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With 1,392 missed field goals throughout his career — which is just 25 shy of passing Hall of Famer John Havlicek for first all-time — Los Angeles Lakers SG Kobe Bryant has taken quite a bit of flack for his high number of shot attempts so far this season.
In reality, Bryant has always been one of the NBA’s highest volume shooters, leading the league in field-goal attempts six different seasons. Things haven’t been any different this season either, as Bryant leads the league again in overall attempts with 24.4 per game.
In addition, Bryant is leading the league in usage rate at 38.6 percent, which measures the number of possessions a player uses over the course of 40 minutes of playing time. What does this all mean for the winless Lakers? It means Bryant should keep shooting, and doing what he knows how to do best.
Sure, critics will point to these stats as a major reason for the Lakers’ issues, but anyone watching these past five games can clearly see that Bryant is the team’s only legitimate offensive option. Currently, Bryant sits atop the league in points scored, averaging 27.6 per game. While his shooting has been lackluster at just 40.1 percent, Bryant has had to work extremely hard for nearly every one of his buckets.
Unlike his last full season, with Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash around to alleviate the attention defenses pay to him, Bryant is now left alone to find ways to not only create for himself, but for those around him. In actuality, Bryant is still a shooting guard, not a point guard, as that role now belongs to Jeremy Lin. Until Lin is fully able to embrace the responsibilities of making life for his teammates easier on the offensive end, the Lakers, and Bryant, will struggle to find anything more than the contested jumpers and limited fast-break points they currently see.
As the league’s longest running polarizing figure, Bryant is the player fans either love, or love to hate. While the Lakers have an enormous brand recognition, it is Bryant whose overall fame trumps that of his own team. The most jarring stat from the Lakers last home game against the starless Phoenix Suns wasn’t Bryant’s 39 points or his 37 shot attempts – it was 18,997, the paid attendance at the sold out Staples Center.
In essence, the Lakers are paying Bryant a handsome salary of $23.5 million this season to keep them relevant atop the NBA, even if the quality of performance the team has put forth on the court doesn’t reflect their overall stature.
That’s not to say the team is tanking or looking to tank, as the thought of doing so would make more than a few fans sick. Rather, the team is giving Bryant, his fans and those around the league a lasting image of what he is all about – shoot, or go down trying. Bryant will not succumb to the current failures of the organization, nor will he admit to the role he played in Howard leaving. Those are beneath the player that has won almost every accolade the sport has to offer. Instead, it’s almost fitting for Bryant to be surrounded by a team of this caliber, as he can still showcase his beautiful offensive game, while extracting himself from the failure that is this season.
At the end of the day, Bryant is paid to shoot the ball, to be the main draw and serve as a reminder, that you can’t always get what you want. While he continues to defy “Father Time” and perform admirably — certainly performing better than any player in their 19th season — Bryant is also on the worst team of his career. It’s fitting for the Lakers and Bryant, however, as it’s almost just as they drew it up last year when the extension was signed, with Bryant going down shooting.
Zach Fetaru is a Los Angeles Lakers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @fanforlife1988 ”like him” on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.
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