Part of being a fan is thinking with your heart, dreaming of the improbable, maybe the impossible. And Lakers fans fascination with Kevin Garnett was always based on thinking with their hearts, because once your head got involved the dream was quickly shattered.
The hearts of Lakers fans, and I have little doubt the team’s front office, loved the idea of KG as a Laker. But the chances the team would get him were always microscopic, and for a number of reasons — starting with being in the same conference and finishing with not having enough young talent to interest Minnesota. It’s hard to fault McHale for this choice, Al Jefferson is a better prospect, one who already has proven more, than Andrew Bynum, and the Lakers don’t have a young Gerald Green to sweeten the offer. Some fans clung to the fantasy that KG would just opt out next year and play in Los Angeles for the midlevel exception, but that never made sense — Boston is going to give him a $25 million a year or so extension, with the Lakers he would have made about $6 million. Yes he has a lot of money in the bank, but to leave around $95 million on the table? Would you do that? Seriously?
It was hard not to be tantalized by the dream, but now Laker fans need to get back to reality. This is a Laker team that is has some nice pieces — and one great one — but is a key piece or two away from contending. There is more than one way to get those pieces, but holding out hope for KG was really never a viable one.
The KG dream is dead, but that dream and one of contending Lakers are not one in the same.
By ForumBlueAndGold.com
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
NOT THE CELTICS...PLEASE
A little background first: I grew up a huge Lakers fan and got my first drivers license in the summer of 1979. This was also the start of the Magic Johnson era, and it allowed me to spend any summer job money going to see him play.
Magic and the Lakers dominated everybody, with one exception: Boston. The Celtics weren't better than the Lakers in the 80's, but they were almost as good--and they were luckier. After the Lakers won the title in 1980, Boston won it in '81. The Lakers won it again in '82, and Philly snuck one year out in '83.
The 1984 NBA Finals are still on tape in my house, and it goes down as the most painful loss of my Lakers' fan existence. The Lakers won three games in that series by an average of 17 points, while the Celtics seemed to win all four of their games by less than five. When the Celtics won game seven, it marked the eighth time the two teams met in the finals, and the Celtics had won all eight.
After that, I circled the two Lakers/Celtics games the day the schedule came out. Couldn't wait to go....couldn't wait to watch on TV. When the playoffs rolled around, it was the original "must see TV." The Lakers beat the Celtics in '85; Boston won the title in '86, the Lakers won in '87 (against Boston) and '88. It was, and still is, the great sports rivalry of my lifetime.
Fast forward to 2007. The Celtics have been dead for years, but the truth is they've had terrible luck since the 80's. The deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis both happening to the same team? C'mon. The fact that they got nothing for Bird, Parrish, McHale or DJ? That was bad management, but it was also the strange twist of having all of your franchise players go south physically all at the same time. The league is better when the Celtics are good, and they haven't been....for what seems like forever.
But as a Lakers' fan, my team is in the tank now too. After the Shaq/Kobe titles, they've screwed up a lot...on and off the court. They need to make a big splash now, and they're running out of options.
Boston rolls the dice and trades for Ray Allen, which is a huge risk. But at least they're trying something new, which the Lakers haven't done since the Shaq trade. Most of my friends who are Boston fans are nervous about the Allen trade, but it's not like they had anything to get excited about before.
The Lakers do nothing because they're holding out hope that somehow, some way, they can swing a deal for Kevin Garnett to play with Kobe. They make the decision not to make a big move until they know what is happening with Garnett.
Then the news breaks--Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale are about to screw the Lakers again. Ainge, the Boston GM, and McHale, the GM in Minnesota, work out a deal to send Garnett to the Celtics.
To anybody who watched those Finals back in the 80's, this was a flashback of the worst kind. We never cared losing games when Bird hit a big shot or DJ came up with a typical big-time play because those guys had done it to everybody else too. But if the Lakers stopped Bird and DJ, and then got beat by Ainge or McHale, that drove everybody I know crazy. Ainge was the ugly whiner who should have been playing baseball. McHale was Herman Munster, and losing to Herman Munster made you feel like an idiot.
Guess what? I feel today exactly how I felt back in 1984. How could this happen again?
The Celtics now go into this season with Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce as the odds on favorite to win the Eastern Conference. The Lakers will go into this season with pretty much the same roster they've had for three lousy years. Hopefully, Lakers management can pull a rabbit or two out of a hat and improve the team before October, but I don't see another Garnett out there.
By the way, I know for a fact that the Lakers tried everything possible to bring KG to LA. They worked on it for months, and offered the Wolves half of Southern California. But in the end, McHale clotheslined the current Lakers the way he did Kurt Rambis in the 80's.
