Kobe Bryant and the All Star selection; Good or Bad?

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Kobe Bryant has probably been the most polarizing player in basketball for the last decade at least. While some argue that he is inefficient at the best of times there will always be millions loyal to the ‘Mamba Army’ that will go to all lengths to defend the Mamba (including driving to Temecula to fight a stranger from the internet). Not since Jordan has there been a player so confident, talented and marketable. It’s not surprising that he has just been selected to his 17th All Star game. However, this season Kobe is not even deserving of being named a Top 50 player, let alone being named as a starter come February 15. His personal brand of ‘hero ball’ just isn’t working anymore. He takes too many low percentage shots, too many double and triple team shots, too many mid range shots and he simply isn’t making enough of them, and this kills the team.

Kobe’s woeful shooting this season:

10949826_915549915162892_391538912_nKobe’s usage percentage has always been high; it comes with who he is and how he plays the game. In 05-06 his usage percentage of 39% allowed him to put up over 35 points on 55% true shooting. In 2011-12 he scored 28 points a game on 53% true shooting with a usage percentage of 36%. In comparison, this season Kobe has his fourth highest usage percentage ever of 34.7 but he is only scoring a lowly 22 points a game and shooting a miserable 47% true shooting. That makes it his least points average since 1999 and his lowest TS% ever. It’s not just Kobe’s most inefficient season to date, but one of the most inefficient seasons from a star in recent memory.

Father time contributing to the decline?

Season USG% PER TS% PPG
2005-06 38.7 28 0.559 35.4
2011-12 35.7 21.9 0.527 27.9
2010-11 35.1 23.9 0.548 25.3
2014-15 34.7 17.5 0.477 22.3
2006-07 33.6 16.1 0.58 31.6

My problem with Kobe’s All Star selection is not just that he has had a poor personal season; it’s also about the quality players who got the snub because of him. James Harden is without a doubt the best shooting guard in the NBA and has had a fantastic season, including leading the league in points. He deserves to start in the All Star game. Russell Westbrook has been putting up insane numbers and has a better highlight reel than any other player in the league. He also deserves to start in the All Star game. The case can be made that Damian Lillard and Klay Thompson could also be starting in the All Star game; it’s certainly obvious that they deserve to start more than Kobe.

Kobe compared to others:

PLAYER PPG APG TOV FG% 3PT% TS% PER USG% Net +/-
Kobe Bryant 22.3 5.6 3.7 0.375 0.293 0.477 17.5 34.7 -11.9
James Harden 27.2 6.7 4.0 0.452 0.383 0.611 27.5 31.7 6.8
Russell Westbrook 25.1 7.4 3.9 0.433 0.239 0.526 28.3 37.8 5.8
Damian Lillard 22.0 6.2 2.5 0.440 0.37 0.574 22.1 26.9 8.2
Klay Thompson 21.9 3.1 2.0 0.472 0.444 0.601 21.8 27.2 17.5

When compared to all four of the above players it’s clear that Kobe just does not stack up. He ranks last for field goal percentage, last for true shooting, last for player efficiency rating and last for net plus/minus. In fact he isn’t ranked first for anything among these four other All Star candidates. At the end of the day Kobe will go down as one of the greatest to play the game. His supporters will stay loyal and his critics will keep saying the same things about his attitude and efficiency. It is clear that on no level did Kobe deserve his 2015 All Star appearance, and in my opinion it will go down as one of the worst All Star selections in a long time; however, the people want what they want, and over 1 million people want Kobe starting come All Star weekend. I guess we’ve hit the root of the problem in that maybe there should be some other way of determining who starts in the All Star game; because at this rate, the most deserving players are the ones who are being let down the most. **credit to www.basketball-reference.com for all of the stats used in the article**

Category : Opinion Column
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