Sorry Kobe. As a Colby, half the time people think yours is my name, which has been irksome and made me think about you.
Here's are my comments in the LA Times to Bill Plaschke's piece today: http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-kobe-farewell-plaschke-20160413-column.html
Yep, polarizing is right. I was an ENORMOUS Laker fan, growing up in LA in the 70's. Watched Magic bring hoops and joy and rings, a style unlike any til maybe the Warriors today. My parents got me out of a high school class (who never would have done that!) to attend a victory parade downtown. I still have Back to Back hats. I have Kareem's autograph, and Magic's, AC Green's, James Worthy's, Chick Hearns, and Pat Riley's. Think I've got Byron Scott's, maybe I have Rambis too. Then Kobe came, wanted to be Michael. Some of my last Laker memories were of a young Kobe throwing up bricks from 3 to run us out of a playoff series with Utah. I remember the alley-oop to Shaq. I remember Kobe running Shaq off, and Phil Jackson. (!) I remember a sullen guy who wanted to be like Mike. It was so very painfully clear. Those are my last real memories of the Lakers, one of the passions of my early life. You can ask anyone who knew me in high school and college. I know after that we had Elden Campbell, and years later Jordan Farmar, a former Bruin, for awhile. The only other Laker I can name today is D'Angelo Russel. Kobe's was a selfish style of ball in my eyes. Such a bad example for kids growing up. Everybody likes to shoot. That's the easiest part of the game. I know his fans will roast me for not understanding one thing or another, but that's the thing: you can choose to be a fan or not. I look forward to maybe caring about the Lakers again sometime. - Colby Allerton
Part 2: There's a reason Magic and Gretzky -- my votes for the greatest, with the greatest vision, game IQ and dominance, and ability to run, transform and uplift a team and his teammates -- had so many assists to points. Gretzky over twice as many assists (1963) as goals (894), and Magic’s ratio (assists 10,141 and points 17,707) would probably have more assists than points if baskets were counted as 1 point (for those that understand that). Team sport.
Gretzky assists 1963 goals 894
Magic assists 10,141 points 17,707
Kobe assists 6302 points 33583
Jordan assists 5633 points 32292
Curry assists 3387 points 11043 (so far, regular season)
Well, perhaps it's most accurate to say he was one of the greatest one on one players of all-time, how's that? See my other posts about the greatest stuff (not in my book, or ESPN's per Plashke.) His appetite for shooting seems rivaled only by Jordan and maybe Iverson. Would be interesting to somehow see how LeBron, Julius Erving, George Gervin, and others would have one-on-one'd against Kobe in their respective primes. Think Dr. J could've swatted his fade-away, drives to the hoop, and run him over/backed him down/shot over him on O!
Here's are my comments in the LA Times to Bill Plaschke's piece today: http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-kobe-farewell-plaschke-20160413-column.html
Yep, polarizing is right. I was an ENORMOUS Laker fan, growing up in LA in the 70's. Watched Magic bring hoops and joy and rings, a style unlike any til maybe the Warriors today. My parents got me out of a high school class (who never would have done that!) to attend a victory parade downtown. I still have Back to Back hats. I have Kareem's autograph, and Magic's, AC Green's, James Worthy's, Chick Hearns, and Pat Riley's. Think I've got Byron Scott's, maybe I have Rambis too. Then Kobe came, wanted to be Michael. Some of my last Laker memories were of a young Kobe throwing up bricks from 3 to run us out of a playoff series with Utah. I remember the alley-oop to Shaq. I remember Kobe running Shaq off, and Phil Jackson. (!) I remember a sullen guy who wanted to be like Mike. It was so very painfully clear. Those are my last real memories of the Lakers, one of the passions of my early life. You can ask anyone who knew me in high school and college. I know after that we had Elden Campbell, and years later Jordan Farmar, a former Bruin, for awhile. The only other Laker I can name today is D'Angelo Russel. Kobe's was a selfish style of ball in my eyes. Such a bad example for kids growing up. Everybody likes to shoot. That's the easiest part of the game. I know his fans will roast me for not understanding one thing or another, but that's the thing: you can choose to be a fan or not. I look forward to maybe caring about the Lakers again sometime. - Colby Allerton
Part 2: There's a reason Magic and Gretzky -- my votes for the greatest, with the greatest vision, game IQ and dominance, and ability to run, transform and uplift a team and his teammates -- had so many assists to points. Gretzky over twice as many assists (1963) as goals (894), and Magic’s ratio (assists 10,141 and points 17,707) would probably have more assists than points if baskets were counted as 1 point (for those that understand that). Team sport.
Gretzky assists 1963 goals 894
Magic assists 10,141 points 17,707
Kobe assists 6302 points 33583
Jordan assists 5633 points 32292
Curry assists 3387 points 11043 (so far, regular season)
Well, perhaps it's most accurate to say he was one of the greatest one on one players of all-time, how's that? See my other posts about the greatest stuff (not in my book, or ESPN's per Plashke.) His appetite for shooting seems rivaled only by Jordan and maybe Iverson. Would be interesting to somehow see how LeBron, Julius Erving, George Gervin, and others would have one-on-one'd against Kobe in their respective primes. Think Dr. J could've swatted his fade-away, drives to the hoop, and run him over/backed him down/shot over him on O!
No comments:
Post a Comment