I read an ESPN article this morning, entitled, "Kobe Bryant sets mark for misses." When first reading the headline, I thought to myself, "Wow, did Kobe have the worst game of his career or something? Here I thought things couldn't get any worse for the Lakers." But, no, that wasn't the case. In the Lakers 107-102 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Bryant scored 28 points, collected 7 rebounds, had 6 assists, and 4 steals. No, the headline was with regard to Bryant's career. In his 10-26 shooting night, Kobe Bryant eclipsed John Havlicek atop the leaderboard for most missed shots over a career, which is now at 13,421.
Since this is Bryant's 19th season, he's collected: Five championship rings, one MVP award, two Finals MVP awards, he's been a member of the All-NBA team 15 times (1st, 2nd, or 3rd team), has been a member of the All-Defensive team 11 times (1st or 2nd team), has been named Player of the Week on 33 occasions and Player of the Month on 17 occasions, etc., why is this such a big story? I'm no fan of Bryant or even the Los Angeles Lakers, but to make this into a big story is a disgrace to the sport.
Over his career, Bryant has played in 1,252 games and started in 1,104 of them. He's made 11,121 field goals and missed 13,421, for a field goal percentage of .453. He's made 1,651 three-point shots out of 4,933 attempts, for a percentage of .335, which makes his two-point field goal percentage .483. The guy has scored 31,887 points in his career, collected 6,640 rebounds, dished out 5,949 assists, stolen the ball 1,848 times, and come away with 621 blocked shots. He's also made 7,994 out of 9,546 free throws, for a percentage of .837.
Compare that to the man most people regard as the greatest basketball player of all time, and fairly or unfairly, the guy most people try to compare Kobe Bryant to - Michael Jordan. Jordan played in 1,072 games over the course of his career, starting in 1,039 of them (180 and 65 fewer than Bryant, respectively). He made 12,192 field goals and missed 12,345, for a field goal percentage of .497 (1,071 more makes, 1,076 fewer misses, and a .044 greater percentage). Jordan made 581 three-point shots out of 1,778 attempts, for a percentage of .327 (1,070 fewer makes; 3,155 fewer attempts; and a .008 lesser percentage). Jordan scored 32,292 points in his career (+405 on Bryant), collected 6,672 rebounds (+32 on Bryant), dished out 5,633 assists (-316 on Bryant), stolen the ball 2,514 times (+666 on Bryant), and come away with 893 blocked shots (+272 on Bryant). He also made 7,327 out of 8,772 free throws, for a percentage of .835 (667 fewer makes, 774 fewer attempts, and a .002 lesser percentage).
Also to Jordan's credit, he collected: Six championship rings, five MVP awards, six Finals MVP awards, he was a member of the All-NBA team 11 times (1st or 2nd team), was a member of the All-Defensive team 9 times (1st team), was named Player of the Week on 25 occasions and Player of the Month on 16 occasions.
With all of those championships and accolades, let's just cut the BS and say that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are two of the best guards/players to ever play the game. A big reason why Bryant has missed more shots than anybody in the history of the NBA is the fact he's been around for 19 years and has been the main focal point on offense throughout most of his career. If he weren't a great player, do you really think coaches would have kept quiet on him taking so many shots and he would have stayed around as long as he has? I don't think so. With greatness and longevity come records on both sides of the spectrum. Until recently, Brett Favre held the all-time records for most touchdown passes thrown (Peyton Manning now holds that record) and interceptions thrown. Why is this? Because he was a hot commodity for 19 years as a starting quarterback in the league. In baseball, Nolan Ryan holds the all-time records for strikeouts, walks, and wild pitches. He also ranks third for most losses. Believe it or not, but Nolan Ryan pitched for 27 years in the Major Leagues. Lastly, if Michael Jordan played as many games as Kobe Bryant (1,252) and continued to average 11.4 missed field goals per game (compared to 10.7 for Bryant), Jordan would have set the record for most misses a long time ago with 14,273 (852 more than Bryant). If that were to happen, would we really be making a huge story about arguably the best basketball player in history setting the record for most misses in a career? I doubt it. While it may be fun to dislike and poke fun at Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, let's place things into their proper perspective here. When it comes right down to it, Bryant's record is simply a red herring to what all he's accomplished throughout his 19-year career in the NBA, and doesn't detract from any of the greatness he's displayed while on the court.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11862042/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-sets-nba-record-missed-field-goals
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bryanko01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html
Since this is Bryant's 19th season, he's collected: Five championship rings, one MVP award, two Finals MVP awards, he's been a member of the All-NBA team 15 times (1st, 2nd, or 3rd team), has been a member of the All-Defensive team 11 times (1st or 2nd team), has been named Player of the Week on 33 occasions and Player of the Month on 17 occasions, etc., why is this such a big story? I'm no fan of Bryant or even the Los Angeles Lakers, but to make this into a big story is a disgrace to the sport.
