Comments on: Is Kobe Bryant actually Pau Gasol’s sidekick?

By: Johnny Trees

Johnny Trees — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:18:03 +0000

Pau gasol looks like the love child of a cross between a LLama/alpaca, and a wild ostrich

By: 94by50

94by50 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:07:48 +0000

As Celeste said, numbers don’t tell the whole story. But… looking at the two players and their usage rates (basketball-reference.com), Bryant is the only Laker this year who uses significantly more than his share of the Lakers’ possessions. Gasol’s usage rate is around 20% – average. Yet, Gasol has been the Lakers’ most efficient player all season, and it’s possible to argue that, statistically, he’s been their most valuable player as well. (Heresy? Perhaps; I don’t care. Bryant is simultaneously the most overrated and underrated player in the league. A topic for another day. I digress.)

To answer the original question, no, Bryant isn’t Gasol’s sidekick, but Gasol hasn’t received nearly as much credit for the Lakers’ success this year as he should have. Gasol ought to get the ball more, and it should be Bryant’s responsibility to make sure he gets it.

By: John Paulsen

John Paulsen — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:46:52 +0000

Orlando did a better job of defending Gasol in Game 4, but in the first three games most of his shots (or at least a very good portion of them) were post up scores, not shots created off of Kobe double-teams. Pal.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:06:27 +0000

I think your use of Memphis as proof of your hypothesis is weak, Celeste. We all know that Gasol wasn’t truly tested in Memphis, because it simply wasn’t a good team.

You do sound like a Kobe apologist, to use John’s term. It’s time that more people realized that part of being a great leader is learning how to delegate when necessary. Kobe is good at that, but that, too, could use some work on his part.

By: Celeste

Celeste — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:36:09 +0000

Look closely pal, Pau’s shots were mostly a result of doubling off of Kobe. Pau can’t really create for himself, he’s not that type of player as proven when he was still back in Memphis.

Kobe has a scorer’s mentality, even after misses he always believes the next shot will go in thus the volume of shots reflects such. He does pass when he sees open teammates (he passed to D-Fish for the winning 3 when Jameer Nelson doubled on him in OT of Game 4).

Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Kobe’s work ethic inspires his teammates to do better on the floor. His determination sets the tone for his team, it makes teammates contribute even when under tremendous pressure.