SEE ALSO: Ex-Wife Damages Gingrich’s Campaign

It was previously reported that Vanessa would be receiving the home that the couple shared and the home her mother resides in, while Kobe would take the newly constructed third estate. Now it is being reported that Vanessa actually gets all three properties.

Since the couple resides in California, Vanessa gets to enjoy the state’s 10-year divorce law, which categorizes any marriage that lasts that long as “lengthy.” Under California state law, having a “lengthy” marriage translates into a spouse being able to maintain their lifestyle after a marital breakup. Consequently, Vanessa will receive approximately half of Kobe’s fortune.

TMZ reports:

Vanessa is walking away with $75 million, which we’re told represents close to half of their total assets, estimated at around $150 million.

Last December, Vanessa cited “irreconcilable differences” when she filed for divorce, but it reportedly came out that the marriage collapsed due to Kobe’s cheating. While it was also reported that Kobe was trying to stop the divorce, Vanessa decided to go through with it.

Read the rest at TMZ.

SEE ALSO:

Brad, Angelina Expecting?

Pregnant Woman Hit By Lightening Gives Birth

SEE ALSO: Kim Zolciak Fires Assistant

Jordan told sports writer Roland Lazenby, who is writing a book about Jordan:

Kobe’s the only one to have done the work, to deserve comparison.

Jordan has won six NBA championships to Kobe’s five and Jordan averaged 30.1 points during his career while Kobe has averaged 25.3. Kobe has averaged 4.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game, while Jordan averaged 5.3 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game. Both players have been named to the NBA All Defensive Team nine times but only Jordan was named Defensive Player Of The Year. Jordan has five NBA MVPs to Kobe’s one and six NBA Finals MVPs to Kobe’s two.

SEE ALSO:

Santorum Has The Answer To Black Poverty?
The New Jim Crow Is Alive And Well

SEE ALSO: Amber Rose Breaks Down

On Jan. 5th, records show that Kobe officially transferred two properties to Vanessa, with some speculating that one of the estates is the property the couple shared in Newport Coast, Calif. As for the second home, TMZ reports that “it’s the nearby mansion where her  mother has been living.”

Still, Kobe wasn’t the only one to reportedly transfer property. Vanessa is said to have given Kobe an estate that is currently under construction in the Newport Coast area.

Kobe and Vanessa married in Dana Point, Calif. on April 18, 2001. At the time, while Kobe was 22 years old, Vanessa was just 18 years old. Only two short years later, Kobe was accused of raping a 19-year-old hotel employee and eventually settled out of court. Then a few months later, the NBA star had a re-commitment ceremony with his wife. Still, their marriage was said to have continuously suffered from Kobe’s alleged infidelity. Vanessa filed for divorce in late 2011.

Read the rest at TMZ.

SEE ALSO:

Blond Ambition: Mary J’s Beauty Evolution (PHOTOS)

FBI Claims ODB Had Shady Dealings

SEE ALSO: Black Actresses Need Better Roles

“I gave him the phone number,” Bryant said Thursday night before the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the New York Knicks.

Bryant opened up about the steps he has taken to heal his arthritic joints in a rare pregame interview, crediting the therapy with dramatic improvement in his own troublesome right knee and an injured left ankle in recent months.

When Rodriguez inquired about Bryant’s treatment, Bryant vouched for the German doctor who developed the course of injections of plasma-rich platelets that supposedly stimulate healing in arthritis-affected areas.

Bryant says his knee is now 95 percent healthy after at least three surgeries in the last eight years. He apparently had the same treatment done in October on his ankle, which also isn’t limiting him this season.

“You can’t just try something just to try it,” Bryant said. “It has to make sense. It has to be something that you can back with research and study and things like that.”

And how did Bryant get information about the therapy – called Orthokine – being done in Duesseldorf?

“It’s my job to know these things,” Bryant said with a grin.

The Yankees might benefit from Bryant’s knowledge. General manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday that Rodriguez is “100 percent,” with “no red flags” going into spring training.

Rodriguez had surgery on his right knee last July and saw his power drop in the second half and postseason. He played in 99 games and hit 16 homers, struggling to produce at his usual prolific levels.

Bryant is far from fully healthy. He’s still playing with a torn ligament in his right wrist, wearing a brace on the joint whenever he isn’t on court.