I'm going to go rent "Against All Odds," listen to some Joe Jackson CD's and pray that I wake up in 1985. That decade ended a lot better than it looks like this one might. But one good thing came out of all of this: I'm back to hating the Celtics rather than feeling sorry for them.
All the best....
by John Ireland
Magic and the Lakers dominated everybody, with one exception: Boston. The Celtics weren't better than the Lakers in the 80's, but they were almost as good--and they were luckier. After the Lakers won the title in 1980, Boston won it in '81. The Lakers won it again in '82, and Philly snuck one year out in '83.
The 1984 NBA Finals are still on tape in my house, and it goes down as the most painful loss of my Lakers' fan existence. The Lakers won three games in that series by an average of 17 points, while the Celtics seemed to win all four of their games by less than five. When the Celtics won game seven, it marked the eighth time the two teams met in the finals, and the Celtics had won all eight.
After that, I circled the two Lakers/Celtics games the day the schedule came out. Couldn't wait to go....couldn't wait to watch on TV. When the playoffs rolled around, it was the original "must see TV." The Lakers beat the Celtics in '85; Boston won the title in '86, the Lakers won in '87 (against Boston) and '88. It was, and still is, the great sports rivalry of my lifetime.
Fast forward to 2007. The Celtics have been dead for years, but the truth is they've had terrible luck since the 80's. The deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis both happening to the same team? C'mon. The fact that they got nothing for Bird, Parrish, McHale or DJ? That was bad management, but it was also the strange twist of having all of your franchise players go south physically all at the same time. The league is better when the Celtics are good, and they haven't been....for what seems like forever.
But as a Lakers' fan, my team is in the tank now too. After the Shaq/Kobe titles, they've screwed up a lot...on and off the court. They need to make a big splash now, and they're running out of options.
Boston rolls the dice and trades for Ray Allen, which is a huge risk. But at least they're trying something new, which the Lakers haven't done since the Shaq trade. Most of my friends who are Boston fans are nervous about the Allen trade, but it's not like they had anything to get excited about before.
The Lakers do nothing because they're holding out hope that somehow, some way, they can swing a deal for Kevin Garnett to play with Kobe. They make the decision not to make a big move until they know what is happening with Garnett.
Then the news breaks--Danny Ainge and Kevin McHale are about to screw the Lakers again. Ainge, the Boston GM, and McHale, the GM in Minnesota, work out a deal to send Garnett to the Celtics.
To anybody who watched those Finals back in the 80's, this was a flashback of the worst kind. We never cared losing games when Bird hit a big shot or DJ came up with a typical big-time play because those guys had done it to everybody else too. But if the Lakers stopped Bird and DJ, and then got beat by Ainge or McHale, that drove everybody I know crazy. Ainge was the ugly whiner who should have been playing baseball. McHale was Herman Munster, and losing to Herman Munster made you feel like an idiot.
Guess what? I feel today exactly how I felt back in 1984. How could this happen again?
The Celtics now go into this season with Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce as the odds on favorite to win the Eastern Conference. The Lakers will go into this season with pretty much the same roster they've had for three lousy years. Hopefully, Lakers management can pull a rabbit or two out of a hat and improve the team before October, but I don't see another Garnett out there.
By the way, I know for a fact that the Lakers tried everything possible to bring KG to LA. They worked on it for months, and offered the Wolves half of Southern California. But in the end, McHale clotheslined the current Lakers the way he did Kurt Rambis in the 80's.
I'm going to go rent "Against All Odds," listen to some Joe Jackson CD's and pray that I wake up in 1985. That decade ended a lot better than it looks like this one might. But one good thing came out of all of this: I'm back to hating the Celtics rather than feeling sorry for them.
All the best....
by John Ireland
Lakers-Ticketless
The big news of the day is heated conversations between the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics and Andy Miller (agent for Kevin Garnett). Obviously Laker fans would be disappointed if Garnett is traded to Boston, but it appears that may be a strong possibility.The Los Angeles Lakers have always held a small candle but had already accepted they were an unlikely destination for Garnett.
Perhaps they look at Plan B again (Jermaine O'Neal), though they still appear unwilling to move Andrew Bynum with Lamar Odom to the Indiana Pacers for the expensive and injury prone O'Neal.
While the Lakers can afford to shop players like Kwame Brown and Jordan Farmar, that may not be enough to land an impact player.
A wild rumor that the Orlando Magic would be interested in Brown, willing to send Hedo Turkoglu (and Farmar from the Lakers) to the Sacramento Kings with Artest and Keith Bogans coming to the Lakers has been declared "unfounded" by a source close to one of the teams.
It's certainly an interesting idea but at this point remains unrealistic.
Another rumor making the paces is that the Lakers are one of the teams chasing Juan Carlos Navarro whose draft rights are still owned by the Washington Wizards. While it's possible to come up with a trade scenario that might appeal to the Wizards, there's the matter of how much money the Lakers can pay Navarro.
