Mike Brown: Kobe Bryant Getting Overlooked in MVP Race

Lakers head coach Mike Brown continues to stump for his favorite MVP candidate in all of the land. Brown claims that fans and media discounted Kobe’s chances at winning the award before the season even began. Per the OC Register: “Mike Brown obviously believes Kobe Bryant should be among the MVP candidates, but not just because he coaches him. He has a laundry list of reasons why the Lakers star should be considered, along with Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, Miami’s LeBron James and San Antonio guard Tony Parker, for the regular-season honor. For instance, the coach pointed out, take Bryant’s age and the fact he is leading the league in scoring and minutes … ‘Obviously I’m biased like most coaches would be about their guys,’ Brown said. ‘But I still believe that Kobe should be one of the top guys, the top three mentioned. His name should be bantered around.’ Brown said Bryant, the 2008 MVP, has had to deal with more adversity this season than Durant or James. […] ‘A lot of people, before the season I felt, had written off a guy like Kobe,’ Brown said. ‘So for Kobe to be playing at the level he is playing now and for the team to have the sort of success we’ve had so far, when you compared it to the other teams and where they sit and their continuity … I believe Kobe’s name should be mentioned right there (with the others.)’”

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Tags: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Brown, MVP

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http://slamonline.com nbk

At least our resident Lakers fans, Phantom and Lakeshow are realistic. Thank you two. I am glad y’all have a good perspective on where Kobe ranks all-time, it honestly makes what he’s doing in his 16th season more special when you are realistic about his all-time place, it keeps people like me from looking like a hater for saying what i say, and keeps the general discussions about Kobe positive. Rather than what this is snowballing into.
http://slamonline.com LakeShow

Haha, word to nbk, and my boy BlackPhanties! Sorry, still love that as ‘the worse slam name distorted to be an insult’ Oohh, IAMGREENFOREVER is a goody too.
-Seriously stans, just appreciate who and what Kobe is. That is Kobe. I know he looks and plays like MJ. I personally think he holds a candle just a wee bit to Jordan, but he isn’t in the argument for being as good or better than Jordan. He gets the lowly title of “2nd best 2 guard of all time.” (Jerry West and JTaylor be dammed!)
http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

I still remember that. Wasn’t during one of the Finals Live Blogs last year?
http://slamonline.com 1982

That’sGangsta has never heard of a player named Shaquille O’Neal. Because apparently Kobe won all those championships and beat the Spurs on his own. And Pau Gasol won them the Celtic’s series, not Kobe.
13

Mike Brown should stop campaigning for Kobe to win MVP and instead help him win FINALS MVP
http://slamonline.com LakeShow

LMAO… I think so. So ridiculous.
http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

Lake, do a backflip into a fire. The Logo and JTay know who the real 2nd best SG of all-time is and he isn’t named after a mexican dish.
http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lebron-james-played-superb-defense-on-derrick-rose/70485 nbk

Kobe is named after his dads favorite steak.
http://slamonline.com LakeShow

I can’t back flip. I’m a pyro. Your request means nothing to me… BUWAHAHAHAHA!
-It’s a Japanese beef dish. Get cultured bro. lol
http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

Japanese like bean? who knew.
Realtalk

Most of the commenters on this blog are Kobe haters. The only person who is better than Kobe is Mj. Maybe Magic too. The next few names on people’s top five are centers. Can’t really compare centers and shooting guards IMO. What backcourt player other than the two I listed impacts a game or is better than Kobe? He should be in everybody’s top five to seven at least
RedRum

Brown is just kissing Kobe’s arse just in case he can save his job and Kobe does not finish him like he finished Rudy and Dwight is finishing SVG. No player who shoots with such volume for barely above 42% should be considered MVP. yes, it is great he leads the league in ppg and mpg but at this moment kobe plays more like AI…
sid

@redrum kobe plays like Allen Iverson had to play in philly because he never had the luxury of playing with two 7-footers who would be averaging 25-and-10 if they were the primary options on the lakers. In denver, AI averaged 26.5 ppg on 19 fga. kobe has no excuse for his suspect shot selection this season. he is a top 5 mvp candidate since he is leading the league in scoring but he is not the mvp.
http://www.kb24.com The Seed

MJ compared Kobe to him. BOOK IT!!
http://www.kb24.com The Seed

If you look at Kobe’s career, its not like any other legend ever. Kobe this year is playing with no bench, was the worst starting point guard-cost lakers games, Bynum suspended, Kobe injury issues/concussion, leads league in minutes/points, yes his fg% is bad, but he has to put up alot of bail out shots. Also some dummies up here questioning Kobe’s leadership go watch Kobe Doin Work and realize the dude has went to 7 NBA Finals and everyone who has played with him, talks about his leadership. Kobe is MVP, if you look at they are 3rd in West, with all the problems of this year. BOOK IT!!
http://www.kb24.com The Seed

