The beauty of Kobe Bryant is that he is not at all bothered by owning the NBA’s all-time record for missed shots.
Some players are defined by the records they hold. Bill Russell, the ultimate winner in sports, claimed 11 NBA championships. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, owner of the most unstoppable offensive weapon in league history, the sky hook, scored the most points. John Stockton, the craftiest little guard ever, holds the all-time marks for assists and steals.
So it is for Bryant, the most unapologetic gunner in NBA history. And we mean that as the highest compliment.
Nobody this side of Michael Jordan was ever less afraid to take the big shot than Bryant. Whether that “big shot” occurred at the final buzzer or in the middle of the second quarter was no matter. Bryant has always wanted the obligation of being “the man,” yearned for it, for better or worse.
“This responsibility, it’s on me,” Bryant told reporters Sunday, discussing the Los Angeles Lakers’ putrid 1-9 start to the season. “When things go good, it’s ‘us.’ When things go bad, it’s ‘me.'”
Love him or hate him, you at least have to admire Bryant’s accountability. So many players want the glory but not the blame. Bryant will take either. He wants to be the story, in victory or defeat.
A record — even the same record — can mean different things to different people, depending on the record-holder. When John Havlicek owned the missed field goals mark, it was perceived as a record of endurance. Havlicek set his record of 13,417 misses in 556 more minutes than Bryant, the equivalent of just 15 games at Hondo’s career average of 36.6 minutes per game. So while Havlicek did take longer to set his record-breaking mark, it wasn’t drastically longer.
The point isn’t that Havlicek was a ball hog or that Bryant is the perfect player. They’re not. If Havlicek could be allowed to wear his missed-shots record with a level of dignity, however, then Bryant should be allowed to as well.
Other loose balls from around the NBA:
— Speaking of the Lakers, coach Byron Scott has been complaining about his team’s defense, namely that of power forward Carlos Boozer. Complaining about Boozer not playing defense is like complaining about Jeremy Lin not being 7 feet tall. It’s never been one of his characteristics, and it’s unlikely it will suddenly become so now.
— Derek Fisher gave a nice motivational speech to reporters after the New York Knicks were beaten by a buzzer-beater Friday. He seemed bizarrely upbeat for a guy who is likely to coach a lot more losses than wins in the near future.
“If you question what these guys are made of, their commitment to the team or if they are worried about themselves, go back and watch that game,” Fisher said, via the New York Post. “That is a team out there. We’ll be rewarded out there.”
The Goliath foe the Knicks nearly vanquished to deserve such praise? The 4-8 Utah Jazz.
— Nothing encapsulates the Denver Nuggets’ problems like the 84 points they gave up in the first half to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. The Nuggets have loads of issues, but allowing almost as many points in one half as the Oklahoma City Thunder, owners of the league’s worst scoring offense, average per game (89.5) smacks of a team that has lost direction.
Photo via Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports Images
