 free throw attempts per game. What does this tell us? It tells us that Jordan understood the importance of the free throw. Jordan understood that after you hit a couple free throws, you start to feel better about your shot. Kobe may like to hit the three pointers – he is only behind Jordan by 27 made three pointers in their respective playoff careers – but he forgets that three pointers are not high percentage shots. There is a reason free throws are called “free.” You think it’s a coincidence that Detroit has a 3-1 lead in the series and a commanding lead in free throws attempted?
The playoffs, and more importantly the Finals, are where the super starts should really shine. For his playoff career, Jordan averaged 33.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. Sounds impressive, eh? What’s even more impressive is that all of these stats are higher than his regular season stats: 30.1 points, 6.2 boards, and 5.3 assists. Jordan raised his game come playoff time. How did Kobe do? Regular season: 21.8 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists. Post season: 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists. What does this tell us? One, that Kobe doesn’t significantly raise his game come playoff time; B) That even though Jordan was shouldering most of the scoring for his team, he still found the time to dish out more than one assist per game. Until Kobe stops looking for his shot, until he uses his teammates, until he realizes that the Lakers best option is one 7’1, 300 pound behemoth named Shaquille, he will be just another great player – another Jordan wannabe.
I remind you of a game a few years ago, Jordan’s Bulls vs Ewing’s Knicks. This was Jordan’s first year back from his unfortunate decision to play baseball, and in this game against the Knicks he reminded us why he was one of the best players ever. Time waning, game tied, Jordan already had given Spike Lee’s Knicks a “double nickel.” If my memory serves correctly, Jordan takes the ball to the top of the key, posts up John Starks, then shakes and bakes and goes to shoot his customary fade away jumper. Patrick Ewing, who was guarding Bill Wennington in the post, comes out to double Jordan. Jordan fades away, sees Starks and Ewing both in his face, immediately realizes that someone his open, and dishes it to Wennington who dunks it through. Bulls win by two. As Wennington put it, “Michael Jordan is probably the only player in the world who can score 55 points, and his biggest play of the game is a pass. You can never predict what he's going to do.” I am very confident in saying that if Kobe were in that same situation, he would have shot the ball. Maybe he would have made it, maybe not; but I think he would have passed on the high percentage shot to be the hero.
You could argue that because Kobe plays with Shaq, he gets fewer looks and fewer chances to score. I won’t argue with that. Jordan never played with a guy the caliber of a Shaquille O’neal – Jordan understood that he was the main scorer for the team. But Jordan also understood the pieces he had at his disposal, the Kerrs, the Paxsons, the Pippens, et al. Kobe plays with Shaq – the most dominant player in the NBA today – and Kobe doesn’t treat him as such! Kobe seems to so want to be the number 1 guy on the Lakers that he completely ignores the fact that if you give the ball to Shaq, six times out of ten he will score. Conversely, Jordan would score five times out of ten, and Kobe only four times out of ten. Take game 4 for example. Shaq had 36 points and 20 rebounds. He was dominant. He only missed five shots – FIVE SHOTS – hitting 16-21. Conversely, Kobe shot twenty five times and missed seventeen. He only had two assists. Why wouldn’t he throw the ball into Shaq? Because Kobe is not a team player. There is no “I” in “team,” but there is “me.”
You could also argue that Kobe is younger, he’s only 26 after all. Watch out for that argument though – Kobe maybe young in age, but he is an eight year veteran of the NBA. After eight seasons, Jordan was two-thirds of the way through his first three peat, he had won NBA Finals MVP both championships (he actually won Finals MVP each of the six championships his team won), and he was already a three times NBA MVP. Kobe has no MVP trophies, for either regular season or the Finals. His teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, won MVP for all three of the Championships they won together, and has one NBA MVP under his belt. Kobe: you are not even the MVP of your own team. You need to give the ball to Shaq, and after you are done giving the ball to Shaq, give the ball to Shaq. Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
I don’t doubt that Kobe wants to win – just look at the tears he shed last year when the Lakers were eliminated by the Spurs. But he just doesn’t get what it takes to win – he sees Jordan hitting a game winning shot, he sees Jordan scoring 55 points, he thinks he has to do that for his team to win. For one thing, of the 6 championships MJ has, two of those came with the help of game winners by Steve Kerr and John Paxson, off assists by Jordan. Assisting the game winning shot doesn’t take away from being the team MVP – in fact, it only re-inforces the idea.
