Myth: Kobe Was an Inefficient Scorer

[ArbitraryWater]

Kobe was the TS% king in an era when nobody shot 3's

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Kobe was the TS% king in an era when nobody shot 3's

rTS makes jerry west the goat, it's a dumbass stat and penalizes players for playing in leagues that were superior offensively.

[ImKobe]

He was not efficient in 6 of his 7 Finals. Or in several elimination games

Lebron
2007 vs. Spurs - 22 ppg 42.8%TS - 5+ turnovers a game as well, Spurs completely exposed his lack of range
2011 vs. Mavs - 17.8 ppg 54.1%TS - outscored by Jason Terry and put up Pippen numbers, one of the biggest meltdowns ever
2012 vs. OKC - 28.6 ppg 55.8%TS - his best Finals series before the 3PT era, put KD in foul trouble
2013 vs. Spurs - 25.3 ppg 52.9%TS - came up big in Game 7 but deserved to lose in 6
2014 vs. Spurs - 28.2 ppg 67.9%TS - Was elite vs. Spurs in 2014 in terms of efficiency numbers but that was the most one-sided Finals series ever at the time and he stat-padded those numbers down 15+ points, we've covered this a 100 times.
2015 vs. Warriors - 35.8 ppg 47.7%TS - the media went hard to try to give him the FMVP despite not one efficient scoring game and in a loss.
2016 vs. Warriors - 29.7 ppg 56.2%TS - was mediocre before the Draymond suspension & Bogut & Iggy injuries

I don't see how these are better or more efficient performances in comparison. He didn't score 40+ in his first 5 Finals, same as Kobe, and his efficiency was on par with Kobe's until the small ball/3PT heavy era started with the Warriors. Take out the small ball GSW/injured Miami bubble series and his Finals stats are not that great at all, certainly nowhere near MJ's.

[SouBeachTalents]

Lebron
2007 vs. Spurs - 22 ppg 42.8%TS - 5+ turnovers a game as well, Spurs completely exposed his lack of range
2011 vs. Mavs - 17.8 ppg 54.1%TS - outscored by Jason Terry and put up Pippen numbers, one of the biggest meltdowns ever
2012 vs. OKC - 28.6 ppg 55.8%TS - his best Finals series before the 3PT era, put KD in foul trouble
2013 vs. Spurs - 25.3 ppg 52.9%TS - came up big in Game 7 but deserved to lose in 6
2014 vs. Spurs - 28.2 ppg 67.9%TS - Was elite vs. Spurs in 2014 in terms of efficiency numbers but that was the most one-sided Finals series ever at the time and he stat-padded those numbers down 15+ points, we've covered this a 100 times.
2015 vs. Warriors - 35.8 ppg 47.7%TS - the media went hard to try to give him the FMVP despite not one efficient scoring game and in a loss.
2016 vs. Warriors - 29.7 ppg 56.2%TS - was mediocre before the Draymond suspension & Bogut & Iggy injuries

I don't see how these are better or more efficient performances in comparison. He didn't score 40+ in his first 5 Finals, same as Kobe, and his efficiency was on par with Kobe's until the small ball/3PT heavy era started with the Warriors. Take out the small ball GSW/injured Miami bubble series and his Finals stats are not that great at all, certainly nowhere near MJ's.

LeBron is much better than Kobe

[Jasper]

OP Inefficient Scorer ???

When a guy owns the ball , calls everyone to go to the other side of the court - it equals a ball hog.
His teams were Inefficient Scorers because he thought he could do it all.... Shaq baled him out as did Pau(.)
/

[Axe]

Kobe was the TS% king in an era when nobody shot 3's

In other words, in an era that was more defensive-oriented.

[ImKobe]

LeBron is much better than Kobe

Why does he have less rings despite stacking the deck every year then??

[SATAN]

Here we have a thread giving praise to ImKobe's favorite player yet he turns it into a thread about LeBron James. Absolutely obsessed.

You can't make this shit up.

[ImKobe]

Here we have a thread giving praise to ImKobe's favorite player yet he turns it into a thread about LeBron James. Absolutely obsessed.

You can't make this shit up.

