There are a plethora of channels and videos – mostly on YouTube – that provide incredibly detailed, analytical insight on the X's and O's of basketball. It's fun to watch and see the chess match that happens behind the scenes which normally sails past the attention of the casual viewer.
That's why when ESPN announced that it would have a show with a similar format but hosted by an actual NBA player – the recently-retired, sure-fire Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant that is – NBA fans and followers waited feverishly for it's debut on ESPN-plus.
Since it started streaming on April 12, Kobe has dissected the games of DeMar DeRozan (against the Washington Wizards) and on its most recent episode – the play of Utah Jazz rookie Donovan Mitchell and how the Houston Rockets have put the clamps on the red hot guard.
Article Continues BelowDrawing frequent comparisons to the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade due to his relentless attacking mentality and athletic finishing (with his putback dunk the other day getting “Flash's” attention), Kobe however, felt like the 21 year-old should emulate a specific version of D-Wade – the 2006 NBA Finals version. Wade during those Finals, got to the line 97 times in just six games – virtually the average output of an entire team.
Kobe cited a specific example of how Mitchell could improve his game, as transcribed by USA Today's Steven Ruiz.
“In this series here, I gotta go through Capela. I have to go through him. Why? Because it stops the clock and it stops the game. Shifting to the side like that against any other team makes sense … Against this team here, I gotta try to get to the free-throw line as often as possible. Have to. That stops the game. It takes shooters out of rhythm. You put them in foul trouble. You put maximum pressure on their defense. The one thing they don’t want to do is foul, because it stops the game.
“So when I have situations like this, it’s important that I go right through Capela. Right through, and make the refs call something. Either that, or I dunk it in his face.”