So Kobe – as your friend I feel it is my duty to tell you this: you are playing with the most dominant player probably since Wilt. GIVE HIM THE DAMN BALL!!! After game 4, Rick Fox summed it up best: “Shaq should have had 50," said Fox. "And that would have been the difference.”
I have no doubt that tonight the Lakers will play hard. I have no doubt that Phil Jackson has explicit instructions to get the ball to Shaq as much as is humanely possible. Shaq can win you ball games. No one on the Pistons can even come close to stopping Shaq. No one on the Pistons can even come close to slowing Shaq. Prince, Hamilton, et al can slow down Kobe. If the Lakers win tonight, it will be because of two things: one, Kobe gets to the free throw line, gets the Lakers more free throws, and gets his shot going; and 2) because he will dish the ball to his teammates and let them do what they are paid to do: help win the game. That will make him an MVP in my book.
I think the argument has been settled. I think, looking back at games 2, 3, and 4 of the Finals, the conversation should be over. Sports radio hosts, sports TV guys, sports fans in general can now finally shut up: Kobe Bryant is no Michael Jordan. The way Kobe has played, one can make the argument that he isn’t even in the same league as MJ. Kobe is a great player, there is no question about that. But he lacks the one thing that MJ had, that others in that league of MJ had (Bird, Magic, et al), and that is the knowledge of how to win.
Superstars do not have to score to win. True superstars understand that there are many different ways they can help their team. This idea set MJ apart from many other super stars, because MJ understood the game; he understood that scoring, although important, is not the be all end all of how to win a game. He understood that if his shot wasn’t falling, he would get his teammates involved until his shot eventually came back. He understood how to go about getting his shot to come back. Kobe, especially in games 3 and 4, has not been able to really light up the scoreboard, and instead of trying to help the team by doing the small things, he has decided that the best thing for him to do is to keep shooting, no matter from where, no matter when, until he gets back on track. Couple problems with this theory: 1) his shot has yet to show, so no one on his team got a chance to score; b) his shot still has yet to show, and Detroit out-rebounded the Lakers 45-38. (And if that sounds close to you, know this: the Lakers only got 18 rebounds from everyone not named Shaq.)
Kobe shot 8-25 field goals, and 2-6 three pointers. He forgot, or he has never known, that one of the easiest ways to reset your shot is to get to the free throw line. He only had 2 free throws, and although he made them both, two is not a good number. Through his playoff career, Kobe has averaged 6.7 free throw attempts per game. Michael Jordan averaged 10 free throw attempts per game. What does this tell us? It tells us that Jordan understood the importance of the free throw. Jordan understood that after you hit a couple free throws, you start to feel better about your shot. Kobe may like to hit the three pointers – he is only behind Jordan by 27 made three pointers in their respective playoff careers – but he forgets that three pointers are not high percentage shots. There is a reason free throws are called “free.” You think it’s a coincidence that Detroit has a 3-1 lead in the series and a commanding lead in free throws attempted?
The playoffs, and more importantly the Finals, are where the super starts should really shine. For his playoff career, Jordan averaged 33.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. Sounds impressive, eh? What’s even more impressive is that all of these stats are higher than his regular season stats: 30.1 points, 6.2 boards, and 5.3 assists. Jordan raised his game come playoff time. How did Kobe do? Regular season: 21.8 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists. Post season: 22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists. What does this tell us? One, that Kobe doesn’t significantly raise his game come playoff time; B) That even though Jordan was shouldering most of the scoring for his team, he still found the time to dish out more than one assist per game. Until Kobe stops looking for his shot, until he uses his teammates, until he realizes that the Lakers best option is one 7’1, 300 pound behemoth named Shaquille, he will be just another great player – another Jordan wannabe.
