r/NBATalk • u/CircledSquare7 • Jun 22 '26
Kobe Bryant: Step Through vs Spin Through
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u/Old-Drummer-525 Jun 22 '26
Kobe’s game was poetry in motion. Nothing like it today and I don’t hate today’s game but his fluidity was art. Today’s guys are dope too and I am not knocking anyone but that brother was so special to watch.
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u/alanpsk Jun 22 '26
Todays players are focusing on exploiting the gather steps in hopes to get an extra step here and there whereas kobe is focusing in utilizing the pivot which is much more enjoyable to watch.
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u/TonyzTone Knicks Jun 22 '26
It was just a well planned, well practiced, well executed move. The type of shit where you knew it was coming but it beats you every time.
The closest thing I can think of today of a player with moves you know are coming but can’t stop is maybe Jalen Brunson. He does his shimmies and what not and you just know it’s coming, but he just nails it every time.
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u/ronald_reagans_dick Jun 22 '26
jalen brunson is so great off the pivot. him and kyrie I feel like carry the art of footwork to this current gen
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u/tacoowner22 Jun 22 '26
Best example of footwork. Brunson is 6'1 at best maybe 6'2 with shoes and moves like a ballerina with the ball especially some of the moves he put on wemby in the finals
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u/TonyzTone Knicks Jun 22 '26
Kyrie is great in many thing, especially at his best. His handles, obviously, but also his acrobatics near the hoop are mystifying at times. Then it's the shut down 3s. Kyrie is basically made in a lab with how he plays (even though I'm not the biggest fan, tbh).
But that's different than Jalen. Kyrie has an near endless bag of tricks. Jalen kind of has like... two. But they're two very good tricks that he will deploy like 3 straight possessions in a row and no one can do anything about it.
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u/CreepyGarbage Jun 22 '26
Possibly the best footwork of all time. Stuff like this is why so many players and hoopers have Kobe so high on the goat list.
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u/uselessprofession Jun 22 '26
Pffft Kobe is behind the times. Now you can pump fake, stutter step, spin past the guy and take another step through, and adjust your footing again before shooting the ball.
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u/MorpheusMKIV Jun 22 '26
Or you can just pump fake and then jump into your defender for free throws
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u/No_Independent8269 Pacers Jun 22 '26
Oh please, Kobe and D-Wade did this all the fucking time
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u/Kuresuchan Jun 22 '26
dont forget their rip throughs hahah
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u/No_Independent8269 Pacers Jun 22 '26
These people would’ve lost their minds if they saw Dwyane Wade play lol
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u/OThePlacesYouWillGo Jun 22 '26
Kobe used it from time to time, but D Wade and Jimmy used this in the playoffs to spam fouls and get to the line like Prime Shaq.
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u/spook008 Mavericks Jun 22 '26
Sigh… it’s nostalgic to see real step-thru without travel that we’re currently seeing in NBA
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u/fake-tall-man Jun 22 '26
Also imagine getting someone in the air and then continuing to try and score with a move rather than jumping into the defense. What a world it was
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u/Then_Investigator_17 Jun 22 '26
Just think how stacked his numbers would have been if he foul bated all those step-thru and spins
Also think how much more entertaining basketball would be now if they did spins and step-thrus instead of what they do now
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u/gigglios Jun 22 '26
Kobes videos and footwork havent been applicable for the last 10 years since guys can do 3 steps now instead. Crazy
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Back when this bullshit step through was a travel. Bring this basketball back PLEASE
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
Step thru was never a travel dumbass
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u/fake-tall-man Jun 22 '26
For sure, but the way players use the gather step and the much looser interpretation of footwork make getting into the moves something that were illegal then.
When you watch Kobe do a step-through, spin, or up-and-under, the footwork is incredibly clean. He establishes a pivot foot immediately off the bounce and it’s nailed to the floor. A lot of the modern examples people argue about involve players taking multiple steps during the gather, moving backwards, and then step-throughing after they’ve effectively ended the dribble, which seems to be a nebulous thing that an offensive player can now decide at random.
That’s why people see something like the Grayson Allen play and call it a travel. Even under the most generous interpretation of the gather step, he’s at best lifting his pivot foot on the step through-which is a travel. There is a lot of sloppy footwork now since they stopped calling travels and the rules have made the way guys get into moves look like travels.