@redrum
@sid,
don’t ever compare Kobe to AI, Its funny cats, yall act like MJ didn’t take dumb shots and teammates left because he did not pass. No one kills MJ for his stubborn ball hog crap. MJ gets a pass. Kobe shoots alot of bail out shots at end of the shot clock, because Lakers don’t have a slasher to help with Kobe. Go research, I have it talks about players having to take shots at end of shot clock. This affects Kobe field goal percentage. Yall act like anybody can do what Kobe is doing, if they could OJ would be leading the league in scoring. BOOK IT!!
http://fkjlf.com Jukai

Kinda upsetting I keep getting the username “Hitler” with an e-mail that contains words not very friendly to Jews.
NBK, can you give me yer top-20 list? You can have a few “can’t decide” overflows.
Drig

@nbk……….want me to go ahead and prove Kobe’s better than MJ on O? AND O ONLY. MJ was by far more consistent on D and better on D and hence, is the better overall player. But I’m shocked you didnot consider the different types of offences Kobe and MJ played in OR the fact that the 3pt line was brought in etc.
http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lebron-james-played-superb-defense-on-derrick-rose/70485 nbk

They played in the same offense. And the 3pt line was moved forward in 94-95, and then move right back to where it is now (just like it was from 1980-1994) 23 feet and 9 inches.
.
Jukai – I will but I have a game in 45 minutes so it’ll have to be late tonight or tomorrow…
http://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/lebron-james-played-superb-defense-on-derrick-rose/70485 nbk

In 97-98* – and Jordan didn’t really benefit from the closer line because he didn’t shoot many 3′s. He was a smarter player than Kobe, and more “winning selfish” than “scoring selfish” – him and Kobe approached the game differently. And MJ never got to play with the freedom perimeter offensive players get under the rules today. (which I’m sure you took the time to consider?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF30WneDtQc Datkid

soup I’ll never understand how you argue with psychos all day man…
bdogg

kobe definitely deserves mvp consideration…nuff said..not sure he will win it but he should be top 3 and yeah he will get scoring title! nuff said!
BRYANT BYNUM GASOL 24 17 16

Jordan sucks b@lls and isn’t even worthy of cleaning kobe’s toilet.
http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

@ BlackPhanties: BlackPhanties.
Laker nation

I’ve figured out Black panties and NBk are full of sh^^. Kobe haters are worst than Stan’s…… Does anybody love anymore? Y’all sound like the mad rapper. Ppl said Kobe couldn’t do it without Shaquille…. He gotcha 2. Ppl say Kobe shoot too much…. He’s a SHOOTING guard! Ppl say his field goal percentage is bad….who cares he wins. If he doesn’t shoot we lose. It’s that simple. Dude is 33 and doesn’t dunk and run fast breaks like Lebron and Durant….hell we still call Durant by his last name. I swear if u take away the dunks from these youngsters they will be shooting the same percentage if not worst. Kobe24 for MVP Nuff said u knuckle heads don’t get it. U GON LEARN TODAY!
itigga

I don’t see how this became a Kobe vs Jordan thing, but most of yall missed the topic, Mike Brown said Kobe should be in the MVP talk, and he should…the Lakers can’t win without him, he is the Most Valuable Player for his team compared to any other player and their team. With the exception to KD all the others like Bron, Rose, Tony Parker, Wade, CP3 and anyone else, their teams have shown that they can win when any all-star is out. Now ask the question, who’s team has a better chance at winning without them, Kobe’s or KD’s….now if you have to say “if the Lakers play to there potential” then you know good and well Kobe is the MVP because it has been shown that OKC’s role players and bench always steps up…not so much with Metta, Pau, Blake, Troy, Matt, or any of the other 8…with a new coach, about 6 or 7 new players, new system if it wasn’t for Kobe the Lakers wouldn’t be anything this year, he should be the MVP by what one person is more valuable to there team based on purely based on winning and only winning because that’s why they play right? Not for shooting %, or most shots taken, or fastest to x amount of points, but for championships…
Drig