He’s no longer wearing a wrap on the oft-injured index finger on his right hand, but that’s because the joint is now “bone on bone,” according to Bryant.

And Bryant hasn’t stopped trying new things to heal more quickly and thoroughly. Several Lakers joined him at a cryotherapy clinic in the Sacramento area on Monday, trying out an extreme cold chamber that’s thought to decrease pain and swelling in athletes.

Bryant can’t remember when his friendship with A-Rod started, but they’ve been friendly for years, going out to dinner and talking regularly. He’s grateful he could help the 36-year-old slugger get back in top shape.

“As a Yankee fan? Hell yeah,” Bryant said.

SEE ALSO:

FLOTUS Appears On “iCarly”

What OWS Accomplished

According to reports, Vanessa hired a private detective who found photos of Kobe cheating during the recent NBA lockout.

PopularCritic reports:

“[Vanessa] estimated that he was averaging at least 10 affairs a year with different women over the course of their marriage and puts his number of conquests at 105.

Vanessa reportedly planned to divorce Kobe four years ago but was allegedly advised by her mother to wait until the 10-year mark to receive half of Kobe’s earnings. With no pre-nup, her payday stands at $75m.

Read More At Popular Critic.

SEE ALSO:

After Rhodes Lie Exposure, Yale Coach Quits

Romney Says He Won’t Release His Tax Returns

SEE ALSO: The 9-to-5 Workday About To Be Gone?

The NBA sought competitive balance. What it got was schedule imbalance.

One of the many consequences of the lockout, besides hundreds of lost games and hundreds of millions of lost dollars, was the tradition that every team plays in every NBA city at least once per season. That’s not the case this year.

While teams will visit every other team in their own conference, they will only make trips to play nine clubs from the other side of the league instead of the usual 15.

It’s one of many quirks of a 66-game schedule that, in a variety of ways, is not like any other in NBA history.

“In some cases, the team business-type might complain that they didn’t get (to host) the Heat or the Lakers,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said. “While in the background, the coach is doing cartwheels. So it’s kind of an interesting dynamic.”

There’s no shortage of those.

Reigning scoring king Kevin Durant dropped 66 points in New York earlier this year – alas, at Rucker Park, the fabled outdoor court and not Madison Square Garden. He and Oklahoma City won’t be going to play the Knicks this season.

The NBA champion Dallas Mavericks won’t be going to Charlotte, nor will Durant’s Thunder, Bryant’s Lakers or the Spurs, and that will keep ticket dollars from finding Bobcats owner Michael Jordan’s pockets.

Teams won’t be playing the same number of divisional games, so get ready for complaining should tiebreakers come into play when determining playoff seeding. And many small market teams will be miss out on some guaranteed sellouts against some elite clubs that might hurt in the standings but help with the bottom line.

“That’s what happens when you have a lockout,” Durant said.

When Magic coach Stan Van Gundy heard the league was putting together a 66-game slate instead of the usual 82-game run, he figured the breakdown was simple: Play every team in your division four times, then face every other team home and away.

That seemed easy enough.

Instead, it’s complicated.

“I’m not being critical of it,” Van Gundy said. “They’ve got a short period of time to play 66 games and there were a lot of factors they had to consider and I’m sure that they did it the best way that they could.”

True, but there is some zaniness.

Atlanta takes a trip that has the Hawks going north, then south, then north, then west, then east, then west and then home again, all in the span of nine days. Cleveland has a nine-game February homestand. San Antonio goes nearly four weeks without a home game. The Kings close the first half of their schedule with 20 of 28 away from Sacramento, daunting for a team desperate to keep fans engaged while trying to get a new arena. Denver plays nine in a row at home in one stretch, then immediately hits the road for seven straight.

But there’s no Anthony homecoming in Denver.

“Did it bother me? Not really,” said Anthony, now with the Knicks. “I mean, I would love to go back and play there. The reaction I would get, who knows? I might get some boos, I might get some claps, but it’d have been fun.”

Minnesota coach Rick Adelman was thrilled to see his club opens with six of seven at home. And then he looked who those early opponents are – the first four clubs to visit the Timberwolves are Oklahoma City, Miami, Dallas and San Antonio.

“It’s a challenge for us,” Adelman said. “If we come out and we’re ready to go, and we can knock some of these people off, it’s just going to be better for us.”

