Kobe Bryant is bad at what he’s most praised for, which is being clutch.

The LA Lakers should consider giving the ball to someone other than Kobe Bryant when the game is on the line. Kobe Bryant is an over confident and often selfish basketball player who in fact is bad at scoring when the game is on the line. The experienced, well-respected coach Phil Jackson is not a fan of the superstar, saying that Kobe often times would break the play up and call his own plays and would ultimately miss.

Basketball is all about turning possessions into baskets. Possessions should be efficient and result in a high percentage shot. In crunch time, Kobe often sets up an isolation. Isolations are the least efficient plays a team could possibly run, with only 0.78 points scored per possession. If Kobe was to pass out of the iso, his team would score a lot more frequently during the crunch. If Bryant passed, his team on average would score 0.93 points per possession. Unfortunately for the Lakers organization Kobe only passes 12% of the time when in an iso late in the game, and he gives his team the lowest probability to win.

With the game on the line (24 seconds or less, the game is within two points) Kobe has a lower field goal percentage than LeBron James who is heavily criticized for not showing up at the end of games. What now Kobe? His field goal percentage with the game on the line is only 1.6% higher than the rest of the league, as Kobe only makes the shot 31 percent of the time! The Lakers would be better of with Raymond Felton in crunch time than Kobe as he makes his shot 33% of the time. In the last 24 seconds of playoff games, Kobe has racked up almost as many AIR BALLS AS MAKES! The Lakers will always be a troubled team in the clutch if changes are not made to their offensive strategy. For goodness sake, the Lakers are more likely to score in crunch time when Kobe is not on the floor than when he is. The Lakers are extremely predictable come the end of the game. To quote Dwane Casey, “In the flow of the game, he’s a willing passer. But in crunch time, he is looking to get his. He’s not looking to pass, and I tell my team that.”

With the ball in his hands near the end of a tight game, Kobe Bryant is just as likely to make the shot as the average NBA player. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t believe that the average NBA player gets the same praise for making a clutch shot 31 percent of the time. Sure, some NBA coaches would like to have Kobe on their team at the end of the game, but the fact of the matter is that he is simply not effective. Numbers do not lie.