The ILF-ILNBA Basketball Thread

[pelliott]

no one wanted to come play with Kobe's corpse for Byron Scott

shocker

[Chuckchuck]

We come out well in trades once in a while: Kobe, Pau.

Both exceptional examples...from 1996 and 2008. We in 2016 now fam.

Yeah once in a while--a long while.
Everyone here realizes how bad it is. Just have to live with it.

[Chuckchuck]

no one wanted to come play with Kobe's corpse for Byron Scott

shocker

Kobe was great. 33k career points, 3rd of all time nba not bad. It's over he just saying goodbye. Corpse?--no. Old & slower than new generation. What do you expect.

[Chuckchuck]

When I worked in the Bay Area in 2001 I used to get so much shit from Warriors & Kings guys. Haha you can imagine. Warriors have something going now obviously but not back then. They had to give away shirts towels whole pizzas & whatever else they could just to get people to stay in the arena.

[hbombgraphics]

no one wanted to come play with Kobe's corpse for Byron Scott

shocker

Kobe was great. 33k career points, 3rd of all time nba not bad. It's over he just saying goodbye. Corpse?--no. Old & slower than new generation. What do you expect.

[D.o.S.]

no one wanted to come play with Kobe's corpse for Byron Scott

shocker

Kobe was great. 33k career points, 3rd of all time nba not bad. It's over he just saying goodbye. Corpse?--no. Old & slower than new generation. What do you expect.

Kobe in 2015-2016 is historically bad for how often he's been given the ball. It's like paying $400 for nosebleeds at the Rolling Stones or something.

[D.o.S.]

Also with the salary cap set to explode everyone is making a shit ton of money so the secondary income matters less unless you're marketable (ala CP3 or Blake).

[Chuckchuck]

Not everyone retires like Jeter. Even Jordan & Kareem had mediocre exits.
I get it; if you hate Kobe I'm not going to change your mind. anyway I don't aim to.

[D.o.S.]

I am about as unbiased an observer as you can ask for on ILF, because (at least partially) this is my job.

Am doing some real work on this so I don't want to spell out all of it but it's no exaggeration to say that 2015-2016 Kobe will be, by the numbers, the worst player ever selected to the All Star game in terms of any metric you want to use. He is beating out... Kobe Bryant from 2014-2015. Historic talent, iconic player, best SG since MJ... totally beyond cooked.

[Chuckchuck]

The all-star game doesn't matter to me but let's see how it plays out.

[D.o.S.]

You don't think participation in/selection for the All Star Game is a mostly-decent barometer of the best players in any given season?

[rustywire]

I am about as unbiased an observer as you can ask for on ILF, because (at least partially) this is my job.

Am doing some real work on this so I don't want to spell out all of it but it's no exaggeration to say that 2015-2016 Kobe will be, by the numbers, the worst player ever selected to the All Star game in terms of any metric you want to use. He is beating out... Kobe Bryant from 2014-2015. Historic talent, iconic player, best SG since MJ... totally beyond cooked.

His fanbase is rabid, and rabid fans have no business in being the deciding vote for all-star starters. Not when there are real contract incentives at stake.
Dame Lillard shouldn't have been snubbed and Kobe shouldn't have been named a starter.
Even Kobe himself knows this, guaranteed.

[pelliott]

no one wanted to come play with Kobe's corpse for Byron Scott

shocker

Kobe was great. 33k career points, 3rd of all time nba not bad. It's over he just saying goodbye. Corpse?--no. Old & slower than new generation. What do you expect.

Kobe WAS great. He is not any more. That does not discredit what he has accomplished, top 10ish player all time, but his injuries have slowed him down dramatically. I completely understand and advocate for a player being able to retire on his or her own terms, and he did not want to retire on IR, which is perfectly fair. However, he's done. He did not come to terms with that until months into this season. He told LMA in their free agency pitch that he was still to be the #1 option on offense. He has long rubbed teammates the wrong way. He has not been a selling point for the franchise for a couple years now and it reflects in who the Lakers have been able to sign.

He's also been a bad person off the court. That is a longer conversation, but he should not be free of criticism for his sexual assault case.

[pelliott]

Not everyone retires like Jeter. Even Jordan & Kareem had mediocre exits.
I get it; if you hate Kobe I'm not going to change your mind. anyway I don't aim to.

Like I said, I completely advocate for players to end their careers on their terms. Athletic identity matters so, so much, and I respect that -- just sometimes the player realizes the time has come a little too late. Like it did for Steve Nash.

But in a case like Kobe, he needs to understand his limits and scale back on shots, minutes, etc. Tim Duncan is a solid example of this, though a different situation because he's relatively healthy. And it helps that his team is in contention for a title.

MJ and KAJ weren't their historically great selves their last couple seasons. But KAJ scaled back on minutes and shots. Jordan STILL averaged 20 ppg on 45% FG.

[D.o.S.]

I am about as unbiased an observer as you can ask for on ILF, because (at least partially) this is my job.

Am doing some real work on this so I don't want to spell out all of it but it's no exaggeration to say that 2015-2016 Kobe will be, by the numbers, the worst player ever selected to the All Star game in terms of any metric you want to use. He is beating out... Kobe Bryant from 2014-2015. Historic talent, iconic player, best SG since MJ... totally beyond cooked.

His fanbase is rabid, and rabid fans have no business in being the deciding vote for all-star starters. Not when there are real contract incentives at stake.
Dame Lillard shouldn't have been snubbed and Kobe shouldn't have been named a starter.
Even Kobe himself knows this, guaranteed.

Lillard is one snub, for sure. That's not particularly the point, though.