The Wolves don’t host Atlanta, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Orlando, Toronto and Washington, teams that perhaps don’t inspire the casual fan to run down on game night to check them out, but could be winnable games. They also don’t travel to Boston, Chicago, Miami or New York. From a competitive standpoint, not having to play those teams on the road is great for the Wolves. But from a player experience standpoint, the Wolves don’t sound thrilled.

“I think we don’t go to Miami and Chicago. … That’s a little sad,” eagerly anticipated guard Ricky Rubio said.

With this kind of schedule, youth might be served. Washington is expected to open the year with 10 players on the team age 25 or younger. So on those back-to-back-to-back nights, the Wizards might have a touch more spring in their collective step than some other clubs.

“It reminds me of an AAU season – playing five games in one day,” Wizards guard John Wall said. “It can be tough at times, but I think it can help us.”

In past years, playing four games in five nights would be considered the worst of the schedule grind.

It’s worse this year.

Not only will every team have at least one stretch of playing three games in three nights, but there will also be times when teams play eight games in 11 days. If a key player rolls an ankle, certainly a common issue in the NBA, at a particularly busy time in the schedule, a team could find itself without a key player for maybe 20 percent of the season. And with all those games in such a short span, this much is guaranteed: There will be nights when some teams will know the odds are stacked very, very highly against them, when they’re the weary-legged club against a team that’s had a couple of days off to freshen up.

“There will be nights when you’ll be like, `OK, well, let’s just go try and see what happens,’” Wade said. “It’s not going to be easy. For anyone.”

GOP Congressman Obsessed With Michelle Obama’s Butt

Ron Paul Ditches CNN Interviewer Who Asks Him About Racism

SEE ALSO: Sandusky Accuser: I SAW Sex Abuse Happening

Vanessa Bryant signed the papers on Dec. 1. Kobe Bryant signed his response on Dec. 7 and it was filed Friday, according to the documents.

“The Bryants have resolved all issues incident to their divorce privately with the assistance of counsel and a judgment dissolving their marital status will be entered in 2012,” according to a statement from a representative for the couple.

In the filing, Vanessa Bryant asked for joint legal and physical custody of the couple’s two daughters, Natalia, 8, and Gianna, 5. Kobe Bryant asked for the same in his response. Vanessa Bryant also requested spousal support.

The Bryants “ask that in the interest of our young children and in light of the upcoming holiday season the public respect our privacy during this difficult time,” according to the statement.

Bryant met his future wife in 1999 on a music video shoot when Vanessa Laine was 18 years old. Six months later, she and the then-21-year-old Bryant became engaged. They married on April 18, 2001.

The Bryants have been through trying times together.

Vanessa Bryant appeared at a news conference with her husband when he was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman who worked at the exclusive Lodge & Spa at Cordillera near Vail, Colo., in 2003. She held his hand and stroked it tenderly as the NBA star admitted he was guilty of adultery – but nothing else. Earlier she had issued her own statement to the media, vowing to stand by her husband.

“I know that my husband has made a mistake – the mistake of adultery,” she said in the statement at the time. “He and I will have to deal with that within our marriage, and we will do so. He is not a criminal.”

A year later, prosecutors dropped the criminal charge against Kobe Bryant because the woman did not want to go ahead with a trial.

Last year, Kobe and Vanessa Bryant settled litigation with a former maid who accused the NBA star’s wife of harassment. The Bryants countersued Maria Jimenez for violating a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters about the family.

SEE ALSO:

Man Steals His Date’s Car

Obamas: NO FACEBOOK For Malia And Sasha

SEE ALSO: Why Obama Was Right To Back “Abortion Pill” Restrictions

Yet the Lakers also realize turmoil is as much a part of this club as those famous gold jerseys.

New coach Mike Brown ran his first practice Friday without big men Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom as the Lakers opened training camp under the cloud of a trade shockingly blocked by the NBA.

Odom showed up more than 90 minutes late to the Lakers’ training complex, and then left early after a meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak. Gasol, the four-time All-Star forward also included in the deal, showed up for the workout but didn’t practice before leaving the building early for what the team claimed was medical evaluation on a strained right quadriceps.

From Brown to Kobe Bryant to Metta World Peace, nobody denied the strangeness of the Lakers’ situation – but nobody thought it was a serious setback to their preparations for the shortened season, even with Gasol and Odom missing practice amid reports the New Orleans Hornets still were trying to trade Paul.

