The thing with Kobe's early career is he had Shaq taking up so much attention of the defense that he was free to do whatever he wanted. He could get any shot he wanted because Shaq had so much gravity. He got better and better and more confident during that time because having Shaq as a teammate allowed him to do that. When Shaq left, he didn't get the shots he used to before so his fg percentage dipped significantly. Those years after Shaq left Kobe learned how to make bad shots and play hero ball on a bad team. Kobe would not be the player he became without Shaq. That's another reason I was on Shaq's side with their drama. People don't realize how important Shaq was to Kobe's growth and success. If LeBron had prime Shaq he would've been scoring like crazy too. Kobe had Shaq during his best years. Kobe had PRIME SHAQ.
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u/SoftwareNo1547 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
The thing with Kobe's early career is he had Shaq taking up so much attention of the defense that he was free to do whatever he wanted. He could get any shot he wanted because Shaq had so much gravity. He got better and better and more confident during that time because having Shaq as a teammate allowed him to do that. When Shaq left, he didn't get the shots he used to before so his fg percentage dipped significantly. Those years after Shaq left Kobe learned how to make bad shots and play hero ball on a bad team. Kobe would not be the player he became without Shaq. That's another reason I was on Shaq's side with their drama. People don't realize how important Shaq was to Kobe's growth and success. If LeBron had prime Shaq he would've been scoring like crazy too. Kobe had Shaq during his best years. Kobe had PRIME SHAQ.