Why can’t we let Kobe play basketball? I’m sick of this tired old “Can Kobe lead the Lakers” saga. This same drama has been hashed re-hashed and re-re-hashed. It’s like catching a rerun of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on TBS; it was pertinent once but Jesus…not this again. It’s like every NBA writer in the country can’t leave this story alone. It’s time to settle the score. Here’s why Kobe can and IS leading the Lakers.
Begin playing any song off of Dizzee Rascal’s “Boy in the Corner” Album.
Kobe’s work ethic has not changed. It never has. Throughout his career he has been the first player through the door and the guy that Gary the night-janitor has to keep the lights on for. And don’t think that anything has changed this year. To Kobe, it has nothing to do with being the team leader; he has always been relentless with his practice time, even when Shaq was in town.
Bryant has, to this point, been a leader on the court. On the road against Memphis midway through the second period there was a defensive play in the lane where Kobe and center Chris Mihm converged on the play. Kobe got the block, but the refs were intent on calling it a foul. Upon realizing a foul would definitely be called Kobe, knowing that Mihm already had two fouls quickly dropped his argument and instead claimed his first personal foul. Had he not claimed the foul, Mihm would have been tagged and would have had to sit for the rest of the second period. Instead, for the rest of the half Kobe and Chris played a beautiful pick and roll game that picked the Hornets apart. Without the lead they built then the Lakers would have lost this game.
He has also been a leader off of the court. In speaking to the media after an embarrassing 122-113 loss to the Orlando Magic Kobe did ZERO trash talking. You heard that correctly Laker fans. For the first time in a long time the “Team Leader” in the Purple and Gold passed up an opportunity to bash the system or his teammates. Kobe even went so far as to compliment Grant Hill, the scoring leader for Orlando.
Consider this: Kobe scored 14 of his team’s 39 field goals, he didn’t mention his teammate’s inability to score when needed. He grabbed 7 of the team’s 32 total rebounds, only Lamar Odom collected more with 8, yet Kobe doesn’t bring up the shocking ineffectiveness of his team on the glass. Oh and if you’re wondering if he pulled a vintage “I’ll do it all myself” 1987 Jordan move in this game, guess again. Sure he went for 41 but he also dished the rock 8 times and went to the charity stripe for 11 points. Yet at his locker after the game he did not criticize his teammate’s for poor shot selection or blame them when he feels that he isn’t getting enough touches. The most inflammatory thing that he will say is that they are a young team with a new coach and they are still trying to gel.
Kobe is, as my friend Don likes to say, Clutchy Clutch Clutch. If Kobe Bean Bryant were any more clutch, he’d be found on the left-hand side of the floorboard in your Granddad’s 1954 Ford Pickup. Last night Allen Iverson hit his FIRST ever game winning bucket in the NBA. How many of these pressure shots has Kobe hit over the years? What’s more is that he shoots just under 90% from the line which is only significant because now in LA the go to guy is no longer a liability in the final five minutes of the game. Oh!! Ye of the short term memory! How you forget the anguish and pain of watching Shaq “The Man of Steel” clank free throws off the back of the iron game after agonizing game. Now that the go to guy can actually finish the job the Lakers will develop the ability to put teams away.
As always, with growth there will be pain. As Kobe hefts more shots his field goal percentage has shown some early signs of decline. Critics will say that increased minutes and faulty shot selection are beginning to show in his numbers. I call it mathematics: the more you shoot the more you miss. Kobe is shooting roughly 39% right now; he shot 44% last year. That’s not to say that we aren’t going to eventually see the “Rambo Bryant I’ll take them all on myself” show; I’m sure that will happen a few times. It will be a process that the team will have to work through to find the proper balance between Kobe leading the team and Kobe carrying the team.
The real question that not many people are asking is, “Can Kobe stay healthy.” Typically, penetrating guards that are asked to shoulder most of the scoring load for their team have had trouble staying out of street clothes. Need some examples? Here’s a couple off of the top of the pile: Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, Baron Davis, Steve Francis…need me to keep going…I didn’t think so. Kobe has already come down with a case of Plantar Fascitis, and yes it is as nasty as it sounds. In the past Kobe has battled through injuries and played in whatever limited respect that he was capable of, which often meant playing well beyond what was expected.
This is the bottom line. It is difficult to find a better all around guard in the NBA than Kobe. He has taken on the challenge of leading the Laker organization with every bit of zeal that he has. The question should not be whether or not Kobe can lead the Lakers, the question should be “Can they keep up?”
5 replies on “Leader of the Pack”
commas and some minor mistakes “To Kobe it has nothing to do with being the team leader, he has always been relentless with his practice time, even when Shaq was in town.”
After “To Kobe” you need a comma. Also, the comma after “team leader,” should not be there. It should either be a semi-colon or a period; it is your choice.
Next is a mistake you just missed. Just a silly error:
“Had he not done claimed the foul Mihm would have been tagged and would have had to sit for the rest of the second period.”
I’m sure you meant to remove the word “done” before “claimed”. Just a silly mistakes. Also, you need a comma after “foul”.
No some more comma errors.
“That’s right Laker fans you heard that right, for the first time in a long time the “Team Leader” in the Purple and Gold passed up an opportunity to bash the system or his teammates. Kobe even went so far as to compliment Grant Hill the scoring leader for Orlando.”
The first part of the first sentence is definitely a little awkward. If you want to keep the wording the same, I suggest writing “That’s right Laker fans; you heard that right.”, but I don’t like that as a reader. Try to find a different word than “right” for one of those two instances. That is the most awkward part of the sentence and probably you should rework that entire phrase.
Also, separate that phrase from the rest of that first sentence. They deserve to be two different sentences.
In the second sentence, you need a comma after “Grant Hill”.