“Unfortunately, it’s just the nature of the beast,” Bryant said. “That’s just the business that we’re in. In this situation, the commissioner has the right to void the trade. For the players involved, it’s always tough to hear your name mentioned in trade discussions, but at the end of the day you’ve got to do your job. You can only control so much.”

Kupchak met with the Lakers to brief them on “the awkward moment,” as center Andrew Bynum described it. The Lakers then went into an extremely lengthy practice as Brown attempted to install his defensive philosophy and an offensive system tailored to Bryant and … well, whoever ends up in their starting lineup on Christmas in less than three weeks.

“It’s been interesting, to say the least,” Brown said about his first teaching day in the job he accepted more than six months ago. “Never experienced anything like this, but it’s good to experience new stuff.”

Even though Derek Fisher will lose his job if the Lakers acquire Paul, the players union president thinks the NBA overstepped the intent of its new collective bargaining agreement when David Stern blocked the deal.

“I still disagree with … Commissioner Stern and the owners’ ability to hold up a trade,” said Fisher, who started every game for the past four years at point guard. “In a sense, it flies in the face of all the negotiations we had on the collective bargaining agreement.”

Odom was thought to be headed to New Orleans in the deal for Paul, the Hornets’ superstar point guard, until Stern blocked the deal for what a league spokesman called “basketball reasons.” Gasol was expected to be moved to Houston in a deal that would have reconfigured the Lakers’ roster for their season opener against Chicago.

The Lakers already realized they were in for a major transition after Phil Jackson’s departure cleared the way for Brown’s intensity and defensive focus. The 16-time NBA champions’ threepeat bid ended last spring with a second-round sweep by Dallas.

“It’s always going to be like that with the Lakers,” said Bynum, also the subject of numerous trade rumors surrounding Los Angeles’ desire to land Orlando center Dwight Howard. “Every year I’ve been here, there’s somebody who’s better than me that maybe we’re going to get.”

Los Angeles also signed veteran shooter Jason Kapono, draft picks Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock, and center Chris Daniels on Friday.

Odom was the NBA’s sixth man of the year last season, and the veteran big man has spent all but one season of his 12-year career with Los Angeles’ two NBA teams. He’s also at the nexus of Hollywood’s love affair with the Lakers, given his marriage to Khloe Kardashian and their reality show.

“When a team trades u and it doesn’t go down? Now what?” Odom tweeted Thursday night.

Gasol has played in three NBA finals and won two titles since the Lakers acquired him in early 2008. Although he’s among the NBA’s best big men, some Lakers fans soured on the Spanish national team star for his dismal play down the stretch last season.

If the Lakers empty their enviable frontcourt depth in a deal for Paul, they could face a difficult start to the year when the Bulls visit to start a stretch of five games in seven days. Bynum is suspended for those first five games for his bad behavior in the final game of the Lakers’ playoff loss to Dallas.

Kapono, the former UCLA star from nearby Artesia, joined his sixth NBA team by signing with the Lakers. The two-time 3-Point Shootout winner earned a championship ring with the Miami Heat in 2007, contributing valuable spot-up 3-point shooting.

The Lakers’ perimeter shooting was spotty down the stretch last season, with the club struggling to find a dependable 3-point specialist since trading Sasha Vujacic.

SEE ALSO:

Virginia Tech Slain Cop Was Father To Five

Can Food Make You Infertile?

Who are we talking about?

Quite possibly the second best shooting-guard of all-time after Michael Jordan, the Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Bryant, who is on a quest to win his sixth championship ring and tie his idol Michael Jordan, is currently being pursued by an Italian basketball team to play for them if the NBA season is locked out.

But Bryant’s focus remains on making sure that those who say he’s lost a step, regret it.

Below is a list of the top 10 facts from Kobe Bryant’s wiki that we never knew:

1. Kobe “Beef”

Right before his birth, Kobe Bryant’s parents were at a Philadelphia restaurant named after the high quality beef steak, Kobe, and they decided that would be the name of their son.

2. Only Child?

Some sportswriters and fans thought and still believe that Kobe is a selfish, spoiled brat. It would make you believe that Kobe was showered with affection and was an only child. Wrong? Kobe actually has two sisters — Sharia and Shaya, who are both older than him.

