Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. Not surprising news today: Kobe Bryant announces that this will be his last season. It would be shocking if he had decided to keep playing. Now, it would also be more gracious if he will tell Byron Scott to play him just a few minutes per game. It makes no sense for him to play 30 plus minutes a game and then sit out one of two back to back games. He is not helping the team win anyway and it would be much better for the team to give more minutes to the young players. It is a cliche to say that father time always win but it is true. I remember Willie Mays looking absolutely terrible in the outfield his last season. Kobe is like that now with his shooting percentage around 30 and jacking up 3 pointers at a rate of less than 20 percent success. Play about 5 minutes each half and bow to the fans. That will be a good farewell tour.
Speaking of farewell tour, the same may happen to Ichiro next season. He has signed for another season with the Marlins. It looks like he is trying to break Pete Rose's all time hit record when combined with the hits he got in Japan and in MLB. Ichiro has obviously declined in the last couple of seasons. If he continues to decline early next season, it may not be worth it to stick around just to break the record. I don't want to see him struggling below 250 for a whole season. Even if he breaks the record, it is not a record recognized by everybody. As Rose points out: if they count Ichiro's hits from Japan, then they should count Rose's hits from the minors. It is an argument where there is no right or wrong. Whether Ichiro breaks the record or not will have no baring on the excellence of his career. Remember, Ichiro is not just a great hitter but also one of the greatest outfielder of all time and had one of the greatest throwing arm. So the last thing I want to see is him fumbling around in the outfield like Mays did at the end.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
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It is nice to see Kobe realize that he can't play any longer. I'm not a big fan of his but he has been a great player and it's amazing that he was able to stay with the Lakers. I don't get to watch the Lakers much, but is Kobe really that bad that the Lakers have someone on the bench who could play better? How weird is it that the Clippers have overtaken the Lakers in success. I would never had thought it would happen.
ReplyDeleteI don't have much to say about Ichiro. I always thought he was a great hitter and was always frustrated that he'd just slap the ball to the opposite field for a base hit. I'm glad he was able to come to U.S. and play. He has represented Japanese baseball well here.
Do you think Ichiro will make it to the Hall of Fame?
-LBOAYM
I think just about any shooting guard or small forward in the NBA can shoot better than 30% from the field and 20% from 3 point range. Nick Young, not one of my favorite player, can come off the Lakers bench and shoot way better than Kobe. With only 2 wins so far, it is obvious that Kobe is not helping the Lakers win. So you might as well let the youngsters like Jordan Clarkson run the team.
ReplyDeleteIchiro is a fist ballot Hall of Famer or else there is something drastically wrong. Anyone with over 3000 hits will be in the hall. But given his fielding, throwing and running, there is no question of him getting in on the first ballot.