74% of NBA Players Polled Want Kobe Taking Last Shot

Jared Jeffries didn’t seem all too comfortable the other night when he found himself in that last second shot situation, and that’s probably why none of the 166 NBA players polled by SI recently named him as a guy they would want shooting with the game on the line.  Or maybe there’s other reasons like jealousy and stuff. 

Whatever the case, the NBA collectively identified Kobe Bryant as the answer to that question as more than three quarters of the players polled voted for him.  That’s not a surprise really at all, and if you polled me I’d pick Kobe first to take that shot for my team too.  

It is kind of surprising though that Carmelo, Derrick Rose, and Chris Paul collectively received zero votes.  To be fair on Rose I guess, the poll was taken during the first half of the season and maybe that time next year it’s different.  Especially if he keeps hitting game winning shots like the lay-up he converted to close things out last night in Indy. 

LeBron James was also another notable omission, but I think that’s warranted after watching him choke away that opportunity a number of times as recently as this season. 

Anyways, here’s the list from SI’s NBA Player Poll:

WHO DO YOU WANT SHOOTING WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE?

Kobe Bryant, Lakers G 74%

 

Kevin Durant, Thunder F 8%

Dwyane Wade, Heat G 3%

Ray Allen, Celtics G 2%

Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks F 2%

 

Based on 166 NBA players who responded to SI’s survey

In case you’re wondering, my list in order reads: Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant. 

Let us know who you’d have shoot it.

About Brendan Bowers

I am the founding editor of StepienRules.com. I am also a content strategist and social media manager with Electronic Merchant Systems in Cleveland. My work has been published in SLAM Magazine, KICKS Magazine, The Locker Room Magazine, Cleveland.com, BleacherReport.com, InsideFacebook.com and elsewhere. I've also written a lot of articles that have been published here.

Quantcast