@nbk, the offenses they played in were same??? Jordan was the freaking first option in the post area where he ( and Kobe ) are at their best. Kobe proved he can put up the same stats when Pau and Bynum(?) were out during our repeat title ( I think ) for the first 8-10 games. Games in which he was playing in the post. Kobe played most of his career with post dominant players in Bynum, Pau and Shaq. The offenses were definitely different. The 3pt line was brought in from 94-97. Not just the 94-95 season. Without it, Jordan’s average from range was around 25% I think, even discounting the Wiz years. If only I could confirm with Hoopdata-esque breakdown of Jordan’s game……I’m pretty sure I’m right about both of them being equally affecting from different ranges but both putting up shots from different areas which led to Kobe’s lesser FG% ( Before you kill me, I know his shot selection leaves a LOT to be desired. If it were better, he would be around 47% career shooter ). I know the way you put up shots also counts but the O also played a sizeable role in Kobe’s inexplicable efficiency.
Drig

@nbk, exactly how would Jordan’s production improve??? Would he be putting up more shots??? No. Would he have the same sort of perimeter and team that he had in the 90s? No. Which is why I don’t usually go with the put him in this NBA and he’s gonna average 50 bs. No. The O, the player’s strengths and the team needs to be in sync. BTW, I’m sure Kobe till ’08 would’ve preferred the iso or semi-zone style of play that Jordan enjoyed too. Hand-checking??? I don’t remember this correctly but I think we had handchecking till ’04 or ’03 + Zone. ( Which coincided with the lesser scoring years of the L ). Kobe seemed to do pretty well when he finally grew into ‘Frobe.
Drig

Damn, I forgot to add something else : I don’t think Jordan’s stats or opinions of his game would change though, whether it’s the 90s or the 00s. It’s impossible to better them I guess lol esp. since all factors were in tune with his strengths. Fact is, he’s the best two way SG of all time, a beast on D ( he’d do well even without handchecking since he’s freakishly athletic and has great lateral quickness and good hands too ) and would still be very efficient if he had a Miami/Chi styled team right now. However, I still want to see how he’d react having his 2nd best player as a post player and rarely ever having a knockdown shooter from deep to play beside him. Just like I wonder how Kobe would do with another dominant perimeter player without a dominant post player. However, on O, Kobe’s better IMO. It’s fine if you don’t disagree though. Just don’t want others saying it ain’t even close when they talk about Kobe and Jordan on O.
Justin G.

Ugh! Just when the Lebron vs Durant MVP debate was getting tiresome, some idiots want to try and compare Kobe to Jordan again. Look, just read this: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r20568813-Jordan-vs-Kobe-the-numbers-speak-for-themselves and when you people that think it’s Kobe are done you can come back and apologize for being so completely ridiculous it makes my eyes burn to read your comments. Thank you
Justin G.

What would MJ have averaged if there was no handchecking in his day also? Easily mid 30′s every game because with the extra trips to the line or the extra open looks after blowing by his defender, that average is going up
Drig

@Justin, with that rip-through being banned, I fail to see how Jordan can get EVEN MORE FTA than he already did in the past. You do know that he averaged around 8-9 FTA per game for all of his Chicago years if you remove the Wiz years, the same as LBJ and Durant RIGHT NOW. Seriously……I don’t think he’ll go to mid 30s at all. He’ll be around 29-31 points as he has been if the team is perimeter loaded with solid role players filling up the other spots. Hell, Jordan would have to take 24 shots and around 10 FTA to get 35 points per game since his 3pt shooting would be very very bad. He’s wise not to try to shoot them. ( Kobe…..how and why in the blue hell are you shooting so many 3s this season!??! )
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

Lakemation’s whole perspective and credibility was lost when, at 4:56pm he said “Jordan had no Lebron nor Dwade playing together and barely had a shaq during his career of being the best in his era. ”

The current Heat team has been together less than two years, so none of Kobe’s chips came against them anyway, nor during their ‘era’. And Shaq was a beast from 1992-1998 in that time MJ won 4 of his chips and at least the last three-peat came when Shaq was into his early prime. Not only that but the 90s had arguably the best group of centers to play in the same era: Hakeem, D. Robinson, Ewing, Shaq, and more. Furthermore, Kobe never had to compete with Shaq in his prime, THEY WERE ON THE SAME TEAM!

And to the person who said Kobe has no all star teammates, what about Pau and Bynum?
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

Also @That’sGangsta at 5:17pm “Jordan won when there were no Super Teams left. Jordan got past a Pistons team, like todays lakers, who had been to three straight finals and were out of gas. The Lakers he beat were not the showtime Lakers of the 80′s.”

So the Reggie Miller pacers, Allen Iverson’s 76ers and Jason Kidd’s Nets, Dwight Howard’s Magic they were super teams? The only super team was those Celtics whom they lost to first time around, then won when they were already getting old and had a lot of injuries.
Justin G.