LA only has $1 million of their Mid-Level Exception (MLE) remaining. The Wizards cannot use their MLE in any trade, per league rules.
Considering Navarro has at least a $2 million buy-out, of which the Lakers can only contribute $500,000 towards . . . the Spanish guard would have to come out of his pocket to play in LA.
Barring some unforeseen endorsement contract that makes it worth his while, there doesn't seem to be any practical way the Lakers can land Navarro.
After this week his buy-out is expected to be raised to $11-14 million, which could keep Navarro out of the NBA for years.
Perhaps Navarro was more of a serious consideration for the Lakers when they were searching for a point guard but with Derek Fisher getting nearly all the MLE it appears the Navarro rumor is nothing but old news.
Before the injuries last season the Lakers were on a 50+ win pace. It remains to be seen if they can pick off where they left off this coming season or if that's just fool's gold.
Is Fisher that much of an upgrade over Smush Parker?
Can the injury-prone lot remain healthy for an 82-game period and an extended playoff run?
Will the Kobe Bryant trade demand be forgotten or reemerge as a serious issue if and when Garnett is traded elsewhere?
Is there any way for the Lakers to upgrade the team? The Celtics were close to the worst team in basketball last year and may add Garnett to the recent acquisition of Ray Allen.
The Lakers brought back Fisher, Luke Walton, Chris Mihm and drafted Javaris Crittenton.
It just doesn't seem enough to make a real difference.
by: Eric Pincus
HOOPSWORLD.com
Friday, July 27, 2007
Bryant finds solace and energy with Olympic team
Kobe Bryant says he wants to blend in, have some fun playing basketball and fulfill a lifelong dream of helping the United States win an Olympic gold medal.But when perhaps the best NBA player in the game says he wants to be traded from the only team for which he has played and then waffles on that decision with no clarification, blending in is hardly the course he chooses.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar knows wherever he goes, whatever he does and — because of how he expressed his frustration — whatever he says creates drama.
Because he feels no one will believe what he says about his situation with the Lakers — no matter what that is — Bryant says the best course for all parties is for him to stop talking publicly about the situation.
"It's about going forward and handling the situation the right way and handling it behind closed doors within the walls of the organization and doing it that way," he told USA TODAY here Saturday.
Yet the spotlight rarely avoids Bryant, even with breaking news last weekend about an NBA referee being investigated for allegedly betting on games. Or even as he tries to keep the focus on winning a gold medal as one of 17 players gathered in Las Vegas during the weekend to start training for next month's Olympic qualifying tournament.
The Lakers' story line is hard to resist. The last thing Bryant said, more than a month ago, was he wanted to be traded. The Lakers, despite talking to clubs about Bryant, have insisted they are proceeding as if he will be with them this season.
Bryant, 29 next month, wouldn't say Saturday whether he wants to remain in Los Angeles or be traded but appreciates the dilemma that poses.
"It's natural for people to be frustrated and that's the case," Bryant says. "I'm sure a lot of people and a lot of fans feel the exact same way, but the point now is that it's said and done. It's all out in the open. We know there are issues to be resolved, but now, going forward, let's handle everything the correct way.
"Let's go about this in a manner where it won't be a distraction."
Bryant's frustration with the Lakers' inability to build a contending team around him since Shaquille O'Neal's departure three seasons ago led to his trade demands. He also went public with his lack of confidence in owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak.
He has since apologized to Lakers' management for his outbursts and has had numerous conversations with club officials. The Lakers would not say Sunday what impact the talks with Bryant have had on the situation.
"Our position has been, since the start of this, that our conversations with Kobe would remain private," Lakers' spokesperson John Black said. "That is still our position."
Jordan had 'better teammates later'
Bryant's ability has never been in question. The 6-6 shooting guard led the league in scoring the last two seasons at 35.4 points a game in 2005-06 and 31.6 last season.
But his obsession with winning — and the way he has gone about it — often puts him at odds with teammates and fans.
"From Day 1 he's been misunderstood, so he's going to say things and they are going to have more weight because of his greatness," NBATV analyst and former player Steve Jones says. "You have to compare him to (Larry) Bird, (Michael) Jordan, Magic (Johnson) and Isiah (Thomas), guys like that who are driven to do whatever it takes to win. That's one thing (Lakers' coach) Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss know. 'If we get him out here on the court, he's fighting.'
"He might be the maddest guy out there and he might be mad all year long, but he'll play and they can't replace that. He wants to make his team better, but his hands are tied and he's half the reason that they are."
TNT analyst Doug Collins, who coached Jordan with the Chicago Bulls and played in the league, observed practices this past weekend. He says the similarities between Jordan and Bryant abound but the differences could be at the center of Bryant's frustrations.
