Kobe vs The Black Mamba

Outside,

I think both Pierce and Kobe need the ball in their hands to be most effective.  I've done my share (perhaps more than my share) of griping about Pierce's tendency to be too predictable in taking end-of-quarter shots.  And I'd never hold Paul Pierce up as anything approaching the prototypical Celtics player.

But I believe Kobe in his prime was driven much more than Pierce in his prime to take control of a game as his default mechanism at the slightest sign of things going wrong—especially early in games.  I've always been outspoken (e.g. on the Game-on Thread) in rooting for him to have a dominating first half because that often meant his teammates were out of the rhythm of the game in the second half.

I've never thought Pierce had that "takeover" tendency so early in games.  Yes, he had the ability to take over a game (as the Lakers found out in 2008).  But he didn't usually exercise that ability until later in games when all else had failed.

As for conjecture about Kobe as a Celtic, I doubt anyone could predict what that would have been like.  The Celtics have always tended to get players who complement one another even while some of them have had more prominent roles than others.  For a Celtic, taking control of a game has usually come out of necessity rather than out of habit.  I don't see Kobe as a complementary kind of player as much as a dominant, controlling kind of player.

I think it's a fallacy to point to assists as proof of a player's tendency to be a complementary player.  If a given player handles the ball or controls a game a high percentage of the time, the Law of Averages can lead to his getting a few assists per game.  But that doesn't necessarily make him a "willing passer" who doesn't seek to dominate a game.

But to each his own, and I'm just glad Kobe has never been Boston's own.

Sam

Sam,

That's a fair assessment from a Celtic point of view.

One point I'll counter on is regarding assists. While I agree that assists don't necessarily translate into someone being a team player, I do think that 33rd on the career assists list for a non-point guard is quite impressive. I also base my characterization of him as being a willing passer and able to play within a team system based on watching him quite a bit over the years, and I'm guessing I've seen him in many more games than most Celtic fans, particularly since I live in the greater L.A. area.