@Drig. Didn’t they just ban that rip through this year? How long ago did they ban handchecking? Do you also really think all Jordan had to get past someone was ripping through? His first step was just too quick for anyone to stay in front of him (I’m talking 87-92/93 here). You do know that he scored 37 and 35 ppg in ’87 and ’88 right? His FG% in those years was 48 and then a monster 54 respectively and that was with handchecking. How could he NOT do that in today’s game
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

I’d take those bad boy pistons over every team that the Lakers beat in the finals except maybe the Celtics. I do concede however, that during the Lakers’ three-peat the Western Finals might as well have been the NBA finals.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

Actually, I’d take those Utah Jazz teams over all of them as well. You cannot say a team with a top3 PF of all time and top 10 PG of all time would not compete in today’s NBA.
Drig

@Justin…….lol. Read what I said. I said his stats WOULDN’T CHANGE i.e. CANNOT INCREASE. He already shot at 50% from the field ( Although I want to know how he shot from 16-23 ft hoopdata style ).and he shot a ridiculous 22-24FGA per game during his entire Chicago career. How the hell can his stats increase if the only possible way to do so is Jordan’s biggest weakness ( his 3pt shooting?? ). The only way his scoring improves / increases is by making more 3s. And no, he won’t become anymore efficient. Again, no, I don’t think Jordan abused the rip move like Durant did last year. However, what I meant by that was that it’s almost improbable for him to average any more FTA than he has in the past in light of the fact that even a LeBron can only get as many as Jordan got in the 90s.
Drig

I’ve checked it out and the L did implement handchecking+Zone till the ’04 season. So Kobe did manage to play well and had his best defensive showing of the regular season in this period (‘ 01 and ’02 ).
Drig

@thePhoenix……..you’d take Malone-Stockton over Kobe-Shaq?!
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

@Drig … no I meant over all of the Kobe-Shaq finals opponents. Kobe-Shaq lakers were outstanding.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

@Drig … sorry, I meant over all the the opponents that the Lakers with Kobe have beaten in the finals, But definitely not over the Kobe-Shaq Lakers.
Drig

@Phoenix…….I don’t even think Utah would’ve managed to come to the Finals any year. I think the Spurs could sink Utah. They had the frontline to shut down Malone and had solid role players all round that played their role to perfection. But if it’s only the Finals teams you’re talking about, I’d take a healthy Houston ’94 team over all of the opponents sans ’08 Celts as well. ’08 Celts would probably trump the ’94 Rockets though.
Drig

Damn, what’s with this comments system?? It’s displaying only half of the post always???
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

That’s a fair point. It was only the finals teams I meant, but I did earlier concede that in those early 2000s Lakers three peat the true finals were the Western Conference finals. The ’08 Celtics don’t really count because the Lakers lost to them anyway, I was referring to the teams that the Lakers beat for the championship.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

Anyway, it’s all speculation, obviously. I was just pointing out that you could not categorically state that the opponents Jordan had to face to win his championships were much worse than the opponents Kobe had to face to win his.
Drig

*Laker Bias at 100%* Who says we didn’t?? We just couldn’t beat the refs. LOL….Just kidding guys!!
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/04/mike-brown-kobe-bryant-getting-overlooked-in-mvp-race/ thePhoenix

Lol looking at the date posted ‘April 6′ it’s already April 7th where I am!
Drig

I stated Kobe’s better than Jordan on O. I didn’t state Kobe had tougher Finals teams and hence is better than Jordan. However, I do think the Spurs, Kings, Celts could’ve more than held their own against any team Jordan faced in the POs.
lakernation

@thePhoenix, you almost got me, but…. NOPE! Shaq as a rookie with out Penny was not a beast he was still young and learning. Stop it, Jordan sat out the 94 season trying to play baseball remember, so you cant say 92-98 homey more like 96-98 which makes him barely having shaq to compete against. Next point, Shaq got with this young man named kobe which came straight out of High School into the L. All of a sudden shaq is easily considered the most dominant center to ever play the game. Also, Kobe’s career is not over you are speaking like OKC or Miami have already won this season. So why are you talking like Kobe has retired stating none of his chips came against lebron and Dwade? I know that much i’m a lakers fan. Learn to comprehend what you read! Jordan played against a non athletic John Stockton and Malone. Who else was on that Utah team Jeff hornacek? Mind you im coming straight off the dome i’m not researching anything im 31 i’ve seen him play. Lastly Pau Gasol was not an allstar until he got with Kobe. Bynum just became an allstar this year. So yes he won with out allstars on his team. not to mention he won with LAMAR ODOM on his team NUFF SAID! Gasol and bynum are no Scottie Pippen nor Dennis Rodman. SHUT UR FACE!

Mike Brown: Kobe Bryant Getting Overlooked in MVP Race

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