"If you look at (their) careers, Michael's had tremendous struggles early and then he had better teammates later in his career when they won championships," Collins says. "With Kobe, he had his best teammates early and now as he is getting older … all he knows is winning. Now he doesn't make the playoffs three years ago and wins one game this year and hasn't won a playoff series.
"You know the level of frustration is going to come out."
Despite all the Lakers talk, Bryant is steadfast in his insistence that USA Basketball is all that is on his mind now. "It's so unfair for me to try to address that situation (with the Lakers) without it being a distraction to what we are trying to accomplish with USA Basketball," he says.
He is back in his element on the court and leaner by about 20 pounds from this past season, down to 200 — the lightest he's been since 1998.
"I think it's time for me to start being more responsible in what I eat," he says. "I never thought that day would come. I'm a pepperoni pizza-eating, bacon-cheeseburger-having (guy), but you also have to come to grips with reality.
"I'm not 21 anymore … and I'm not digesting that stuff as fast as I'd like to. So it's time to be smart about it and watch what I eat." He has added more fish and vegetables to his diet.
Playing for the U.S. team should help his tarnished image, but Bryant says that is not his motivation for being on the team. Nonetheless, it is the escape and distraction Bryant might have needed.
"I've never had the opportunity to put on a USA uniform, and to say I'm excited about it would be a huge understatement. It feels like I'm a kid all over again," Bryant says. "And … my family and I have tried to do a lot of things for our troops and we kind of feel that this is our small way to represent our country, defend our country, by playing basketball.
"That's why I'm taking it so seriously. In practice I've had kind of a scowl on my face like it's the NBA Finals because it's that important to me. We want to try to represent our country the right way."
Injuries and his legal trouble in Colorado in 2003-04 prevented Bryant from playing on the last three U.S. senior teams involved in international competitions — the 2003 Tournament of the Americas, the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships. That was to the great disappointment of former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, who sought Bryant as his first player when USA Basketball gave him control of the men's senior team three years ago.
Not winning the gold medal at the World Championships means the USA still must qualify for the Olympics.
"What is going on with Kobe and the Lakers isn't even a conversation piece with us and shouldn't be," Colangelo says. "This is all about USA Basketball. That's where he's focused and hopefully that's the way it'll play out."
In recognition of Bryant's absence on past teams, Colangelo says the team has had "a little fun" with Bryant here.
"We sent somebody over to make sure he was here," Colangelo says. "It's great to have him here. He's as excited as a rookie. There's a toughness and an edge to Kobe when he's on the court, and that's something we didn't have last year."
Bryant says he has watched every game of the last Olympics and the last two World Championships in which gold has eluded the USA.
"Seeing the level of joy that various countries had in beating us and giving us a hard time was very hard to swallow," he says.
"That adds to the motivation. We're the United States. We are going to come in and do what we do best. It's time to regain that edge.
"It isn't going to be easy, but it's time."
Kobe, LeBron join forces
He seems to have accomplished his goal of putting the Lakers' situation behind him and trying to be one of the guys on the international basketball stage — at least with his teammates over the weekend.
"Anybody would love to play with Kobe," says the Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony, the USA's leading scorer at the 2006 World Championships. "We love it, the way he is meshing with the other guys here. You never have to worry about what Kobe is going to bring to the table."
Much anticipation on the U.S. team centers around Bryant playing alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James. Bryant scored 26 points Sunday in the team's Blue-White game, including the winning shot of a 105-104 victory. James finished with 18 points, but missed a shot as time expired with Bryant guarding him.
Both are looking ahead to when they are on same team when it counts.
"He adds another leader to our team, and he's going to help a lot," James says. "It's not about me competing with him. It's about us coming together to try to win a gold medal."
U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke also is thrilled to finally get a chance to coach Bryant. He recruited him, unsuccessfully, out of high school and Krzyzewski once considered becoming coach of the Lakers.
"In Kobe we have a great player who wants to represent his country as much as anybody and he's never had a chance," Krzyzewski says. "He's like a little kid in his enthusiasm to play. Kobe's presence here makes us more complete."
Bryant has been visibly at ease with the team. It has been difficult for him to contain his enthusiasm at being able to just play basketball.
"I have really detached myself from the (Lakers') situation," he says. "I've gone into a USA Basketball mode completely. This is what I do. It is just so much fun to do, I want to do it all the time."
Bryant, 29 next month, wouldn't say Saturday whether he wants to remain in Los Angeles or be traded but appreciates the dilemma that poses.
"It's natural for people to be frustrated and that's the case," Bryant says. "I'm sure a lot of people and a lot of fans feel the exact same way, but the point now is that it's said and done. It's all out in the open. We know there are issues to be resolved, but now, going forward, let's handle everything the correct way.
"Let's go about this in a manner where it won't be a distraction."