Over his career, Bryant has played in 1,252 games and started in 1,104 of them. He's made 11,121 field goals and missed 13,421, for a field goal percentage of .453. He's made 1,651 three-point shots out of 4,933 attempts, for a percentage of .335, which makes his two-point field goal percentage .483. The guy has scored 31,887 points in his career, collected 6,640 rebounds, dished out 5,949 assists, stolen the ball 1,848 times, and come away with 621 blocked shots. He's also made 7,994 out of 9,546 free throws, for a percentage of .837.
Compare that to the man most people regard as the greatest basketball player of all time, and fairly or unfairly, the guy most people try to compare Kobe Bryant to - Michael Jordan. Jordan played in 1,072 games over the course of his career, starting in 1,039 of them (180 and 65 fewer than Bryant, respectively). He made 12,192 field goals and missed 12,345, for a field goal percentage of .497 (1,071 more makes, 1,076 fewer misses, and a .044 greater percentage). Jordan made 581 three-point shots out of 1,778 attempts, for a percentage of .327 (1,070 fewer makes; 3,155 fewer attempts; and a .008 lesser percentage). Jordan scored 32,292 points in his career (+405 on Bryant), collected 6,672 rebounds (+32 on Bryant), dished out 5,633 assists (-316 on Bryant), stolen the ball 2,514 times (+666 on Bryant), and come away with 893 blocked shots (+272 on Bryant). He also made 7,327 out of 8,772 free throws, for a percentage of .835 (667 fewer makes, 774 fewer attempts, and a .002 lesser percentage).
Also to Jordan's credit, he collected: Six championship rings, five MVP awards, six Finals MVP awards, he was a member of the All-NBA team 11 times (1st or 2nd team), was a member of the All-Defensive team 9 times (1st team), was named Player of the Week on 25 occasions and Player of the Month on 16 occasions.
With all of those championships and accolades, let's just cut the BS and say that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant are two of the best guards/players to ever play the game. A big reason why Bryant has missed more shots than anybody in the history of the NBA is the fact he's been around for 19 years and has been the main focal point on offense throughout most of his career. If he weren't a great player, do you really think coaches would have kept quiet on him taking so many shots and he would have stayed around as long as he has? I don't think so. With greatness and longevity come records on both sides of the spectrum. Until recently, Brett Favre held the all-time records for most touchdown passes thrown (Peyton Manning now holds that record) and interceptions thrown. Why is this? Because he was a hot commodity for 19 years as a starting quarterback in the league. In baseball, Nolan Ryan holds the all-time records for strikeouts, walks, and wild pitches. He also ranks third for most losses. Believe it or not, but Nolan Ryan pitched for 27 years in the Major Leagues. Lastly, if Michael Jordan played as many games as Kobe Bryant (1,252) and continued to average 11.4 missed field goals per game (compared to 10.7 for Bryant), Jordan would have set the record for most misses a long time ago with 14,273 (852 more than Bryant). If that were to happen, would we really be making a huge story about arguably the best basketball player in history setting the record for most misses in a career? I doubt it. While it may be fun to dislike and poke fun at Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, let's place things into their proper perspective here. When it comes right down to it, Bryant's record is simply a red herring to what all he's accomplished throughout his 19-year career in the NBA, and doesn't detract from any of the greatness he's displayed while on the court.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11862042/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-sets-nba-record-missed-field-goals
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bryanko01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html
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