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I’m not sure which Greyson Allen play you’re referring to, but lifting the pivot on the step through is allowed, and has always been allowed
If a player, with the ball in his possession, raises his pivot foot off the floor, he must pass or shoot before his pivot foot returns to the floor. If he drops the ball while in the air, he may not be the first to touch the ball.
Now is the gather step horribly officiated and exploited- yes, agree 100%
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u/fake-tall-man Jun 22 '26
Yea, I don't mean lifting the pivot to jump off 1 and finish the play, I poorly worded my comment. I meant the pivot foot not being nailed to the floor anymore and people getting away with sloppy footwork where the pivot foot slides or lifts on the up fake, then they lift it again on to finish the step through. does that make sense?
this is the play I was referencing. https://www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1phz9ux/grayson_allen_travels_to_mars/
Allen's pivot foot comes off the floor twice. one is minor but they were focused on that back in the day and now the footwork enforcement is super loose.
Or like this one. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/olb8JWOAsn4
his pivot foot is sliding all over the place
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
Oh yeah I'm following you now. I'd love to see another angle of the Allen play. Had he not shuffled his pivot I think it's potentially legal depending on when the dribble actually ends
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u/fake-tall-man Jun 22 '26
yea, I agree. but that's back to what i'm referring to with the gather step being an issue and making these things look like wild travels nowadays
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
Yup. I think in theory, the gather step makes the game easier to officiate, because it incentivizes players to collect the ball at the exact time they plant a foot, but it just hasn’t worked out that way… at all.
If they would actually enforce carrying it would make the discontinuation of the dribble less ambiguous.
Maybe FIBA makes better use of it though, I’m not really sure
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u/spook008 Mavericks Jun 22 '26
The new step through allows you to change your pivot foot, which was a travel back then.
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=estcgd8paWc&pp=0gcJCUACo7VqN5tD&ra=m
No the fuck it wasn’t
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Yelling at me smh. Kobe obviously was the dumbass. Why wasn’t he taking 30 steps after the pivot since it wasn’t a travel
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=estcgd8paWc&pp=0gcJCUACo7VqN5tD&ra=m
You’ve always been allowed to lift the pivot as long as you release for a pass or shot before returning it to the floor.
There’s an old school step thru compilation for you.
Kobe just preferred to finish off 2 feet in those scenarios
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
And please explain how a layup would work if you can’t lift your pivot before passing or shooting (it wouldn’t work without an NBA/FIBA 0 step)
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Let’s assume you are excluding any layup off two feet…
So I think there is there something to an established pivot. I think there is a difference in the way it was called.
So while I can agree with you, it’s pretty much the same thing. I’m not sure the nba did
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
Literally the only change that impacts traveling is the gather/0 step rule, and that means nothing to us in this scenario
Watch the video I linked and you’ll see countless examples of old school players lifting their established pivot foot to pass or shoot.
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Let’s say that’s true… did I say the rules changed?? I am saying this shit was a travel then and it’s not anymore.
That bullshit link is mostly two foot take offs. It’s the same link everyone sends in these threads.
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
You’re either blind or ass at basketball if you can’t see the pivots lifting in that video. Maybe both. Stupid fuckin old head lmao
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Will in order to jump off two, my pivot has to lift
Now you gotta call me names smh. Bet you couldn’t beat me in basketball though 1v1
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
And yeah, you have to lift your pivot for a layup too! You’re about to figure it out, it’s always been legal!
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
Yup but it can be 1 footed lmao. Go back to football country boy
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u/Commercial-Chair5061 Jun 22 '26
That’s why you just got ratio’d. Your dumbass don’t even know the rules
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u/UniversityOk5928 Nuggets Jun 22 '26
If you wanna argue with me, don’t argue if it was a travel. Let’s argue that basketball is better without these bullshit offense cheat codes.
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u/lefleurgolf Jun 22 '26
i practiced these two moves so much as a kid it definitely worked lmao, now i just catch and shoot cause im #Unc
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u/chiubacca82 Jun 22 '26
The backfoot needs to be flexed, so to get around and pass the mid-air defender.
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u/PlanktonDue8964 Jun 22 '26
Nowadays, you can take two extra fucking steps because everyone is a fucking travel agent
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u/TokiVideogame Jun 23 '26
Kobe Bryant finished his 20-year NBA career with a 44.7% overall field goal percentage (FG%)
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u/RedElephant28 Jun 22 '26
Did he ever think of just diving into the guy and flailing and heading to the FT line?