Kobe, Potential to Be Greater than Jordan

The Lakers are the best team in the best conference in the history of the NBA. 

Huh, that was my Bill Walton moment.

Bynum’s a beast. 

And the best part is the Lakers don’t even need him to win a championship this year. I want him back for sure, but I’d rather he not risk anything. The Lakers are good enough to win it right now without him. 

I drafted Pau Gasol as my second pick in my fantasy basketball league. That means he was taken 16^th overall in my fantasy league. My cousin and I knew what he brought. I’d always admired his game. 

When I heard the news about him being traded to the Lakers, I literally could not wipe the smile off my face. The rest of the day I felt like a newly christened born again Christian bearing the good news. I went around to co-workers, my family, friends and random people wherever I went and asked them if they’d heard. I was met with mostly, “Who’s that?” and “That’s great! Kwame’s gone.”  

One guy said that, yeah, he was excited because he had heard from some other guy that Paul was pretty good. Paul? Pretty good? Needless to say, after ten games with the team, every single person in Los Angeles now knows just how good the news is. They also now know his name.  

And then there’s Kobe. Yes, the same Kobe who has not yet “earned” an MVP in his career. His numbers are down, but there is no doubt he is what makes the Lakers go. Now that he’s finally started to trust in his teammates even when they fail has created a new chemistry that at long stretches during games looks and feels unbeatable. 

What’s mind boggling about it is that while he is deadly effective already, there is so much more room for him to get better. Kobe better? Yeah. 

He’s bringing it again like a DOP of the year, taking on the challenge of guarding the other team’s best wing, and more often than not doing fine work. He also took the first step, the necessary step in helping the team towards a passing culture. The Lakers haven’t moved the ball this well since 2001. Maybe even better. 

But the passing is still not perfect. When you watch Nash or Paul play, they’ve been passing for so long that 90 percent of the time they make the right decision. If the shot is there then they take the open look (Nash better than Paul) and if there’s a pass available they make the pass (Paul better than Nash). Kobe will go through stretches where he’s almost forcing the ball to other guys. And then he’ll switch and slow everything up, dribble and flash and then throw up a bad shot that, because it’s Kobe, still has a 45 percent chance of going in. He still gets caught up sometimes in bad habits. And, again, when he’s on, there’s no better show in town. But when the Js just not falling, it slows up the offense, which affects the defense, which produces bad stretches of basketball. 

In each of the past five games, Kobe has had four or five assists in the first quarter. Yet, he only finished with 10 or more assists against the Sonics in a blowout win which also saw him score 21 points, dish 10 dimes and swipe 3 steals. In 26 minutes. Yeah, I know. It was against the inexperienced Supersonics. The same Supersonics who have 15 wins to 43 losses. But this is the same team that knocked off San Antonio (sans Ginobili), then two days later toppled the Cavs. In the following two weeks before they faced the Lakers the Sonics knocked off the Knicks, lost to Chicago by 10, beat Sacramento in Sacramento, played Phoenix till the end and lost by 4, lost to Utah, beat Memphis, lost in Portland by 4, then went home the next night and beat Portland by 12. The point is that Kobe had 10 dimes half way through the third before he got ejected.       

Everybody is talking about how Chris Paul could be the first player in history to average 20 ppg, 10 apg and 3 spg. He’s being considered, rightfully so, for the MVP. When Kobe, ever the perfectionist, realizes all the weapons he has to their fullest potential, would anybody be surprised to see him average 25, 9 and 4? How about 25, 10 and 3? That would put him in air that not even MJ has sniffed. 

Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol will have had an entire summer to work in the triangle that both of them have seemed to have taken to very quickly this season. Kobe and Bynum had been developing a nice pick and oop play before the injury, where Bynum would come up and set a pick, roll and Kobe would lob it up for him. That’s a very high percentage shot, evidenced by Byum’s 63 percent shooting. 

Gasol will have had that much more time to get acclimated to the Triangle. Farmar will get better. Odom will have completed his most successful playing stretch of his career. Confidence booster. 

And Kobe can play facilitator. The Lakers look so much better when he distributes. Kobe can close games like few others. He can also defend the opposing team’s best player. And when it’s necessary, he can carry the team for long stretches with his scoring ability.

24, 10 and 3. Imagine giving Kobe Bryant Nash-like vision. 

For further proof, during a three game stretch last month against Seattle , Portland and Miami, Bryant shot 26/52, averaged 24 ppg, 8.3 apg, and 3 spg. Sure, the teams were bottom-feeders (Portland was without Brandon Roy and James Jones). But still, Kobe flashed that brilliant possibility. He then went on to drop 85 points in his next two games, highlighted by his 52 point outburst that put away the Mavs. Dude has proven he can score whenever he wants. And there will be some nights, like last night in Dallas, where #24 is going to have to score a lot. 

But for the Lakers to truly utilize the vast amount of talent that they have, Bryant’s going to have to share the rock. He’s fully understood and embraced that idea. It’s only a matter of time before, like everything else he does, he perfects the technique.    

24, 10 and 3. It’s a very real possibility. It’s out there. It could happen. I guarantee that, if not this year, most definitely next year, Kobe will have his first 20 assist game. It would also be pretty hard to say he’s not better than a certain #23, if he can go on to win three or even four more championships. And especially if he starts that string this year. 

With all the trades and with all the young talent, there has never been a more loaded conference than this year’s West. Each of the team’s in the playoff discussion have at least three big time players and the two teams that don’t, are well-balanced. Houston has a savy group working together, with no holes in their lineup despite the injury to Yao. The Blazers have Roy and a bunch good players who have clearly defined roles. 

And those two teams might not even make the postseason due to the fact that they lack star power. A trio of Melo, AI and Camby might not qualify. That’s how good this conference is. Many are calling it the greatest ever. And if it’s the greatest ever, and the Lakers come out on top, that would effectively make them the greatest team ever. And if Kobe wins the MVP, he’ll have been the most valuable player, on the best team, in the best conference ever. See where I’m going with this? 

And if Kobe can achieve the 24, 10 and 3 plateau, he would then become the only player in history to have averaged 35 ppg one season, and then average 24 and 10 another. He would be the most dynamic player to ever play the game. Possessing limitless range, the ability to shut down perimeter players, the ability to score 50 on any given night, point-guard-like court vision and savvy passing, and his uncanny knack for closing games out.  

Of course, a lot of this is hypothetical, but if Kobe truly wants to get out from under MJ’s crushing shadow, he’s currently heading in the right direction. 

Kobe could be what future generations will look to as the ultimate player. A chameleon who can assume and succeed in a variety of roles. If you look at the talent that is growing up in the NBA, MJ-like offense abounds aplenty. Pass-first point guards who make their teams better are all the new craze. And every team has gone out and tried to find themselves a Bruce Bowen, a Raja Bell or a Quentin Ross—a defensive stopper.  

Kobe could be all of those rolled into one.