I remind you of a game a few years ago, Jordan’s Bulls vs Ewing’s Knicks. This was Jordan’s first year back from his unfortunate decision to play baseball, and in this game against the Knicks he reminded us why he was one of the best players ever. Time waning, game tied, Jordan already had given Spike Lee’s Knicks a “double nickel.” If my memory serves correctly, Jordan takes the ball to the top of the key, posts up John Starks, then shakes and bakes and goes to shoot his customary fade away jumper. Patrick Ewing, who was guarding Bill Wennington in the post, comes out to double Jordan. Jordan fades away, sees Starks and Ewing both in his face, immediately realizes that someone his open, and dishes it to Wennington who dunks it through. Bulls win by two. As Wennington put it, “Michael Jordan is probably the only player in the world who can score 55 points, and his biggest play of the game is a pass. You can never predict what he's going to do.” I am very confident in saying that if Kobe were in that same situation, he would have shot the ball. Maybe he would have made it, maybe not; but I think he would have passed on the high percentage shot to be the hero.
You could argue that because Kobe plays with Shaq, he gets fewer looks and fewer chances to score. I won’t argue with that. Jordan never played with a guy the caliber of a Shaquille O’neal – Jordan understood that he was the main scorer for the team. But Jordan also understood the pieces he had at his disposal, the Kerrs, the Paxsons, the Pippens, et al. Kobe plays with Shaq – the most dominant player in the NBA today – and Kobe doesn’t treat him as such! Kobe seems to so want to be the number 1 guy on the Lakers that he completely ignores the fact that if you give the ball to Shaq, six times out of ten he will score. Conversely, Jordan would score five times out of ten, and Kobe only four times out of ten. Take game 4 for example. Shaq had 36 points and 20 rebounds. He was dominant. He only missed five shots – FIVE SHOTS – hitting 16-21. Conversely, Kobe shot twenty five times and missed seventeen. He only had two assists. Why wouldn’t he throw the ball into Shaq? Because Kobe is not a team player. There is no “I” in “team,” but there is “me.”
You could also argue that Kobe is younger, he’s only 26 after all. Watch out for that argument though – Kobe maybe young in age, but he is an eight year veteran of the NBA. After eight seasons, Jordan was two-thirds of the way through his first three peat, he had won NBA Finals MVP both championships (he actually won Finals MVP each of the six championships his team won), and he was already a three times NBA MVP. Kobe has no MVP trophies, for either regular season or the Finals. His teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, won MVP for all three of the Championships they won together, and has one NBA MVP under his belt. Kobe: you are not even the MVP of your own team. You need to give the ball to Shaq, and after you are done giving the ball to Shaq, give the ball to Shaq. Rinse, Wash, Repeat.
I don’t doubt that Kobe wants to win – just look at the tears he shed last year when the Lakers were eliminated by the Spurs. But he just doesn’t get what it takes to win – he sees Jordan hitting a game winning shot, he sees Jordan scoring 55 points, he thinks he has to do that for his team to win. For one thing, of the 6 championships MJ has, two of those came with the help of game winners by Steve Kerr and John Paxson, off assists by Jordan. Assisting the game winning shot doesn’t take away from being the team MVP – in fact, it only re-inforces the idea.
So Kobe – as your friend I feel it is my duty to tell you this: you are playing with the most dominant player probably since Wilt. GIVE HIM THE DAMN BALL!!! After game 4, Rick Fox summed it up best: “Shaq should have had 50," said Fox. "And that would have been the difference.”
I have no doubt that tonight the Lakers will play hard. I have no doubt that Phil Jackson has explicit instructions to get the ball to Shaq as much as is humanely possible. Shaq can win you ball games. No one on the Pistons can even come close to stopping Shaq. No one on the Pistons can even come close to slowing Shaq. Prince, Hamilton, et al can slow down Kobe. If the Lakers win tonight, it will be because of two things: one, Kobe gets to the free throw line, gets the Lakers more free throws, and gets his shot going; and 2) because he will dish the ball to his teammates and let them do what they are paid to do: help win the game. That will make him an MVP in my book.
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