3. 1-on-1 Against His Shadow?

Kobe develops new moves in the off-season by playing against his shadow.

4. Pele, Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona, Kobe???

Had the Bryants remained in Europe, Kobe says he would have gone into pro soccer. He rooted for AC Milan while licing in Italy.

5. Just Like Any Kid

Kobe’s favorite video as a kid was “NBA Showmen,” which highlighted some of basketball’s all-time greats.

6.  Celebrity Prom Date

Kobe took R&B star Brandy to his senior prom. He later played the role of a basketball star on her show, “Moesha.”

7. The Godfather!

Speaks fluent Italian, having spent eight childhood years in Italy.

8. Take That Shaq!

In 2006, his daughter Gianna Maria-Onoro was born six minutes before the daughter of Bryant’s former teammate, Shaquille O’Neal.

9. History

At the age of 17, he was the first guard to be drafted directly out of high school.

10. There Must Have Been A Better Name Choice

Surprisingly, Kobe Bryant’s middle name is Bean. More than likely, Bean has to do with his basketball-playing father’s nickname, which was Jellybean.

RELATED:

Top 10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Michael Vick

“We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus president Claudio Sabatini told a local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange but at this point I’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.”

Kobe Bryant Considers Playing In Childhood Home Of Italy

Huh?! Kobe Bryant Accused Of Injuring Man At Church

A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday that the sides have settled on a $3 million (?2.2 million) contract for the opening 40 days of the Italian league season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has still not been signed.

Bryant, who spent much of his childhood in Italy, was in the country for sponsor appearances over the past two days but was flying back to the United States for labor talks with the NBA on Friday.

Bryant is expected to get a work visa and return to Italy next week.

“Kobe should be in Bologna by Wednesday or Thursday with his visa in hand for medical visits and then we can deposit the contract with the league,” Sabatini said. “I want to make clear that right now there are still no signatures. We’ve got to write the contract, which will then be read over and over again.”

Virtus had been due to open the season against Roma on Oct. 9, but schedules now need to be redone after Venezia was added as a 17th team.

The deal, which would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout ends, should last about 10 games.

Sabatini wants to create a special schedule to accommodate Bryant, by assigning his games to Italy’s biggest arenas.

“This is an important investment and a unique chance for the city of Bologna and all of Italian basketball,” Sabatini said. “I’m hoping everyone wants to collaborate.”

The 33-year-old Bryant has three years and $83.5 million left on his contract with the Lakers.

Between the ages of 6 and 13, Bryant lived in Italy when his father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, played with Rieti, Reggio Calabria, Pistoia and Reggiana from 1984-91. The elder Bryant also once owned a small part of Olimpia Milano. He now coaches the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA.

The younger Bryant still speaks Italian fairly well, and discussed his memories of that period during an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport two days ago.

“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move) without the ball,” Bryant told the Italian newspaper. “All things that when I came back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking.”

Bryant added that playing in Italy again “would be a dream for me.”

Bryant has been bothered in recent seasons by an arthritic joint in his right knee, which has required several minor operations. He sat out a majority of the Lakers’ practices last season and saw his scoring, shooting percentage and minutes decrease in his 15th NBA season.

Former USC guard Daniel Hackett, a dual citizen who plays for Pesaro in Italy, said he would give Bryant a hostile reception if he faced the former NBA MVP.

“The only way to stop a player that good is with a hard foul and he knows that,” Hackett said. “I’ve got five fouls to commit and they’re going to be the hardest five fouls I’ve ever committed.”

Hackett also criticized speculation that Bologna will ask opposing clubs hosting Bryant’s away games to chip in a portion of ticket sales to help pay Bryant’s salary.

“I really hope Kobe doesn’t lower himself to this level for economic and commercial motives,” Hackett said, according to the Gazzetta. “To me, it would be a big disappointment to see him here under these circumstances, and a loss of respect for a player who is too big to dirty his hands in this league.”

Bologna president Sabatini replied, “Fortunately not all Italian players think like Hackett.”

Turkish club Besiktas and at least one team in China had also expressed interest in Bryant, who has won five NBA championships and been an All-Star 13 times.

Bologna also recently sounded out Manu Ginobili(notes), who played with the club before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 2002. Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari(notes) rejoined his former Italian club Olimpia Milano last week.