Bryant's frustration with the Lakers' inability to build a contending team around him since Shaquille O'Neal's departure three seasons ago led to his trade demands. He also went public with his lack of confidence in owner Jerry Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak.
He has since apologized to Lakers' management for his outbursts and has had numerous conversations with club officials. The Lakers would not say Sunday what impact the talks with Bryant have had on the situation.
"Our position has been, since the start of this, that our conversations with Kobe would remain private," Lakers' spokesperson John Black said. "That is still our position."
Jordan had 'better teammates later'
Bryant's ability has never been in question. The 6-6 shooting guard led the league in scoring the last two seasons at 35.4 points a game in 2005-06 and 31.6 last season.
But his obsession with winning — and the way he has gone about it — often puts him at odds with teammates and fans.
"From Day 1 he's been misunderstood, so he's going to say things and they are going to have more weight because of his greatness," NBATV analyst and former player Steve Jones says. "You have to compare him to (Larry) Bird, (Michael) Jordan, Magic (Johnson) and Isiah (Thomas), guys like that who are driven to do whatever it takes to win. That's one thing (Lakers' coach) Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss know. 'If we get him out here on the court, he's fighting.'
"He might be the maddest guy out there and he might be mad all year long, but he'll play and they can't replace that. He wants to make his team better, but his hands are tied and he's half the reason that they are."
TNT analyst Doug Collins, who coached Jordan with the Chicago Bulls and played in the league, observed practices this past weekend. He says the similarities between Jordan and Bryant abound but the differences could be at the center of Bryant's frustrations.
"If you look at (their) careers, Michael's had tremendous struggles early and then he had better teammates later in his career when they won championships," Collins says. "With Kobe, he had his best teammates early and now as he is getting older … all he knows is winning. Now he doesn't make the playoffs three years ago and wins one game this year and hasn't won a playoff series.
"You know the level of frustration is going to come out."
Despite all the Lakers talk, Bryant is steadfast in his insistence that USA Basketball is all that is on his mind now. "It's so unfair for me to try to address that situation (with the Lakers) without it being a distraction to what we are trying to accomplish with USA Basketball," he says.
He is back in his element on the court and leaner by about 20 pounds from this past season, down to 200 — the lightest he's been since 1998.
"I think it's time for me to start being more responsible in what I eat," he says. "I never thought that day would come. I'm a pepperoni pizza-eating, bacon-cheeseburger-having (guy), but you also have to come to grips with reality.
"I'm not 21 anymore … and I'm not digesting that stuff as fast as I'd like to. So it's time to be smart about it and watch what I eat." He has added more fish and vegetables to his diet.
Playing for the U.S. team should help his tarnished image, but Bryant says that is not his motivation for being on the team. Nonetheless, it is the escape and distraction Bryant might have needed.
"I've never had the opportunity to put on a USA uniform, and to say I'm excited about it would be a huge understatement. It feels like I'm a kid all over again," Bryant says. "And … my family and I have tried to do a lot of things for our troops and we kind of feel that this is our small way to represent our country, defend our country, by playing basketball.
"That's why I'm taking it so seriously. In practice I've had kind of a scowl on my face like it's the NBA Finals because it's that important to me. We want to try to represent our country the right way."
Injuries and his legal trouble in Colorado in 2003-04 prevented Bryant from playing on the last three U.S. senior teams involved in international competitions — the 2003 Tournament of the Americas, the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Championships. That was to the great disappointment of former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, who sought Bryant as his first player when USA Basketball gave him control of the men's senior team three years ago.
Not winning the gold medal at the World Championships means the USA still must qualify for the Olympics.
"What is going on with Kobe and the Lakers isn't even a conversation piece with us and shouldn't be," Colangelo says. "This is all about USA Basketball. That's where he's focused and hopefully that's the way it'll play out."
In recognition of Bryant's absence on past teams, Colangelo says the team has had "a little fun" with Bryant here.
"We sent somebody over to make sure he was here," Colangelo says. "It's great to have him here. He's as excited as a rookie. There's a toughness and an edge to Kobe when he's on the court, and that's something we didn't have last year."
Bryant says he has watched every game of the last Olympics and the last two World Championships in which gold has eluded the USA.
"Seeing the level of joy that various countries had in beating us and giving us a hard time was very hard to swallow," he says.
"That adds to the motivation. We're the United States. We are going to come in and do what we do best. It's time to regain that edge.
"It isn't going to be easy, but it's time."
Kobe, LeBron join forces
He seems to have accomplished his goal of putting the Lakers' situation behind him and trying to be one of the guys on the international basketball stage — at least with his teammates over the weekend.
"Anybody would love to play with Kobe," says the Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony, the USA's leading scorer at the 2006 World Championships. "We love it, the way he is meshing with the other guys here. You never have to worry about what Kobe is going to bring to the table."
