I disagree. I think it is a good thing when James is one of the most prolific offensive players in the game. It was a good thing for the three years in a row they won the Championship. I think the only year one can really call Kobe selfish was last year. Even then, Phil specifically asked Kobe to carry the team as many of the young guys weren't up to speed on the triangle.
Your spin is just as jaded to one side as mine was, Joe. First off your data sample is too small, but let's assume we're looking at one game with 40 touches vs. 5 touches. How many of those 40 touches did James pass to another teammate, who in turn passed it directly to the low block for a score? In hockey James would have an assist, obviously not the case in the NBA. However, the point stands that James in that instance did initiate the offense but didn't get an assist for it. This example is very common in the triangle for the simple fact that the players often make two passes to get it in to the low post; e.g. Kobe passes from the top of the 3-pt line to Fox who recieves the pass in the mid way between the top of the 3pt line and the baseline and makes a quick entry in to Shaq in the low post. This is another possession where Kobe initiated the offense and doesn't get the assist. BTW, James (Kobe) happens to not only be the primary ball handler on the floor, but also one of the two top scoring options on the floor. How are his ratio of passes to touches not going to be skewed in that direction? He's not John Stockton, or Steve Nash, he's not a natural distributor, he's a natural scorer who's learned and continues to learn to distribute. Regardless, the coaching staff, the team, and the fans want and need James to score for the team to be successful.
