nuances

Before I go into who is Mister Clutch, I must say that this post has been inspired by Alan Siegel and his article in Slate.com. His article reminds me of the time I went to a Carolina Panthers football game. I was fortunate to get some very good seats. I was sitting no more than 10 or 15 rows up. The guys in front of me had season tickets. He said something strange during one play which made me realize he did not understand professional football. Yes, he understood that there’s blocking, tackling, passing and running. He understood how the ball moves down the field and the basics of football. He did not understand about zone blitzes, route options and some of the other nuances of the game. I guess it is watching without understanding what he was seeing.

This brings me to Alan Siegel’s article. He spends quite a bit of time trying to prove whether or not Kobe Bryant is the man that you want to take the last shot to win the game. This of course plays into America’s fetish, myth or love affair (depending on your point of view) with Superman like characters. In my mind, Superman is the superhero that most exemplifies America’s ideals. Just when all hope is lost, one man, one hero will swoop in at the last minute and save the day. This is the assumption of the clutch shot or clutch player. We’ve all heard the scenario before, you were down by one point and there is 10 seconds on the clock, who do you want to take the last shot? This assumes the unrealistic scenario that you’re playing one on five basketball. Your four teammates are going for a smoke break while you are maneuvering for the last shot.

One of the things that I like about Kobe Bryant over the last 2 to 3 years is that he is figured out the game of basketball. This really is a team sport. You can’t pull one player out and ask how clutch is that player. Let’s look at Kevin Garnett who everyone would say is a great basketball player but nobody mentions his name in the discussion of who do you want to take the last shot. Why? Because Kevin Garnett played with awful teams while he was suffering in Minnesota. The majority of the time, the game was a blowout by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. Now, let’s get back to Kobe Bryant and how his game has improved. In Los Angeles he is the man. The offense runs through him. He decides how to run the play. He decides whether it is best to take a jump shot or drive to the basket. Once he drives to the basket, he decides whether to shoot or to dish to one of his teammates. This is where Kobe Bryant’s game has changed. It is now less about him taking the last shot and more about the team winning. He is more likely to pass the ball to an open teammate like Derek Fisher who drains the three pointer at the buzzer.

I’m not arguing for or against Kobe Bryant being the best in the clutch. Instead, I’m arguing that being great in the clutch has more to do with decision-making than it does to shooting in today’s NBA. I have no idea how you’d measure this was a statistic. Except, perhaps, winning percentage. Maybe the fact that Lebron James is at home and Kobe Bryant is still playing says more about their decision-making ability than it does about their ability to shoot the basketball.