Much anticipation on the U.S. team centers around Bryant playing alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James. Bryant scored 26 points Sunday in the team's Blue-White game, including the winning shot of a 105-104 victory. James finished with 18 points, but missed a shot as time expired with Bryant guarding him.
Both are looking ahead to when they are on same team when it counts.
"He adds another leader to our team, and he's going to help a lot," James says. "It's not about me competing with him. It's about us coming together to try to win a gold medal."
U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke also is thrilled to finally get a chance to coach Bryant. He recruited him, unsuccessfully, out of high school and Krzyzewski once considered becoming coach of the Lakers.
"In Kobe we have a great player who wants to represent his country as much as anybody and he's never had a chance," Krzyzewski says. "He's like a little kid in his enthusiasm to play. Kobe's presence here makes us more complete."
Bryant has been visibly at ease with the team. It has been difficult for him to contain his enthusiasm at being able to just play basketball.
"I have really detached myself from the (Lakers') situation," he says. "I've gone into a USA Basketball mode completely. This is what I do. It is just so much fun to do, I want to do it all the time."
By David Dupree
USAToday.com
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Kobe Is The Key
The scrimmages are over, practices are done for awhile, now Kobe returns to Los Angeles to once again face his every day life which has become very unordinary.
Judging from the dead silence on the NBA scene minus the ref scandal, many Laker fans have begun to assume that the dream to finally have KG on the Lakers is near death and if it indeed is then one person is the key.
No one can truly gauge what Kobe is thinking right now because he doesn’t have his puppet Ric Bucher speaking for him anymore, so we can only go off what he’s said and done recently. If he has begun to submit to the assumption that he will be a Laker for at least another year then he and he alone can insure is long term happiness.
Very few people in the league have the passion and heart that Kobe does, and one of those few is Kevin Garnett who is in a much darker situation than Kobe. Never made it to the Finals, 3 straight seasons with no playoffs, a Front Office even more inept than the Lakers wonder team of Kupchak and Jim Buss.
Only Kobe can talk to KG and tell him that it’s time for him to cement his place as one of the elite talents of the High School draft era of the NBA and alongside Kobe they can dominate the Western Conference.
As loyal as he is to the organization that drafted him, KG knows he’s being used but no reporter will be able to show him that, no coach, General Manager, or legendary retired player will show him that, only someone who has been down the same path can, Kobe has the passion, Kobe feels the betrayal, but will he realize that he can be the ultimate catalyst to what it is that he sorely wants?
Judging from the dead silence on the NBA scene minus the ref scandal, many Laker fans have begun to assume that the dream to finally have KG on the Lakers is near death and if it indeed is then one person is the key.
No one can truly gauge what Kobe is thinking right now because he doesn’t have his puppet Ric Bucher speaking for him anymore, so we can only go off what he’s said and done recently. If he has begun to submit to the assumption that he will be a Laker for at least another year then he and he alone can insure is long term happiness.
Very few people in the league have the passion and heart that Kobe does, and one of those few is Kevin Garnett who is in a much darker situation than Kobe. Never made it to the Finals, 3 straight seasons with no playoffs, a Front Office even more inept than the Lakers wonder team of Kupchak and Jim Buss.
Only Kobe can talk to KG and tell him that it’s time for him to cement his place as one of the elite talents of the High School draft era of the NBA and alongside Kobe they can dominate the Western Conference.
As loyal as he is to the organization that drafted him, KG knows he’s being used but no reporter will be able to show him that, no coach, General Manager, or legendary retired player will show him that, only someone who has been down the same path can, Kobe has the passion, Kobe feels the betrayal, but will he realize that he can be the ultimate catalyst to what it is that he sorely wants?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Despite gaffe, Kobe the star at the end
LAS VEGAS -- Kobe Bryant hit the biggest shot and made the biggest defensive stop after committing the gravest gaffe of the game -- all in the final 21.3 seconds.Playing in a Team USA jersey for the first time, Bryant hit the game-winning shot over Tayshaun Prince with 6.6 seconds left to give the blue team a 105-104 victory over the white team Sunday in an intrasquad scrimmage. Bryant freed himself of Prince with a pump fake before hitting a jumper from 19 feet away to put his team ahead by one. After a timeout, Bryant defended LeBron James on the game's final possession and forced him to miss wide right on a short jumper from the lane that would have won it.
Afterward, Bryant took plenty of playful ribbing from teammate and Team USA veteran Jason Kidd after Bryant tried to call a timeout with 21.3 seconds left -- a no-no under international rules, under which only a coach can call a timeout.
