What is Kobe Bryant’s new offensive strategy you ask? It’s the mid post game. The ability to post up his man and work in the Triangle offense from the post. We’ve always known Kobe Bryant to be an offensive genius, and that there is nothing he can’t do offensively. And we’ve already seen him score from the post. But did we see this coming?

Kobe went out of his way this off-season to spend some time with NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon and to learn the science behind the mid-post game. An obvious sign of someone with a great desire to get even better, even after winning his 4th championship.

But the results of Kobe Bryant’s off-season workouts with Hakeem have been astounding. In the first 6 games of the season thus far, Kobe Bryant is averaging nearly 35 points a game, a majority of which are coming from either in the paint or from the mid post.

While all other big name players in the NBA are averaging big numbers yet again doing what they do, Kobe at age 31 is right up there with them, doing it in a new completely different way. It’s amazing that Kobe has changed his offensive game and is still averaging nearly 35 points a game.

Creating More Durability

We witnessed Michael Jordan make this kind of offensive transition later in his career in the 90′s where he began to post his defenders up, rather than always take them off the dribble. This lengthened Jordan’s career and helped him win his last 3 NBA title’s.

We are seeing the same thing with Kobe. Kobe Bryant has made the wise decision to work more from the post, thereby extending the length of his competitive career. This creates more durability for Kobe because of the physical toll a player takes when he drives to the basket over and over again through an 82 game regular season as opposed to working from the mid-post.

Players Having A Hard Time Defending the Post

Let’s face it, NBA guards and small forwards as great of defenders as some of them are, are not accustomed to defending other guards in the post. This throws them off. Many of them would much rather guard someone off the dribble and rely on the help of other teammates during pick and rolls.

With the mid-post game, not only is it something different for guards to defend, but it also creates better spacing offensively for the Lakers and puts those defenders on an island with Kobe Bryant. This makes it harder for help defenders to cheat over and exposes that defender even more.

Now if you want to even have the slightest chance of defending Kobe Bryant, you need a defender who is tall and has great length. Otherwise Kobe will just shoot right over the top all night long. A good example of this is the Boston Celtics. Boston fans think they have a great defense. But any other defender they throw at Kobe Bryant this year other than Paul Pierce, Kobe will be able to simply post up, and shoot right over the top. This is going to cause defensive teams like the Celtics fits.

Final Thought

Just watching the highlights of some of the Laker games recently over at Lakersmedia.com you can see the impact Kobe Bryant’s new post game is having on the Lakers. He is literally abusing defenders down on the block much like Michael Jordan and even Hakeem Olajuwon did in the 1990′s.

If Kobe Bryant can continue this high percentage post game throughout the season, the Lakers are going to be much harder to beat then they were during their championship season a year ago. I just don’t see any defenders in the league that can guard Kobe Bryant one on one in the post. He has too many moves, and his ability to hit a turn-around contested jumper with a hand in his face is unmatched.