Onto the next paragraph:
Consider this, Kobe scored 14 of his teams 39 field goals, he didn’t mention his teammates inability to score when needed. He grabbed 7 of the teams 32 total rebounds, only Lamar Odom grabbed more with 8, yet Kobe doesn’t bring up the shocking ineffectiveness of his team on the glass. Oh and if you’re wondering if he pulled a vintage “I’ll do it all myself” 1987 Jordan movein this game, guess again. Sure he went for 41 but he also dished the rock 8 times and went to the charity stripe for 11 points. Yet at his locker after the game he will not criticize his teammates for poor shot selection or blame them when he feels that he isn’t getting enough touches. The most inflammatory thing that he will say is that they are a young team with a new coach and they are still trying to gel.”
First sentence said “Consider this, Kobe scored 14 of his teams 39 field goals, he didn’t mention his teammates inability to score when needed.”
You should use a colon (:) after “Consider this,” instead of a comma. You could also use a period, but I don’t think a period would give the effect you intended this sentence to give. Watch out for apostrophes also. “teams” should be team’s. You do that periodically throughout this paragraph. Search for those mistakes and fix them. They are easily overlooked when you glance over your story.
The middle of the second sentence is a little awkward, but I can’t figure out how you’d make it less so. You need some transition word. I don’t know what. I think I do the same thing in my articles. I don’t think the missing word is necessary, but it would make it an easier read.
Third sentence just a miss you had: “movein”. Should be “move in”. You know that. These mistakes happen to all of us.
5th sentence said “Yet at his locker after the game he will not criticize his teammates for poor shot selection or blame them when he feels that he isn’t getting enough touches.” I’m sure rereading it you cought the mistake. Should read “after the game he did not” instead of “will not”. Just another silly mistake (at least you still have the edit option on).
Onto the next paragraph, which only has a few minor errors.
“Kobe is, as my friend Don likes to say, Clutchy Clutch Clutch. If Kobe Bean Bryant were any more clutch, he’d be found on the left-hand side of the floorboard in your Granddad’s 1954 Ford Pickup. Last night Allen Iverson hit his FIRST ever game winning bucket in the NBA. How many of these pressure shots has Kobe hit over the years? What’s more he shoots just under 90% from the line, which is only significant because now in LA the go to guy is no longer a liability in the final five minutes of the game. Oh!! Ye of the short term memory! How you forget the anguish and pain of watching the Shaq “The Man of Steel” clank free throws off the back of the iron game after agonizing game. Now that the go to guy can actually finish the job the Lakers will develop the ability to put teams away.”
Midway down the paragraph you write “What’s more he shoots just under 90% from the line,”. Should begin “What’s more is that he”. You just left out a verb and a tradition word. You could just add a comma in after “more”, but I think that would cause the reader to slow down a little bit more to get through that line. Either way I suggested would be fine. Nice work with the commas in this sentence.
“How you forget the anguish and pain of watching the Shaq “The Man of Steel” clank free throws off the back of the iron game after agonizing game.” You just added a word in. You don’t need “the” in front of Shaq (unless this was in Spanish).
Yet again, good job with commas in this paragraph.
Let’s move onto the next paragraph:
“As always, with growth there will be pain. As Kobe hefts more shots his field goal percentage has shown some early signs of decline. Critics will say that increased minutes and faulty shot selection are beginning to show in his numbers. I call it mathematics, the more you shoot the more you miss. Kobe is shooting roughly 39% right now; he shot 44% last year. That’s not to say that we aren’t going to eventually see the “Rambo Bryant I’ll take them all on myself” show, I’m sure that will happen a few times. It will be a process that the team will have to work through to find the proper balance between Kobe leading the team and Kobe carrying the team.”
First off in the third sentence you write “I call it mathematics, the more you shoot the more you miss.” You could just add “as” after the comma, but that might take your intended emphasis off of this sentence. A colon might be better. I’d try “I call it mathematics: the more you shoot the more you miss.” I think that would work the best for you.
The other correction in this paragraph is “”Rambo Bryant I’ll take them all on myself” show, I’m sure that will happen a few times.” At the end of that sentence, you should have a semicolon instead of a comma (after the word “show”).
I’ve been bringing you down so far, but let me just add in that the story is great, just you have some minor errors to correct.
I’ll go to the final paragraph now:
“This is the bottom line. It is difficult to find a better all around guard in the NBA than Kobe. He has taken on the challenge of leading the Laker organization with every bit of zeal that he has. The question should not be whether or not Kobe can lead the Lakers, the question should be, “Can they keep up?””
In fact, the only error is the the final sentence. I would leave off the comma before “Can they keep up?” and add in “it” before “up”. I think based on the tone of this article that you expect them to do well so the word “it” should be there, however you may mean it the way it is and think that they are outmatched, but you never explained that side of the argument. I’m sure you just need to add “it” in. In fact, just add “it” in whether or not you understood what I wrote. Trust me, it is what you meant…
In all, you wrote a great article (even though I think they won’t do well). You stuck to your points throughout and defended yourself nicely. You just need to make some gramatical changes and it will be fine. Very nice job overall and sorry if I bored/confused you to death.
Edits Thanks for your input it is always helpful and informative!!
nice job it looks better.
In all honesty, you did a great job. It’s a good story. I’m tough on commas. I may even get carried away and misread something, but I think I gave everything correctly. If only the world cancelled punctuation. How easy would everything be…
Re: Leader of the Pack I enjoyed reading your column. I agree with your thoughts on Kobe and the Lakers wholeheartedly. I think that by the end of the season, assuming Kobe stays healthy, they will be in the top four of the Western Conference if not higher.
Jason Platt
i know im getting here a little late but hi i liked your work. if you are interested in submitting any writing about the lakers or L.A. sports in general, shoot me an email at [email protected]