If there's any advantage brought by the injuries and decline of the Trail Blazers Team members, it's that it has allowed Kobe to unleash further energy on the offensive end.
In the 2003 season, Kobe entered his peak, and for several years he has been obsessively refining his offensive skills, honing details, especially his footwork.
Kobe's footwork is often overlooked because people tend to watch the upper body more when watching games, forgetting that the lower body is the foundation of movement.
The dribbling rules of basketball dictate that how to use footwork reasonably and compliantly greatly affects a player's shot space and timing.
Pivot turns, spins, jab steps, feints, forward stabs, and step-backs — these subtle techniques allow Kobe, when close to the baseline or sideline, to shoot the ball towards the basket in a very small space and under multiple defenses, scoring points.
Kobe has carved out his own path, a technical path different from both Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
