ESPN NBA

Bill Simmons has just written about all the people who tell him he must hate Kobe Bryant.

It has oddly echoed my day.

A little back story. A few days ago, I was watching some random NBA game, and thanks to poor Tivo strategy was actually watching halftime commentary. (I'm trying to watch as many games as possible in a limited amount of time. No time for chat.)

In any case, there were some Kobe Bryant highlights, in which Bryant attempted and completed some extremely difficult shots. When the clip ended, the consensus in the studio (I think it was Eric Snow and Alonzo Mourning talking) was that that was why Bryant was the best player in the league.

I thought about it for a while, and it felt wrong to me.

The next day, I reacted essentially to that, by writing a post making the point that a thousand high-school coaches have made a thousand times: In basketball, difficult plays look great, but often a simple play is more effective.

As it was fresh in my mind, I tried to get the idea across through the story of Kobe Bryant, who had just had a difficult crunch time in the Lakers' win at Boston. LeBron James does not generate the same kind of skill-laden highlights, but thanks to his size, power, speed and everything else, he is an example of someone who can get extremely high-percentage shots that do the job rather well.

My point was: Just watching Bryant's skill level is not nearly enough to determine who the best player in the world is. Defenses get him to take really tough shots. He's heroic in that he makes them. But bigger players don't get forced into such tough shots, and that's a reality that has to factored in to the equation when you're picking the best player.

And now I hate Kobe Bryant, or so I am told. 

Several people couldn't believe that I had said I thought James was better than Bryant. I went back and re-read. I did not say that. In fact I specifically pointed out I wasn't saying that.

There have been some blog posts refuting my claim that James is more efficient against Boston.

But I didn't even say that.

All I said was: Kobe Bryant takes a lot of tough shots, while James gets more easy shots.

It is sad to me that such a point can't be made without so many people perceiving an insult. There simply was not an insult there. Period. That people see it that way ... bizarre.

OK, sorry, just had to get that off my chest. 

In any case, there is some interesting follow-up. Josh Tucker from the blog Respect Kobe has done a yeoman's job of digging into James and Bryant vs. the Celtics' defense. I think he kind of thought he was refuting my main point, and defending Bryant.

But what he found was that James sure gets to the rim!

In nine games -- seven from last year's playoffs, and two this season -- 35% of James' attempts have been point-blank. And he has made 47 of those 70 shots. This season, in two games, he is 15 of 21. 

21 layups and dunks! From one player! In two games! Against Boston!

That, more than anything, was my point. That dude gets to the rim, and that matters. More than ten times a game, he's getting to a place on the court where he shoots 67%.

From the rest of the floor, however, James is a freakishly bad 22 of 106.

Bryant is no slouch. In last year's playoffs and this year's regular season combined, he has shot 23% of his shots at the rim, and made 54% of those shots. He is 23 of 43 over eight games.

And hugely important is that Bryant is better from everywhere else on the floor, making 39 of 101 shots.

But as Tucker digs up, when you put it all together with True Shooting Percentage (which factors in 3-pointers and the free throws both made) then James comes out as just ever-so-slightly the more efficient scorer vs. Boston.

That's not even factoring in all the other benefits of getting to the rim. The more you're at the rim, the more you're making Boston help, and creating space for your teammates to catch and shoot, catch and dunk, catch and pass to the open man, and get an offensive rebound unmolested ... You're also increasing the likelihood that the Celtics get in foul trouble.

Another thing worth noting, is that these numbers suggest that for James' efficiency to skyrocket, he'd merely have to exercise better shot selection, which is entirely possible with experience. For Bryant's to skyrocket, he'd have to get to the hoop more, which gets less likely with passing years.

So, I have not addressed "who's better" out of James and Bryant. But I'm totally taking sides in the layup vs. jumper battle. I'll take the layups. Bryant and James together are 70 of 113 at the rim, and 61 of 207 from everywhere else. And something like that was my original point anyway.