Why Kobe Bryant Must Defer to Steve Nash for L.A. Lakers to Win a Title in 2013

The Los Angeles Lakers unquestionably have had the best offseason in the NBA. Suddenly they are sitting on arguably the best starting five in the game. But it won't matter if Kobe Bryant doesn't defer to Steve Nash on offense. 

Kobe Bryant is one of the great scorers in the history of the game. It's not to say that he shouldn't shoot or be a prominent part of the offense, but he has to let the offense run through Nash. 

This really isn't a shot at Kobe Bryant. The Lakers were two points better per 100 possessions while Bryant was on the court last year. In spite of Bryant's high usage rate and low field-goal percentage, they had a better field-goal percentage while he was on the court than while he was off it. 

Pau Gasol shot 55 percent while Bryant was on the court compared to 48 percent while he was off. Andrew Bynum shot 57 percent while Bryant was on compared to 58 percent while he was off. However he grabbed nearly two more boards (Kobe misses?) while Bryant was on the court. 

So Kobe, by virtue of drawing away attention from Bynum and Gasol, made them more efficient as a tandem. 

Yet in terms of points, Bynum averaged 3.7 more points per 36 minutes, while Bryant was on the bench 22.5 to 17.8 and Gasol averaged about the same, 18.3 to 18.2. 

Combined, Gasol and Bynum averaged only 36.0 points per 36 minutes while Bryant was on the court. 

So while the duo was more efficient while Bryant was on the court, it was only marginally more effective because of Bryant's tendency to monopolize the ball.

In fact, Bryant averaged 23.0 field-goal attempts per game compared to 27.4 for Gasol and Bynum combined. 

Even when we account for Bryant's knack for getting to the line, he's less efficient than Bynum or Gasol. His true shooting percentage of .527 trailed Gasol's (.547) and Bynum's (.597) considerably. The team's TS percentage was only 1.2 percent better while he was on the court. 

Yes, that's better, but not to the degree that it could have been had he better utilized his far more efficient teammates. 

Bryant is a great scorer, but he's not a great player to have running the offense because he looks to score more than pass. That's not a criticism of him so much as it is of how Mike Brown has used him. 

Steve Nash, on the other hand, is the polar opposite. Even though he is a highly efficient scorer (his .604 career TS percentage is No. 5 among guards in NBA history), he looks to involve his teammates first. 

In the history of the league, he is one of only five players with an assist percentage over 40 and a true shooting .600. Only John Stockton is better than Nash on both counts. 

What this means is that Nash has a long history of making his overall offense better, and that's demonstrated by the stats. Firstly, his career offensive rating is 118 to 112 for Bryant. 

Some would argue that's because he played for the fast-paced Mavericks and Suns for all those years, but bear in mind that offensive rating is a pace-adjusted stat. 

Also bear in mind that, while the best players that Nash has played with are Dirk Nowitzki and Amar'e Stoudemire, Bryant has played with the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol, who are even better. 

No, this significant difference isn't easily explained away by personnel or systems. It's a matter of how the players play and what their mindset is. 

Bryant makes his teammates marginally better. Nash makes his immensely better. 

Perhaps nothing establishes this more than last year, where it is inarguable that Bryant had the far superior offensive support. Yet Bryant had an offensive rating of 105 to Nash's 122. 

Nash's Suns finished No. 9 in the league in offensive rating with 106.2 to Bryant's Lakers, who finished No. 10 with 106.0. This was in spite of the fact that while Bryant was working with Gasol and Bynumt, Nash was working with Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley.

Nothing against Gortat and Dudley here, but they aren't Gasol and Bynum. 

And as for the Suns, when you compare those same on/off stats, there's a shocking difference. The Suns scored 106.5 points per 100 possessions while Nash was on the court compared to 98.5 while he was on the bench. 

Their TS percentage was 55.7 while he was on compared to 50.1 while he was off. 

Gortat scored 18.3 points per 36 minutes while Nash was on the court compared to 11.9 while Nash was on the bench. He shot 57 percent while Nash was on compared to 47 percent while he was off. 

Dudley, the Suns' next most efficient scorer, averaged 15.6 points per 36 minutes while Nash was on compared to 10.9 while he was on the bench and shot 50 percent with Nash compared to 41 percent without Nash. 

The conclusion here is about as controversial as the working nature of gravity, Nash makes his teammates better. A lot better. 

In fact the 33.9 points per 36 minutes for which Gortat and Dudley combined is only 2.1 points fewer than what Bynum and Gasol combined for—and they did it more efficiently. 

So if Nash can make Gortat and Dudley as productive as Gasol and Bynum, what's he going to do with Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard and oh yeah, Kobe Bryant?

The word you're looking for is "Yikes!" 

This is the kind of offense that is going to have even Tom Thibodeau throwing his hands up in the air. Giving Nash toys like Gasol, Bryant and Howard to play with is like giving Chuck Norris an armory and saying "have fun." 

Why? Because Steve Nash's great strength is his ability to penetrate, force defenses to rotate, then to take advantage of mismatches created by that rotation by seeing where it is and effectively feeding the player the ball. 

And really, with Howard, Bryant and Gasol, it doesn't take much to create a mismatch. Almost no one can guard any of them one-on-one, so creating a "mismatch" means getting at least one of them into a one-on-one situation. 

If Bryant monopolizes the ball, though, it would be akin to taking Chuck Norris into an armory and telling him not to touch anything.

What's the point of having a great passer if you don't utilize that passing? Bryant needs to play off the ball and let Nash do what Nash does. 

If he does that, he might not pass Jordan on the all-time scoring list, but he might get that even more desired ring No. 6.