Kobe's biggest weakness, coming from a Kobe stan

[MoBe1Kanobi]

.. is that he took basketball so cotdam serious and was so damn hyper vigilant over his career about maintaining his "fearless killer" image that secretly he is terrified deep down at the thought of even ONCE coming off as a choker and the universe kind of spitting in his face and basically treating him like just another run of the mill SG despite everything he poured into the game. That's the kind of pressure he puts on himself to make legendary looking game winners.. he takes tough shots at the end of the game primarily because in the legendary movie about Kobe's life that Kobe lives to create within his own head, he makes legendary looking fadeaway game winning jump shots every time.

Kobe highly bought into the concept that hard work = success so because of that he decided early on to be the hardest working player ever simultaneously dismissing the idea that even the hardest workers aren't guaranteed success, especially in situations where you cannot simply outwork your way to a successful outcome. And this is where his statistical success on buzzer beaters come into play. I've studied Kobe since I was little. You can tell that even as a grown man he was the kind of guy to secretly practice his buzzer beating GW shots with all kinds of pretending and a childlike sense of imagination at play, all in private during his workouts. But with all that practice comes added pressure. Imagine the type of person who studies over and over for a test that is practically impossible to prepare for. Imagine this person. You and this person and everyone all knows that it is impossible to know ahead of time what to do but despite it all... This person is still training incessantly on how to succeed for this unknown. Which is morally admirable and typically the smart thing to do. But when it comes to last second shots, you can't really practice yourself into becoming a clutch God. I believe that has more to do with pyschological factors and luck than actual work ethic. Some of the laziest people I've seen in my life are clutch AF when it comes to the hoop court, not usually since they are too lazy to have enough skill to make a shot regardless of the moment but moreso because they don't have to deal with the self made expectations that come with being known as the hardest worker. The fact that this exists proves that clutchness doesn't really have much to do with practice or work ethic.

Anyways, now am I calling Kobe NOT clutch? Hell no.

But I would be disingenuous if I didn't admit that even Le****ingChoke James somehow has more playoff buzzer beaters than Kobe assassin Bean Bryant, along with a few other players you shouldn't expect to see above him.

And why is LeBron, a known choke artist and beta, seemingly more successful than Kobe, especially when it comes to the amounts of playoff buzzer beaters made? Because he has no expectations and he KNOWS that even if he misses it, NOBODY expects him to make it because he doesn't portray himself as the ultimate assassin clutch God killer type. And is that really something good? Eh, I'd say no... But the results say, why add the extra pressure? Why make yourself a target? Why make yourself even easier to stop by letting the defense know that you HAVE to absolutely take the shot NO MATTER WHAT. I agree, as the man and alpha of the team, this mentality is admirable. But from a tactical standpoint, this mentality makes you easier to stop in huge moments..

So basically, we have two guys

One guy we know deep down is a choker, but has more big time successful shots in the playoffs because his choker/beta mentality has freed him from the added weight and expectations that come with working hard

Whereas

The other guy we know deep down is a ruthless killer, because he was raised to be one and has developed such an unreasonable and unrealistic expectation for himself due to an unreasonable and unrealistic work ethic that could never duplicate itself in it's results. No matter how hard he works, it is impossible to have a clutch resume that can equally reflect how hard he's worked to make impossible buzzer beaters. Too much luck is involved in these situations for there to be any comparable relationship between work ethic and clutch time success.

And that lack of return payment can damage a player at the end of a game. There is a point where being too aware of the moment and it's importance damages a player and sometimes, just sometimes, having a rock level IQ can be a good thing(lbj) since at that point you're too small minded to even care about what clutch situations you might be in and how huge of a moment that can be that you are currently experiencing.

[aj1987]

What the **** did I just read?

[LAmbruh]

Kobe had lots of weaknesses but that's not what makes him the 12th greatest player all time


The reason he's universally recognized as consensus 12th is because they're 11 other greater basketball players that are better

[sportjames23]

Kobe had lots of weaknesses but that's not what makes him the 12th greatest player all time


The reason he's universally recognized as consensus 12th is because they're 11 other greater basketball players that are better

MJ
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Hakeem


I only came up with 9.

[bison]

MJ
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Hakeem


I only came up with 9.

I would take out Duncan, Shaq and Hakeem for sure. Makes it 6 now.

[SouBeachTalents]

MJ
Kareem
Wilt
Russell
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Duncan
Hakeem


I only came up with 9.

You forgot one

[Mr. Jabbar]

I would take out Duncan, Shaq and Hakeem for sure. Makes it 6 now.

6thbe

[sdot_thadon]

Boy, that was a really long way of saying Kobe's more clutch in the regular season and Lebron's more clutch in the postseason.

[superduper]

Kobe had lots of weaknesses but that's not what makes him the 12th greatest player all time


The reason he's universally recognized as consensus 12th is because they're 11 other greater basketball players that are better

Manny what are you talking about? You have Kobe 10th, ahead of Bran.

[sportjames23]

You forgot one

You forgot deez nuts, bitch.

[Vino24]

Kobe

[superduper]

[QUOTE=Vino24]Kobe

[Manny98]

Kobes biggest weakness was LeBron

16-6 eat shit Kobetards

[superduper]

Kobes biggest weakness was LeBron

16-6 eat shit Kobetards

But you have Kobe ranked higher than Bran?

1. MJ
2.Kareem
3. Shaq
4. Hakeem
5. Russell
6. Wilt
7. Duncan
8. Magic
9. Bird
10. Kobe
11. Lebron

He's not top 10 but definitely top 20

[sportjames23]

But you have Kobe ranked higher than Bran?

Got. Him.