The episode happened after Bryant brought the ball upcourt, came to a halt near the scorer's table and signaled with his hands for a timeout. The referee blew his whistle, then bailed himself out by calling a foul on Kidd, who was defending Bryant on the play.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski conceded after the game that the timeout rule has not yet been explained to the players in person, although they have been given paperwork with a list of the differences between FIBA rules and NBA rules.
"Situations like that can actually be helpful to us because sometimes the best way to learn the rule is by actually doing it," Krzyzewski said. "It definitely added to the intrigue."
Bryant made light of the episode afterward, joking that he actually made a "T" sign with his hands because he wanted the referee to call a technical foul on Kidd for elbowing him in the stomach "like it was a game from the '80s."
Bryant finished with 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range, and blue squad teammate Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 28. One of the more impressive performances came from rookie Kevin Durant, who shot 9-for-14 for 22 points for the blue squad.
For the white squad, Mike Miller scored 22 and made four 3-pointers in the second quarter, when both teams played nothing but zone defense. Dwight Howard shot 9-for-9 and scored 21, and James had 18.
On the negative side, the teams combined to shoot only 19-for-68 on 3-pointers (28 percent) and 20-for-34 (59 percent) on free throws -- the latter area coming as perhaps the biggest concern to Coach K, who lamented during the team's three-day minicamp that foul shooting was one of the primary deficiencies to hamper Team USA at the World Championship in Japan last summer.
All in all, though, Krzyzewski summed up the three-day camp as an "off the charts" success.
"We have more shooters, and we have more talent -- veteran talent," Coach K said.
The players will scatter for three weeks before reassembling in Las Vegas on Aug. 14 to prepare for the Tournament of the Americas, at which two Olympic berths will be at stake. Team director Jerry Colangelo said Nick Collison will be added to the national squad for the Aug. 14 camp, and he also expects Greg Oden to rejoin the team after tonsillitis kept him away from minicamp.
The Americans must pare their roster to 12 before the Tournament of the Americas, and the players who appear most likely to be dropped from the active roster include J.J. Redick, Collison and Shane Battier. Going into Sunday's game, it appeared Durant would be on that cut list, as well, but his performance Sunday clearly was giving Krzyzewski and Colangelo something to think about.
"You never know sometimes," Colangelo said.
Colangelo also said a squad of young NBA players, including Brandon Roy, will be brought to Las Vegas for the next stage of camp to compete against the senior team in scrimmages. The final roster for the Tournament of the Americas does not have to be submitted until 24 hours before the competition begins -- a big difference from what will happen next summer (assuming the Americans qualify for the Olympics), when the final 12-man Olympic roster must be submitted by June 28, about six weeks before the Games start.
Sunday's game attracted an announced crowd of 15,132 to the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV, and Bryant was clearly the crowd favorite -- even hearing a "Ko-be, Ko-be" chant as he dribbled the ball on his team's final possession before hitting the winner over Prince. But up until that point, the play that got the crowd most charged up was when Bryant drove in on a break and tried for an up-and-under reverse dunk, only to have James block the shot and send Bryant flying into a row of photographers.
"His big, grown-up body knocked me off-balance, so I have to get used to playing at a lighter weight," said Bryant, who has dropped 19 pounds since the end of the NBA season.
The biggest groans of the night were directed at Michael Redd, who shot two air balls in the first half that missed the rim by several feet. Redd, also making his Team USA debut, shot 4-for-10 on 3s and finished with 17 points.
Other noteworthy items from the box score: Bryant had five steals and five assists; Tyson Chandler grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds; Deron Williams had nine assists and five turnovers; Chauncey Billups had seven assists and four steals in just 19 minutes; and Kidd had eight assists and six rebounds to go with his two points, which he got by converting his only field goal attempt of the night.
"We have more shooters, and we have more talent -- veteran talent," Coach K said.
The players will scatter for three weeks before reassembling in Las Vegas on Aug. 14 to prepare for the Tournament of the Americas, at which two Olympic berths will be at stake. Team director Jerry Colangelo said Nick Collison will be added to the national squad for the Aug. 14 camp, and he also expects Greg Oden to rejoin the team after tonsillitis kept him away from minicamp.
The Americans must pare their roster to 12 before the Tournament of the Americas, and the players who appear most likely to be dropped from the active roster include J.J. Redick, Collison and Shane Battier. Going into Sunday's game, it appeared Durant would be on that cut list, as well, but his performance Sunday clearly was giving Krzyzewski and Colangelo something to think about.
"You never know sometimes," Colangelo said.
Colangelo also said a squad of young NBA players, including Brandon Roy, will be brought to Las Vegas for the next stage of camp to compete against the senior team in scrimmages. The final roster for the Tournament of the Americas does not have to be submitted until 24 hours before the competition begins -- a big difference from what will happen next summer (assuming the Americans qualify for the Olympics), when the final 12-man Olympic roster must be submitted by June 28, about six weeks before the Games start.
