[Hoot Gibson]

I'm sorry...
I missed the part where defended the number of shots he took.
You must have imagined it when you saw someone say something good about Kobe and had to come in attempt to bust some balls and set the record straight.

I've come to realize that you can't say anything positive about Kobe on here without someone coming out of the woodwork and going in another direction.

Kobe is a career .453 shooter and this year he shot .430 from the field.
I don't see that as a huge dip in production and the only thing that I said was that he has had his best statistical year since 07-08. If he would have played in the last game of the season he would have been the scoring champ. He has two or three good seasons left in him and when the Lakers won championships he has always taken a lot of shots.

2000 - 18.0 FGA
2001 - 22.2 FGA
2002 - 20.0 FGA
2009 - 20.9 FGA
2010 - 21.5 FGA

This year and last year he was at 20.0 and 23.0.
Those numbers are very comparable to the ones put up in seasons that ended with LA winning a title.

So I know you have everything figured out and there is no way that anyone else can be right....

but let it be known that you said Kobe takes too many shots, is selfish, and the Lakers won't win another title with him playing like that - even though they have 5 rings in which he has shot the ball just as much and at a similar clip.

Kobe took more shots per game, 23, this season than he had taken in any season since 2005-06 and his shooting percentage was his lowest since the 1997-98 season. Only a true Kobe believer could think that this was a good season for him statistically when compared against his previous seasons. He is no longer a player that young players want to join in LA.

Kobe has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he is not a team player and if Bynum and Gasol are smart, they will demand to be traded while they still have some good years left in them. But don't worry, wherever Kobe plays, he will shoot often enough to continue to compensate for his declining field goal percentage and continue padding his career scoring stats.