Nike debuts a new commercial that will probably give you chicken skin.
You don’t have to like him, you don’t have to love him, and if you ask him, he would say you should hate him. Whatever your feelings toward Kobe Bryant is, there is no denying his greatness and impact on the gave of basketball. As his career comes to a close Nike gives us this new ad that is about as inspirational as a Rocky training montage.
Shop everything Kobe at Nike.com.
i’m already in the hater camp…but even i have to admit that the guy had probably the best footwork i’ve ever seen in basketball, save for jordan and hakeem…that is, the two that he took all his tricks from….also, it is kind of sad seeing him go, it’s really the end of hero ball in the NBA, at least if you want to be a winning team
I don’t think it’s disputable at this point. Kobe had the best footwork of any NBA player that we’ve seen thus far. Hakeem being the 2nd best. Jordan had great footwear as well, but I’ve never seen anyone do the thing Kobe did with pivoting. I swear he had traveled a million times then you slow down the footage and sure enough… it was only 2 steps. It was crazy to watch lol.
I’d take Hakeem just because i’ve never seen a guy that big move as fluidly as he did. But honestly:
1A. Hakeem
1B. Kobe
Kobe didn’t have great hands and I think as he got older and his legs began to fail that fact became even more of an Achilles heel (forget that injury for a second). I would trade good hands for footwork any day. If you look at players like Duncan, Magic, Jordan their hands and touch never left and were still fun to watch even when they passed their prime.
i have tried some some his footworks, i know how they go and where they went. However i can’t get the separation which they seem to provide. Then i realize they are more than ‘steps”. it is body control and balance; shifting body weight to create momentum for separation. that’s something hard to master. Much respect.
Hey is right behind Mj .. But the devotion he gave and the improvement in the post Shaq era is special..
I was a hater too .. I stopped being 2 Years ago when he was injured and I reflected on all the special moments he gave to the basketball world ..
I think we all knew he wouldn’t be able to dominate after the Achilles injuries we were just waiting to get one more glimpse of his greatness ..
It is such a shame on lakers organization to be so bad the past 3 years they are so filthy rich and popular and is so frustrating watching kobe lose 80% of the games it is so unfair to his legacy .. Laker Players don’t deserve playing next to him.. Heat fan from far far away Cyprus Europe
LOL @ Nike trying to control the narrative. I guess along with supposedly making low top shoes “popular” again, Kobe Bryant wants you to be pissed at him because he has made it popular for you to play greater as well.
Funny that the All Time Leader In Missed Shots didn’t mention anything about being smarter.
As a person who grew up watching Kobe cuz I’m Asian and seeing all the love/hate he gets, he was an icon to many Asians cuz his moves were more skill-based as opposed to being based on athleticism (although he was athletic AF in his prime). He is a once in a lifetime player like MJ, LeBron and Curry. Kind of sad seeing him retire, but he gave us 20 years of great basketball. Much love coming from a Warriors/Knicks fan from the Philippines
I’m not a Kobe fan and I don’t think I ever will be.
I didn’t like his selfish approach to the game and towards his teammates. It seems like passing the ball was a real chore for him, like almost forced and he only did it when he had to. I’ve never really seen a player of his caliber look so unnatural at passing the ball. I never liked watching him play because of that. Kobe definitely was also a very skilled player and worked hard, but IMO his team game just flat out sucked.
He was actually even more lethal IMO when he balanced out passing the ball and scoring, but I think was too dumb to realize this. If he balanced it out and was willing to do it naturally, then I think he could have been a much better player. I recall numerous times in the playoffs when playing with Pau Gasol, some games he tried to do it himself and they lost or almost lost, even though Pau was having a great game in some of those games, he didn’t really look to get him the ball as much as he should have. Then when some of those series got tight and some of those games got tight, he passed the ball and they ended up pulling out most of those games. Pau really did bail him out whether he wants to admit it or not. I really do think he got extremely lucky to play with two great big men in Shaq and Pau Gasol. Kobe trying to do it himself usually ended up in loses and getting nowhere close to a Championship.
I will also give him props on having a killer mentality out there on the court. I respect that because, for example, Lebron James for most of his career just didn’t have that same mentality that he needed to when the game was on the line. Numerous times I saw Lebron kind of piss his pants and not take the shot at the end of the game when he should have.
it’s just not really in lebron’s dna to do that, i guess, dude is always looking to make the best play
yeah, kobe had that killer instinct in shovelfuls, gotta respect him for that
Yeah, that’s the thing, Lebron does make the right play most of the time and I used to respect him for that – that’s why I initially like him during his first stint in Cleveland, but when the game is on the line, passing the ball to a scrub who has a low percentage chance of making the shot is not the best play. I remember during his first stint in Cleveland he did just that in one game, and I thought, that is the right play, but you should be taking that shot yourself, Lebron. The play I am thinking of, he passed it to one of his big men and the guy missed the shot and they lost the game. If I was Lebron, I’d still look at making the right play for 95% of the game, but when the game is on the line, I’d take that shot myself (unless I have full confidence in the person I am passing the ball to to make a play). I wouldn’t pass the ball to a big who has a low percentage chance of making a jump shot to win the game. If it’s a good shooter, I’ll take that into account and most likely pass if he’s open, but a big man that isn’t a great shooter – I don’t think I’d pass him the ball even if he was wide open, I’d rather take that shot myself.
Yeah not to excuse it, probably it’s “no one puts in more work or works harder than me” when it comes to passing the ball unless it was All-Star or international competition.
Regardless fans or haters, at least, the common thing is competitive drive is well respected.
No, his competitive drive isn’t well respected by all, and that is because that drive had impact both on the court as well as off, which was damaging other player’s careers and personal lives. This is one of the reasons why Kobe Bryant is not liked by many in the league, both active and retired. It has been said that Steph Curry is proving that you do not have to be an asshole in order to be competitive, while still having that killer will on court.
It is greatly appreciated.