The NBA season is scheduled to open Nov. 1 but owners and players have failed to agree on a new labor deal. The two sides are at odds over how to divide the league’s revenue, a salary cap structure and the length of guaranteed contracts.

Last week, NBA officials announced the postponement of training camp and the cancellation of 43 preseason games.

Virtus has won 15 Italian league titles but none since 2001, when it also won the Euroleague for the second time.

Bologna did not qualify for this season’s Euroleague, although the team has big ambitions after signing former Clemson University point guard Terrell McIntyre, who led Siena to four consecutive Italian titles before transferring to Malaga in Spain for last season.

Having mingled with fans in Milan on Wednesday, Bryant also received a warm welcome in Rome on Thursday, where he was brought to the Campidoglio museum to be given a commemorative medal from the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Bologna has been posting fan messages supporting its campaign for Bryant on the club’s website.

“A whole town is holding its breath,” one fan wrote, in English. “But for once this is happening not because of troubles or worries, it’s all about a dream. Thousands of Italian people dream of being able to say one day, ‘I was there, I saw the legendary Black Mamba. … Right here.”’

Another fan, writing in Italian, said he would bring Bryant “to eat tortellini”—one of Bologna’s most famous dishes.

Virtus Bologna has made numerous contract offers to the Los Angeles Lakers star. Bryant discussed the offer with the Gazzetta dello Sport during a sponsor’s appearance in Milan on Wednesday.

“It’s very possible. It would be a dream for me,” Bryant said, according to the Gazzetta. “There’s an opportunity that we’ve been discussing over the last few days. It’s very possible and that’s good news for me.”

Virtus told The Associated Press that the latest talks are centered on a $2.5 million offer for 10 games over 40 days from Oct. 9 to Nov. 16. That would come out to about $1.5 million after taxes.

RELATED:

Gay rights group criticizes Kobe Bryant for homophobic slur

Kobe Bryant snatches man’s phone at church after being videotaped

The deal would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout ends.

The 33-year-old Bryant spent several years in Italy when his father, Joe Bryant, played on five teams from 1984-91. The elder Bryant, who once owned a small part of Olimpia Milano, now coaches the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA.

“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. This is where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move) without the ball,” Kobe Bryant said, according to the Gazzetta. “All things that when I came back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they were only thinking about jumping and dunking.”

Turkish club Besiktas and at least one team in China have expressed interest in Bryant, a winner of five NBA championships and 13-time All-Star. However, he seems most interested in the Virtus offer.

“It’s a huge honor for me to return to Italy. It’s home for me,” Bryant said in fairly fluent Italian in a video posted on the Gazzetta website. “It’s always been a dream for me to play in Italy. We’ve got to wait and see what happens.”

Virtus also recently reached out to Manu Ginobili, who played with Bologna before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 2002. Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari rejoined his former Italian club Olimpia Milano last week.

The NBA season usually begins in late October, but owners and players have failed to agree on a new labor deal. The two sides are at odds over how to divide the league’s revenue, a salary cap structure and the length of guaranteed contracts.

Last week, NBA officials announced the postponement of training camp and the cancellation of 43 preseason games.

Virtus has won 15 Italian league titles but none since 2001, when it also won the Euroleague for the second time.

Bologna opens the Italian league against Roma on Oct. 9. It did not qualify for this season’s Euroleague, although the team has big ambitions after signing former Clemson point guard Terrell McIntyre, who led Siena to four consecutive Italian titles before transferring to Malaga in Spain last season.

Basketball star Kobe Bryant has been accused of injuring a man at a San Diego church when he grabbed his wrist and snatched his phone.

The man, who has yet to be identified, says the NBA star snatched his phone at St. Therese of Carmel church when he thought he snapped photos of him and his family.

The star eventually returned the phone once he saw no pictures were taken.

Read more at CBSLocal

RELATED:

Gay rights group criticizes Kobe Bryant for homophobic slur

FIBA agrees that players are free to sign anywhere but do so at their own risk of injury.

Secretary general Patrick Baumann says in a statement Friday that FIBA supports “any player wishing to play the game, wherever and whenever. We do so while obviously taking the interests, rights and obligations of all parties into account.”

Playing overseas has emerged as an option for NBA players during a work stoppage that threatens to last months. Nets All-Star Deron Williams has a deal with Turkish club Besiktas — which is also courting Kobe Bryant — and others say they will consider playing.

