Kobe Bryant Scores 81 Points in Game Against Raptors

Now seems as good a time as ever to invite you to read my law review article "Illegal Defense: The Irrational Economics of Banning High School Players from the NBA Draft."

Seriously, that was quite a performance by Kobe last night. 81 points, on 28-46 shooting, is probably the most points we'll see scored in a very, very long time. In fact, it is the second-highest one-game total in NBA history, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100 in 1962. Just think: Michael Jordan, George Gervin, Larry Bird, Dominque Wilkins, David Thompson, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Reggie Miller--none of them accomplished Kobe's feat last night.

And, like his three championship rings, Kobe thrived last night despite not having ever played one minute of college basketball. Somehow, someway, he persevered.

And isn't it amazing that, by most accounts, five of the top 10 players in the NBA skipped college (Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Amare Stoudemire, and Tracy McGrady)--and guys like Jermaine O'Neal, Al Harrington, Eddy Curry, and Rashard Lewis aren't too shabby either--and yet only 8 percent of the 450 or so NBA players skipped college? And then you think about the success of guys like Al Jefferson, Dwight Howard, J.R. Smith, Josh Smith, Shaun Livingston, Sebastian Telfair and (certainly based on the last month) Kendrick Perkins, and you begin to wonder why the NBA, if it had its way, would have prevented all of them from entering the NBA until after they played abroad for a year or, more likely, for a college or university that would have generated a lot of money from them?

Oh, wait, maybe that last point has something to do with the new NBA age limit. Hmm.

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