The Kobe Bryant Effect

It is when you give a guy credit for the difficulty of the shot he missed instead of discrediting him for passing up other opportunities.

Why Is It So Hard To Understand?!

“I’m gonna do what I do.”

“I think the second unit and that crew has to make a concerted effort to get the ball into Pau, get the ball into Andrew. It had nothing to do with me. I’ve had games where I shot the ball 10 times, and Pau and Andrew didn’t contribute that much. I’ve had times where I shot the ball 30 times and they had big games. … It had nothing to do with my shots.”

- LA Laker Legend In His Own Mind Kobe Bryant

Context: After playing 35 mins., he ends up with 36 pts and ZERO assists. Dallas squeaks past LA in Game 1 of their Western Conference Semifinal match up.

In their previous series against New Orleans, he had games of below 20pts. (one was even just 11) yet LA emerged victorious.

This guy can not understand that LA’s strength is their ceiling with Bynum, Gasol and Odom. What this guy doesn’t understand is his insistence on his personal showcase takes away from his teammates and makes the team more vulnerable.

What this guy and his gullible followers don’t understand is that if your guy can afford to score 11 pts and the team still wins - it is the team that is great, not the individual.

But what we all need to understand and realize is that LA remains to be a formidable championship contender - also because it can win even with JUST 11 pts from the highly touted Kobe.

Enough of all this Hail Kobe sh*t. Truly legendary players take it upon themselves WIN or LOSE.

It’s just a rip off to be showered with personal accolades when the team is winning but pinning the blame on your teammates when the team is losing.

Putting things in the proper perspective: it is the LA Lakers that have 5 titles this decade. Kobe has 1 regular season MVP and 2 Finals MVP’s.

He’s good, but not THAT great.

Kevin Garnett, Charlie Villanueva wants you!!!

Charlie Villanueva not liking KG’s insensitive remarks. Not a few would surely want to see these guys mix it up!

I wonder if this already worth a Tech given the NBA’s “no-emotions” policy.

And 24 Comes Up With A Smart Aleck Reply

As far as MJ is concerned, Kobe belongs to the Top 10 Guards of all time.

This is Kobe’s reply to the otherwise “unflattering” opinion voiced by the GOAT:

“I’m definitely one of the top 10 guards. It could mean two, it could mean one…”

“Two” would be his number of Finals MVP. “One” in turn is the number of his regular season MVP.

Get real dude. You’re good; but you ain’t that great.

Just work on beating LeBron one-on-one in your sleep. =)

23’s Take on 24…

The greatest basketball player Michael Jordan was asked during a recent interview for promotions for NBA2K11:

Of course, there’s always the comparison of you and Kobe Bryant. Where does Kobe stand in the status of NBA players through history?

To which MJ replied:

It’s so hard to say. I think he is always going to be within the conversations of some of the greatest players who’ve played by the time he is finished. Where does he rank among those, if you are talking about positions? If you are talking about guards, I would say he has got to be in the Top 10.

In the Top 10 among those who played the guard position. Fair enough.

The interview article in full can be read here.

Would Brgy. Ginebra Appreciate FIFA?

    Why is football a long shot in generating significant fan interest and sparking a sporting revolution in the country to overtake basketball in the hearts of gullible Filipino masses?

1)    As it is right now, nothing much can be expected from our various National Sports Associations in terms of funding, support and initiative in promoting their various fields. With athletes’ cries of delayed and entirely lacking and/or undelivered allowances, what more can we expect when it comes to solid provision for local and international exposures, gears, coaches and trainers, etc.

      With this, much of the needed funds and publicity will and should obviously come from corporate sponsors and sporting godfathers. Of course, nothing comes free. In exchange for sponsorships, athletes, teams, meets and leagues serve as marketing tools and vehicles of these interested sponsors.

     If one is a marketing manager with funds at his disposal, it is a no brainer to sponsor someone and something which will be gaining media mileage and publicity, say for example a basketball team participating in tournament complete with prominent coverage in the tri-media, over a grassroots football program at the heart of an almost empty, unkept football field doubling as shelter of carabaos with nary any media attention.

2)   We have enormous successes from the RP Blue boys of youth softball, jungolfers and tennis players, note even chess wizard Wesley So. But without much fallback in the form of commercial and professional leagues, athletes are left to fend for themselves with limited opportunities in sporting fields other than basketball.

      A man has got to eat. And without a promising long term horizon in other sports, not much interest is generated and sustained in the hearts and minds of our young athletes to pursue their passion. Government pension for athletes won’t take anyone anywhere.

4)    Come up with an improvised hoop and a ball and you’re ready to go. Roads in our country can double as basketball courts easier than converting them into football fields.

5)    I don’t know if this is entirely accurate. Or I may just be hating to admit it if it is indeed the awful truth, but we Filipinos have a penchant for the “bara bara”, lack of a system, free wheeling, anything goes, “bahala na si Batman” kind of an attitude. Football being the Beautiful game, may be something that is not ready to be appreciated by our masa. For a country thriving with one upmanship, “kanya kanya”, counterflows and cutting corners, the purity of Football will surely lull the masa to a deep slumber even before the first tagay of Ginebra.

      With the international success of Pacman, Bata Reyes, Django Bustamante et al, again with the private sponsors and managers funding all their stints, awareness and interest in football will remain so so in the national scale.

      So, what keeps a nation of vertically challenged citizens with not much success in the international scene in the significant past still addicted to hoops? Apart from ending, point shaving and the like which adds even more spice to the game, maybe it’s because of the immediate gratification in terms of points and fastbreaks, much the same as jabs and KO punches in boxing, that fans get to experience.

     I personally believe that the excitement from basketball is something that Filipinos can relate to more than the excitement and appreciation to be derived from football. We absolutely don’t have a chance winning big in basketball globally. But it doesn’t matter to the fans. James Yap’s jumpers are enough for them to get their fix of adrenaline rush. They wouldn’t care less if James Yap won’t be able to convert those same shots over foriegn behemoths in various international meets.

    Basketball caters to Filipinos’ impatience more than football. Are you still wondering then why lines in lotto outlets as well as lines for showbiz auditions and gameshow contestants are eternally long?

    Filipinos want a quick fix to everything; and they simply won’t last 120mins. with the score reflecting 0-0.

On LBJ Jumping Ship

Greatness and legendary status entail more than talent. The scenario here is no matter how many titles the Heat may win, LBJ would have some trouble solidly validating and cementing himself as a true leader.

But, if he can totally live with it in the guise of “it’s the team that wins championships”, then it perfectly makes sense cutting corners and hooking up with DWade & Bosh.

MJ, Magic and Larry Legend are really a different breed belonging to a different generation. We can’t totally fault LBJ because he’s just being himself. He’s too self assured (even without a ring at that) that he can afford to jump ship and think that it doesn’t diminish anything at all.

This is a different generation altogether. Remember, even KB insisted on a trade not a few times when LA was in deep sh*t and before they were able to land Gasol for a song.

My point is: True leaders will always be the last person to abandon ship; and the thought wouldn’t even cross their minds. Greatness cannot be hyped. Legends need not be hyped.

So is it just fitting to ask, “What’s there to witness?!” =)

End of the Franz Pumaren era in DLSU basketball

I know there are a lot of other underlying factors in landing a head coaching job in the big league apart from win - loss records.

That is why, even how unfathomable, it is a fact that a Ryan Gregorio can get and hold on to a head coaching job in the pros while a Franz Pumaren has never been given a crack at head coaching in the big league.