1. Tiger Woods, $75 Million
2. Kobe Bryant, $53 Million
3. LeBron James, $48 Million
4. Roger Federer, $47 Million
5. Phil Mickelson, $46.5 Million
6. David Beckham, $40 Million
7. Cristiano Ronaldo, $38 Million
8. Alex Rodriguez, $35 Million
9. Michael Schumacher, $34 Million
10. Lionel Messi, $32.3 Million

Read The Whole Story At Yahoo Sports

In the wake of the Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah’s gay slur incidents, many are saying that the NBA has officially become the most homophobic sports league in the country.

The backlash began a few weeks ago when Kobe Bryant used a slur against a referee. GLAAD (Gays & Lesbians Alliance Against Defamation) went right after him and the NBA responded by saying they were against such talk. Shortly thereafter, Joakim Noah mentioned the same slur to a fan at a game in Miami. The organization believes that no one has really learned anything and much still needs to be done.

According to a poll done on Bleacher Report, 65 percent of people say that the NBA does not have a problem with homophobia, while 35 percent feel it does. Not a landslide victory there, but the question still remains. If there is homophobia, what will it take to get it fixed?

Check out the article below from Bleacher Report.

Read more at Bleacher Report

RELATED:

Joakim Noah fined $50k for anti-gay slur

LOS ANGELES – Gay rights group Human Rights Campaign blasted Lakers star Kobe Bryant after he was seen on camera mouthing “f***in f***ot” at NBA referee Bennie Adams after a call he disagreed with.

RELATED: NBA fines Kobe $100k for calling referee derogatory homophobic slur

Human Rights Campaign told TMZ:

“Hopefully Mr. Bryant will recognize that as a person with such fame and influence, the use of such language not only offends millions of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] people around the world, but also perpetuates a culture of discrimination and hate that all of us, most notably Mr. Bryant, should be working to eradicate.”

TNT announcer Steve Kerr picked up on Bryant’s outburst and said: “You might wanna take the cameras off of him right now, for the children watching from home.

A Lakers representative briefly commented on the matter.

“We haven’t seen the video, so it would be inappropriate for us to comment on it,” a Lakers spokesperson told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday.

Read The Whole Story

You can catch Kobe’s foul-mouth at the 0:30 mark.

RELATED STORIES

Kobe Gets Star On Walk Of Fame [Video]

Phil Jackson Says Kobe Bryant “Screwed Up Game By Going One On One”

Los Angeles — After five NBA titles, many would ask what else Kobe Bryant needs to feel special. How about a star on the Walk of Fame?

RELATED: 25 reasons we love Michael Jordan

The Laker player became the first athlete ever to receive this honor at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

“I feel like I’ve grown up in this city, and we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but here we are—five championships, plenty of more to go, and I just feel extremely honored to be able to do this,” Bryant said during the ceremony.

Watch:

RELATED:

An open letter to Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant says Michael Jackson made him the player he is today

Miami — After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost the Los Angeles Lakers by 55 points LeBron James left a Twitter message that seemed to be directed at the Cavaliers and their fans.

Crazy. Karma is a b****.. Gets you every time. Its not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!

After a slow start, the Miami Heat have the best record in the Eastern Conference of the NBA, and have won 9 straight games, while the Cavaaliers.

The Cavaliers only scored 57 points in that game while Kobe Bryant only needed 13 points to propel the Lakers to a 112-57 points victory over the Lakers.

RELATED STORIES

LeBron Dominates In Cleveland Return

Lebron James Descends From Hero to Bad Cowboy

LOS ANGELES- Los Angeles Laker guard, Kobe Bryant has been having a subtle war of words with his coach, Phil Jackson. After losing a game on Monday to the Memphis Grizzlies, Jackson said:

“Kobe had to screw up the game and start energizing the team by going one-on-one. That takes the rest of the guys out and as a consequence, that didn’t bring us back in.”

Kobe Bryant had his own words for Phil Jackson, mocking his “Zen” style of coaching:

“We’ve had days off and blown teams out, so I’m not buying any of that Zen (bulls—),”

RELATED STORIES

NBA All-Star Game 2011: Kobe Bryant Tops Early Voting

Kobe Bryant Says Michael Jackson Made Him The Basketball Player He Is

Los Angeles — In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Kobe Bryant credited Michael Jackson with giving him the discipline and work ethic that has allowed him to become the world championship basketball player he is today:

“It sounds weird, I guess, but it’s true: I was really mentored by the preparation of Michael Jackson,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports.

