Video: Kobe Bryant Drew League Highlights

Love it.

Been practicing that Dirk fade away too..

Fundamentels.
I to have been working on the Dirk fadeaway lol

Damn, really makes you realise how good Kobe is. He’d have 2-3 dudes around him and he didn’t get bothered by them at all – all those post moves looked like he was just going through the motions doing drills with no defender.

Amazes me that he only has 1 regular season MVP.

Kobe was not really trying. And NOBODY plays defense in the Drew League (or any summer league for that matter). Also James Harden had 44 in that game — Kobe’s 45 is not impressive as Nick Young averaging 40, scoring 60 in one game. Gilbert Arenas scored 61 in his first summer league game. We all have seen what Durant is doing. “Money” Mike an overseas player dropped like 54 at Drew League. Josh Selby had a couple big games. BJennings has had a few 40 point games this summer. And to top it all off Gary Forbes dropped 78 at the greater hartford pro-am.

I love all of you acting like this fade away is new to Kobe. Dirk probably learned it from KB. Dudes been doing that for many, many, years…

Honestly, let Dirk breathe a little. Ever since he won the chip people have to drop his name in every hoops convo. No, Dirk didn’t teach the league the rainbow fadeaway. Yes, Kobe has been doing it for years. He devastated defenders with it years ago.

You think in the short span of time since the Mavs won Kobe has been working to play like Dirk and learn that shot? It takes much longer to get that down. Kobe has had it in his arsenal for years.

Dirk is one of the greatest players to ever ball but just cuz the Mavs won people are steady giving Dirk more credit than he perhaps is due. I don’t want to cut down Dirk or overhype Kobe, but people are so quick to forget that Kobe’s perhaps greatest skill is his ability to score from mid-range. He been had a fadeaway off the high elbow.

Right Lakeshow, IMO Kobe Bryant is the most SKILLED scorer in league history. Every different way imaginable Kobe is pretty deadly. Even the sky hook, which i have actually seen him use.

Hmm, interesting assessment. It’s nearly a toss up for me between KB and MJ.(MJ slight, slight edge, could be his athleticism making me think he had more skill though) I would put The Dream at 3. You?

I never saw Michael Jordan hit a 3 with his left hand, pull off a hook shot. Score 81, or score 62 in three quarters. Skilled and effective are different. Michael Jordan was smarter then Bryant, and more athletic but i cant see how he was “more skilled.”. And words from Clyde about defense on Jordan mean very little to me. He lost to Jordan, ofcourse he is going to be impressed by him.

Good call JTay putting Bird in there. He didn’t ever have to athleticism to “show off” his skills, but it was obvious watching him that they were ALL there. Dude had more tricks than anyone else.

Fair enough but I never seen Kobe score 63 or have back to back 50 point games in the PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!! Just go back and watch that 2-hour video showcasing all of MJ’s 50pt game and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Superior athleticism has nothing to do with it, MJ had a counter move for every defense.

We can all agree MJ is the better playoff player. Right? Not really what we are arguing JTaylor. You don’t have to be a better skilled player to score more in the playoffs. Hell Shaq didn’t have allot of skills and he was one of the most dominant playoff men ever. But none-the-less i still think MJ has Kobe by just a hair.

Also, what do you mean by Bird can’t be in the discussion? Dude had every move in the book and then some. He shot with better with his left than most lefties, he had a hook shot, a turnaround shot, a fade-away, used the backboard with ease, up and under, ball fakes, head fakes, reverse pivot shots and a deadly post up game not to mention being the greatest passing forward of all-time (yes, passing is a skill).
Come on son, Bird’s skillset is unparalleled for someone his size.

Lakeshow, I’m not trying to dog Kobe. I’m just using the playoff numbers since NBK took the 81 and 62 in 3 route.
Like I said MJ had moves for any kind of defense being played on him. Why use a left hand shot when you could make it with the right 50% of the time? Why go with a hook shot when your turnaround J is automatic?
Just because Kobe shot a 3pointer with his left a couple of times (how many times has Kobe used and made that shot?), doesn’t mean he had more skills than MJ. MJ skills combined with his mind and determination made him the greatest perimeter player of all-time not his athletic advantage.

Your still kinda off topic of te discussion. We all 3 agree that Mj is the best PPOAT. What were saying is that they are equal or KB> in overall ability on the offensive side of the bball hoop. Not efficiency, not “will to win” not best player, but best overall offensive skills in total.

