ESPN dropped their Spike Lee produced, no commercial, hyped up documentary, Kobe Doin’ Work tonight. I know I caught it, but the question for those of you who didn’t see it is: should I take the time to watch Kobe Doin’ Work?
Yes, but you have to be qualified. By that I mean you can’t be an average fan. Jared Wade from Both Teams Played Hard said it the best on Twitter (follow him), “it probably has zero appeal to non-hoops dorks.”
I completely agree. You have to love everything that goes into Kobe and the Lakers game to stick through an hour and a half of pure basketball talk. There’s not lots of comedy or funny moments to save the average fan. It’s about what Kobe does on the floor and how the Lakers execute as a unit. If that sounds boring to you, don’t watch the documentary. It’s for a very specific group of viewers.
I fit into that group of basketball junkies. I loved seeing Kobe watch what he does on the floor. He laughs at his actions and has an extraordinary recollection of what was going on in the game. Also, the way he predicts the next play on either end for either team (in this case the Spurs) was incredible. His basketball IQ shines as brightly as possible throughout the entire show.
His calm attitude was another constant. I’ve seen how Kobe acts postgame; it was pretty similar. But his smoothness in the way he goes about doing things on the floor was multiplied. When he talks to players and refs, I felt he always said the right thing.
For everything’s that right with any product, there’s things that are wrong. The No Look Pass (follow him on Twitter) made a good point. “Wish it was spread over more than one game.” Something that maybe took a half of each game, but still somehow kept the flow of each of those respective games, would’ve been nice.
Also, does Kobe really act that way in every game? VI_Massive tweeted some thoughts: “I like the additional camera angles and shots, that’s new and different, but all the Kobe stuff just feels so fake. Seems like a complete PR job.”
I’m going to argue that point a bit. Kobe was Kobe for at least 75% of the doc. That’s how I felt watching it. His actions seemed sincere for the most part. Sometimes, though, he went on a little bit in the commentary; he did. It did look good from a PR standpoint, but I expected that going in.
While everyone’s a critic and some people hated what I liked, go into this movie with strong expectations. Only watch it IF you love to hear about how to execute a basketball game the way Kobe and the Lakers do. If you just want to see Kobe do his thing, watch his games, (or highlights on YouTube), don’t watch Kobe Doin’ Work.
Basketball freaks, Kobe Doin’ Work is a must-see!