I feel that I have gone over this many times, but it has usually been with Carol in the privacy of our living room.
Basketball is a TEAM SPORT. For some reason this simple fact is lost on most of the announcers and analysts of the game, who love to dwell on the stats racked up by the star players. (Perhaps the fact that so many of the analysts are former stars explains this. For example, Clyde Drexler loved to fawn over James Harden’s individual production while ignoring the contributions of the rest of the Rocket team) Last night the Lakers lost to the Suns by 20 points, but in that loss Kobe Bryant scored 31 points. Conclusion: the Lakers stink (quoting from ESPN’s Pardon the interruption), except for one good player: Kobe.
Wrong. Why? In racking up his 31 points, Kobe went 11 of 25 from the field, 44%. If his misses were cut in half, to 12 say, and replaced by baskets from teammates who were shooting better, this 24 points would have given the Lakers a chance to win the game. In other words, Kobe’s “heroics” was a big factor costing them the game.
In other words, Kobe is a ball hog. When his jump shooting is off, he still insists on getting the ball. Jeremy brings the ball up, defers to Kobe (he doesn’t have much choice because Kobe is the only one cutting to get free–the other players know Kobe is getting the ball anyway, so why should they try?), and Kobe then tries to score through double coverage, missing more than half the time. (And the other team gets the rebound because the Lakers haven’t had time to penetrated.)
Not all stars have this negative effect on their team. Lebron James is a playmaker as well as a shooter, and scores a high percentage of the time. On the other hand, Carmelo Anthony is a Kobe-type “me-me-me” type of player who racks up impressive individual numbers while his team “stinks.”
Which brings us to Jeremy Lin. Jeremy would rather make an assist than a basket. In doing so, he includes his teammates in the offense, and motivates them to run and cut. When he played with the Knicks he shot and made many three-pointers. But he also fed Steve Novak, who during the Linsanity days was the most productive three-point shooter in the NBA. After Jeremy left New York, under the Carmelo regime, Novak became an underused bit player.
Jeremy is a team builder. Coach Byron Scott should realize this and take the ball away from Kobe Bryant (at least while his shooting continues to be mediocre) and let Jeremy build the Lakers, who have plenty of talent, into a productive team.
edwardtkoh 
Ed, the Lakers are an awful team, devoid of talent aside from Lin and Kobe. But poor Jeremy’s game will be never be given a chance to shine while he plays in Kobe’s shadow. Yes, it’s supposed to be a team game, and it’s a beautiful game when it’s played in that manner. But I don’t see that happening in LA this year. Supposedly Big Chief Triangle, has Melo willing to change his usual playing tactics, in favor of Phil’s (and the old Knicks’) favorite mantra: Hit the Open Man. We’ll see.