Oh and Jordan never hit anything left handed that wasn’t a scoop shot, layup, or babyhook. Ever. But Kobe has hit a left handed three, and a few left handed hook shots. even a variation of a skyhook from behind the hoop on the baseline.

IF you have a crossover that creates space for you to score, it’s a skill. AI just didn’t have any other notable skills other then creating space and finishing at the rim (and he did those better then anyone, ever, IMO) — Kobe was a better overall shooter then MJ, that’s a pretty important skill. That coupled with a superior left hand, IMO make him a more skilled scorer —- it’s not like its a huge gap between the two, Kobe has just taken what MJ had skill wise and elaborated. It’s no slight to MJ, if anything its a compliment that MJ is even in this discussion, 10 years after he retired, considering how much the game has evolved in such a short time.

Come on NBK. How many times has Kobe gone with the left-handed hook shots? Probably 5 times, I wouldn’t really consider that a skill because he hasn’t mastered it to the point of him using it on a consistent basis, it’s more like experimentation. For example, I had a pretty good turnaround J in HS but I never used it enough times during a game for it to be considered a skill because I never mastered it therefore I wasn’t comfortable using it. Every now and then I would pull it out but I never used it as a go-to move. The same thing with Kobe and his left-handed shot/hook.

Good points, so let’s just agree to disagree. Now time for the disagree part, Kobe is not a better overall shooter than MJ. If we are talking ability to shoot from 30ft, kobe’s the one but in terms of mid-range, close range and vs double teams/length, MJ wins in a landslide. The guy is arguably the greatest mid-range shooter of all-time. Most people have this false view of MJ as strictly slasher/dunker but most of the bulls games I’ve seen, he probably scores about 55-60% of his points off jumpshots.

Blah, scoring is about scoring. Being “skilled” at scoring is not about 5-8 shots per year where you shoot a left handed shot (especially given that Kobe’s percentage on them overall is bad); it’s about buckets.

Jordan scored at a much higher clip than Kobe and did it in a lower scoring league where teams would try to take your head off if you came into the lane (there was no such thing as a flagrant I or II, and does anyone remember “The Jordan Rules”?), where forceful hand-checking was allowed on the perimeter, and where opposing defenders didn’t have to clear the lane every 3 seconds. And yet MJ also did it at a higher efficiency than Kobe ever did.

I just don’t see any way to make an argument that Kobe is a better or more skillful scorer than MJ.

Actually MJ played when teams routinely put up 120-130ppg and took about 15-20 more shots compared to today’s teams. Also flagrant fouls were called back then only difference being that officials were a little more lenient than today’s refs.

No you don’t understand. You are mixing up the word skilled with the word better we all know whose better. And scoring for Chicago was higher or just as high in the 90′s as the Jordan played 80′s. For example in the “best season ever” the 1995-96 chicago bulls scored 105.2 PPG compared to 104.8 in 1986-87 (Michael Jordans highest scoring individual season at 37PPG). So there goes that. Scoring on the perimeter has become easier in terms of rules yes you are right, but defenses have become so complex that the new rules only really even out the absence in Physical play from the 90′s. And the elaboration of the flagrant rule was a reaction to the “malice in the palace” not because the 90′s featured extraodinary defense. If I had a computer I would show you more teams scored north of 100PPG in te 90′s then score over 100 in the 2000′s as well. There are just some teams (Phoenix for example who blow previous efficiency records out of the water). Other then that the peace is dramatically lower today then it has ever been in the shot clock era.

nbk: “Kobe was not really trying. And NOBODY plays defense in the Drew League (or any summer league for that matter). Also James Harden had 44 in that game — Kobe’s 45 is not impressive as Nick Young averaging 40, scoring 60 in one game. Gilbert Arenas scored 61 in his first summer league game. We all have seen what Durant is doing. “Money” Mike an overseas player dropped like 54 at Drew League. Josh Selby had a couple big games. BJennings has had a few 40 point games this summer. And to top it all off Gary Forbes dropped 78 at the greater hartford pro-am.”

…and that time Kobe dropped 81 in an NBA game:)

^^

Used to. Before his hands got effed up. And that’s another thing that gets lost…….He can do all the stuff he does with a broken finger and an arthritic pinky. That gotta have some importance right? It does take skill to make em fall in different ways and Kobe edges Jordan skill wise.

And for the record, Skills = Kobe by an inch

Skills + Athleticism + Effectiveness = Jordan by HALF a mile