Kobe Bryant vs. Zone Defense

[G-Funk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYBe...eature=related

MUST WATCH!!!!

[Raidaz4Life]

The guy talking actually makes a very valid point in the sense that Jordan never really had to deal with the zone

[jetsfan28]

Originally Posted by Raidaz4Life

The guy talking actually makes a very valid point in the sense that Jordan never really had to deal with the zone

Of course, he did have to deal with hand checking, which evens it out a bit. Also, bringing up the best shot contester in basketball (Battier) and using that to say defenders are better today is a bit ridiculous, guys aren't really that much of better athletes today. That being said, Kobe does face tougher defenses than Jordan, just not as much more difficult as this video would lead someone to believe.

[mvp24crc]

Originally Posted by G-Funk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kYBe...eature=related

MUST WATCH!!!!

i really enjoyed it keep up the good work !!!!!!!!

[Penetra8r]

For all basketball dummies including myself , that was a nice educational YouTube...

[melikebball]

nice video

[LAKERS 24/7]

he is ko8e right? y did he get banned anyway?

[AllTheWay]

Ehhh, nothing I already didn't know

[MJL]

Yes, the modern defense is much complicated and more diffecult to cut to the basket than early years. Hand check is not a big deal compare with zone defense.

[Iceman_9]

The zone forces you to shoot outside. It clamps down the driving lane. Penetrators, like kobe, will have a difficult time dealing with this type of defense because help D is just a few steps away. Kobe is a streak shooter. If he is hot, he is really hot. If he is cold, he throws a lot of bricks from the three pt area.

[Tony_Starks]

I'd take a hand check over a zone any day of the week. All the hand check does is force you play stronger, and it would actually prevent some of the offensive flopping we see today. For basketball purist the zone is just terrible, it basically takes the responsibilty away of being a good defender or even a decent one. Its not all about Kobe persay, Im speaking on the game in general. Back in the day practically every team had a defensive stopper..... Now how many do we have in the league? I count Bowen,Bell,Artest,Battier, and maybe T Prince? And thats being generous. The game is getting water'd down foreal.

[8kobe24]

I think MJ would've had a tough time with zone d as well. Zone D allows the defense to put mutiple defenders on someone before even getting the ball which makes it very hard for the person being guarded. Michael never saw that in his career so I think kobe has the heavier load even though hand checking was not allowed back then.

[raider laker]

Jordan wouldn't do to well against the zone because he couldn't really shoot the three well. Or not as good as kobe.

[Tapptout]

+1

[JordansBulls]

Originally Posted by raider laker

Jordan wouldn't do to well against the zone because he couldn't really shoot the three well. Or not as good as kobe.

Where did you get that connotation from?

I disregard the "rule changes," along with the attendant implication that Jordan would somehow be inferior to Kobe if he played today (which is risible; as previously noted, you're a Kobe groupie), for several reasons:


1) We have seen Kobe play under both zone and man to man rules. He was never some sort of world-beater under man to man rules with handchecking (you know, the same defense Jordan faced) despite hardly ever seeing double teams from '97-'04 with Shaq there. It stands to reason that if player A is significantly better than player B under one set of defensive rules (especially while seeing more defensive pressure under those rules than player B), then that relationship would hold under any set of rules regardless of whether we can accurately determine player A's absolute efficacy in either scenario (which is ultimately a hypothetical). This is because their relative worth and ability as players is not equal.


2) Contrary to the implications of your post, individual scoring, in terms of both the incidence of high scoring games as well as season-long averages, has increased dramatically among perimeter players since the new rules have been instituted. 2006 and onward has been a parade to the FT line for perimeter players, with perimeter players dominating the top 10 scoring leaders each year. The incidence of 40-50+ point games has also increased dramatically since the rules changes. Compare the average ppg of the top 10 scoring leaders from '01-'05 to the average from '06-'08 and tell me what you come up with. Also compare the sort of players you find there (interior vs. perimeter). Hence we can see that the new rules have been a boon, not a hindrance, to perimeter players. Jordan would similarly thrive.

MJ was pretty easily the most doubled perimeter player of all time. He was hard trapped to get the ball out of his hands far more frequently than Kobe is (in fact, you can barely hard trap now because all the offensive player has to do is keep dribbling around or pivoting with the ball and the refs will call a foul). People may not think this is a big deal, but if you don't have the ball, you can't do anything. Repeated traps will easily take most players out of game unless they're realy smart and have a ton of skill and endurance (like Jordan).

Maybe the video will work for others. It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5auPSMaD3vE

Also let's remember that Iverson has played under both sets of rules and his numbers got better after the rule changes. He still managed to be 2nd all time in playoff ppg and 3rd all time in season ppg.