Sunday's game attracted an announced crowd of 15,132 to the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV, and Bryant was clearly the crowd favorite -- even hearing a "Ko-be, Ko-be" chant as he dribbled the ball on his team's final possession before hitting the winner over Prince. But up until that point, the play that got the crowd most charged up was when Bryant drove in on a break and tried for an up-and-under reverse dunk, only to have James block the shot and send Bryant flying into a row of photographers.
"His big, grown-up body knocked me off-balance, so I have to get used to playing at a lighter weight," said Bryant, who has dropped 19 pounds since the end of the NBA season.
The biggest groans of the night were directed at Michael Redd, who shot two air balls in the first half that missed the rim by several feet. Redd, also making his Team USA debut, shot 4-for-10 on 3s and finished with 17 points.
Other noteworthy items from the box score: Bryant had five steals and five assists; Tyson Chandler grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds; Deron Williams had nine assists and five turnovers; Chauncey Billups had seven assists and four steals in just 19 minutes; and Kidd had eight assists and six rebounds to go with his two points, which he got by converting his only field goal attempt of the night.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Bryant Exhibits Renewed Passion
LAS VEGAS Here’s how Phil Jackson put it recently when taking Kobe Bryant’s explosive offseason and trying to put the blasted pieces together for a coherent picture: “He has already been to the mountaintop. Anything besides that makes it very difficult. I know that frustration.”The one thing laid-back Jackson long has been working with Bryant on is teaching him to loosen the white-knuckle grip on everything that is a control freak’s reflex. Bryant’s recent outbursts against the Lakers reflected his inability to deal with failures that were somewhat out of his control.“Just had to put it aside, not think about it,” Bryant said Saturday. “I just wanted to move forward, not be distracted by it.”That had been Bryant’s initial plan after huddling with Jackson two days after the Lakers’ season ended. Bryant said then he would not fret about the Lakers’ need to make roster upgrades as the summer played out, mentioning the USA Basketball opportunities that awaited him. He failed spectacularly trying to let go of that Lakers-related frustration, but now that he is at the U.S. team’s mini-camp this weekend, he is breezily succeeding.“I’m in a better place … I’m here,” he said.Bryant used the word “happy” to describe himself. He mentioned getting to know Dwyane Wade, with whom Bryant worked in a serious post-practice shooting drill Saturday to get used to particular spots on the differently measured international court. Meanwhile, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and Deron Williams jacked up NBA-length threepointers.Bryant is clearly viewing this as carrying a flag toward an even higher mountaintop: securing an Olympic berth for Team USA at the Aug. 22-Sept. 2 FIBA Americas Championship, then getting gold in China next summer after U.S. teams failed in 2000 (when Bryant’s ankle injury from the NBA Finals prevented his participation) and in 2004 (when he was facing a sexual-assault charge).Bryant wrote a first-person perspective for Newsweek after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and wore a “God Bless America” band over his right wrist for every game of the 2001-02 season.“There’s no bigger significance than representing your country,” Bryant said. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, especially with the state of the world we’re in right now and the battle we’re in.“It adds more significance to it than ever. This is kind of the small part we can play in representing our country and representing it the right way. I’m really, really excited about this. I can’t stress that enough.”Such an eager mindset from one of the oldest players on the team feels wonderful to U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski.“He’s amazingly committed to the game and he works so hard,” Krzyzewski said of Bryant, who turns 29 in a month. “It’s his first opportunity to play for the United States, so even though he’s a veteran player and one of the truly great players in the history of the NBA, he brings a youthful energy to go with this.”Asked if the feel of the past two days has been anything like an All-Star Game, Bryant said: “No, no, no. It’s a team. It’s like we’re getting ready for the playoffs or something. The intensity is very high. It’s very competitive; it’s very serious. We’ll joke around with each other every once in awhile, but in a competitive manner.”That’s why this feels like a favorite warm blanket to Bryant: The familiar feel of elite competitive basketball hasn’t surrounded him in years — which brings us back to why Jackson believes Bryant went off in recent months.Bryant has done a lot of laughing with his younger teammates here (Anthony and Amare Stoudemire heckled Bryant on Friday during his lengthy interview session as “Barry Bonds” for dominating the media spotlight). Yet probably no part of this experience has been more meaningful for Bryant than playing with point guard Jason Kidd. Bryant said he and Kidd, the team’s elder statesman at 34, have been joking that they’re “the two old dogs on the team.”“I learned a lot just by playing with him the past couple of days,” Bryant said. Kidd was someone the Lakers could have gotten in trade for teenage center Andrew Bynum in February. When that missed Lakers opportunity was brought up to him, Bryant allowed this much: “I was very optimistic about it. But I have the opportunity to play with him now.”
By Kevin Ding
Orange County Register
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