I mean, Lebron is the pinnacle of "efficiency" in the media and on these forums according to Kobe haters yet I provide proof that he wasn't more efficient than Kobe in the POs in the same era overall and he did it at a lower volume in most series before the 3PT explosion era that inflated everyone's numbers. Did I lie or was Lebron's efficiency sub-par/mediocre in almost every Finals prior to 2017?

[TheGoatest]

He is a player whose reputation is based around his scoring, yet he never managed to shoot 47% in a career that spanned 20 seasons.
Even Westbrook has a season where he shot 47%.

[dankok8]

Here is another thing to consider when talking about Kobe's efficiency struggles in the finals... I've had a poster on RealGM point out to me that maybe a more informative TS% analysis would consider the Opponent TS so we can see if Kobe was efficient for that particular opponent. There is logic in that. Shooting 2% below league average isn't necessarily bad if it's against an elite defensive team that generally holds opponents 5% below league average.

2001 Sixers
DRtg: 98.9 (5th)
Opponent TS: 49.9%
Kobe TS: 50.1% (+0.2)

2002 Nets
DRtg: 99.5 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.3%
Kobe TS: 62.3% (+12.0)

2004 Pistons
DRtg: 94.1 (2nd)
Opponent TS: 48.4%
Kobe TS: 45.6% (-2.8)

2008 Celtics
DRtg: 98.9 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.8%
Kobe TS: 50.5% (-0.3)

2009 Magic
DRtg: 101.9 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.8%
Kobe TS: 52.5% (+1.7)

2010 Celtics
DRtg: 103.8 (5th)
Opponent TS: 53.4%
Kobe TS: 52.8% (-0.6)

When looking at these numbers we can conclude that Kobe was actually fairly efficient in 2001 and 2009 and average in 2008 and 2010. Against the Pistons in 2004 he struggled a lot though but that was obvious.

[1987_Lakers]

Here is another thing to consider when talking about Kobe's efficiency struggles in the finals... I've had a poster on RealGM point out to me that maybe a more informative TS% analysis would consider the Opponent TS so we can see if Kobe was efficient for that particular opponent. There is logic in that. Shooting 2% below league average isn't necessarily bad if it's against an elite defensive team that generally holds opponents 5% below league average.

2001 Sixers
DRtg: 98.9 (5th)
Opponent TS: 49.9%
Kobe TS: 50.1% (+0.2)

2002 Nets
DRtg: 99.5 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.3%
Kobe TS: 62.3% (+12.0)

2004 Pistons
DRtg: 94.1 (2nd)
Opponent TS: 48.4%
Kobe TS: 45.6% (-2.8)

2008 Celtics
DRtg: 98.9 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.8%
Kobe TS: 50.5% (-0.3)

2009 Magic
DRtg: 101.9 (1st)
Opponent TS: 50.8%
Kobe TS: 52.5% (+1.7)

2010 Celtics
DRtg: 103.8 (5th)
Opponent TS: 53.4%
Kobe TS: 52.8% (-0.6)

When looking at these numbers we can conclude that Kobe was actually fairly efficient in 2001 and 2009 and average in 2008 and 2010. Against the Pistons in 2004 he struggled a lot though but that was obvious.

So besides 2002, he was below average in terms of efficiency in the Finals despite being a superstar player, this is something we already knew.

[Charlie Sheen]

So besides 2002, he was below average in terms of efficiency in the Finals despite being a superstar player, this is something we already knew.

Guy is redefining efficiency until it fits into the conclusion he started with.

You can't remove Shaq and Gasol from the discussion and say Kobe was an efficient scorer. With the exception of 2010, they were more efficient scorers than Kobe in every Finals. Who cares what the league average TS is against a defense. Kobe was taking shots that could have gone to Shaq or Pau, not some rando.

[Hey Yo]

Why does he have less rings despite stacking the deck every year then??

How many rings if Kobe lets NJ draft him??

[ImKobe]

How many rings if Kobe lets NJ draft him??

Idk, does he get Kidd and K-Mart in the early 2000s? If so then they're winning championships. Kobe could have made 10 Finals too in the weak EC.

We can play the hypothetical game all day. Y'all cry about him playing with Shaq in his early 20s but he went through his peak years on horrible teams when he would have won titles with even average supporting casts from 05-07.