“We would always talk about how he prepared to make his music, how he prepared for concerts,” Bryant said. “He would teach me what he did: How to make a ‘Thriller’ album, a ‘Bad’ album, all the details that went into it. It was all the validation that I needed – to know that I had to focus on my craft and never waver. Because what he did – and how he did it – was psychotic. He helped me get to a level where I was able to win three titles playing with Shaq because of my preparation, my study. And it’s only all grown.

“That’s the mentality that I have – it’s not an athletic one. It’s not from [Michael] Jordan. It’s not from other athletes.

“It’s from Michael Jackson.”

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Why Kobe Will Never Surpass Jordan

Michael Jordan Says He Could’ve Scored 100 Points In Today’s NBA

Share this post on Facebook! CLICK HERE:

Here is an excerpt:

But despite the NBA’s official disapproval, the use of pot hasn’t seemed to decrease. In 2001, one of the toughest players in hoops history, power forward Charles Oakley, claimed that 50 to 60 percent of players smoked weed. A Rocky Mountain News survey released in 2005 reported that NBA players estimated on average that one out of three of their colleagues—roughly 30 percent—smoked pot. In 2008, Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks caused a stir when he admitted on ESPN Radio that he smokes marijuana during the off-season and that “everybody in the media world and in the sports world knows that NBA players do smoke marijuana.” Asked how many, Howard offered the rather high figure of 70 percent, while his Mavericks teammate, Jason Terry, thought that only 5 percent of players got high—a wildly unrealistic claim.

As for the argument that only fringe players use pot and not the superstars, what about the aforementioned LeBron James, who has acknowledged that he smoked pot during his high-school years? Aside from Kobe Bryant, you don’t get much bigger than King James.

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Michael Beasley Used “Too Much Pot” Says Wolves President

NBA All-Star Accused Of Being “Major Marijuana Supplier”

If you were to walk into a room filled with the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers or the 2009 New York Yankees and started calling them “losers” and “bums” and “chumps”, they’d probably look at you curiously, smirk a little bit and maybe even laugh out loud.

You could probably continue to insult them too—so long as you didn’t launch into any personal or family-based attacks—so amused would they be by you and so certain would they also be that you were some isolated nut that was also totally harmless.

Meanwhile, if you tried the same stunt with the 2010 New Jersey Nets, you’d likely end up beaten to a bloody pulp and rushed out of the room barely breathing.

Why is this, you think?

Click here to view photos:

RELATED: Top 10 Sex Scandals Of The Decade

Well, for the same reason there are no really good slurs against White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Most of the world is so convinced that a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant is the thing to be that if you were to try to insult one, your attempt would be viewed as more of an indication of your own psychological distance from reality and not that anything was wrong with the people you were attacking.

Why do you think that those nutty Nubian Islamic Hebrews are allowed to stand on street corners and read excerpts from the bible that they always seem to interpret as slurs against Europeans?

Why do you think that for so many years, the Nation of Islam was allowed to say so many shocking things against white people while simultaneously being (on the surface at least) protected by the police?

Why do Black comics poke such silly fun at white audience members?

Because the white people that they’re supposed to be attacking see anybody that verbally attacks white people as sufferers of sour grapes.

They almost feel sorry for their verbal attackers and as a magnanimous exercise, allow the attacks to continue if only to show the world that despite their own obvious greatness, they’re good sports as well.

RELATED: Glenn Beck Compares Tiger Woods To O.J. Simpson

Now think about how Blacks react whenever other races insult us, most specifically, whenever other races use the “N-Word”.

Do we react like the Lakers, the Yankees or the Nets?

Tiger,

Dude, it was clear that you weren’t a player when you gave your side chicks your main cell number. Then you admitted to cheating. Why on earth did you do that? There are hit songs about never admitting to cheating! Now, even if your woman does want to stay, you’ve got to get rid of her.

If she did stay, the lesser of two evils would be that you’d lose respect for her. You’d wonder how she could know everything that she knows and still stick around. I mean, she ain’t Hillary Clinton. She ain’t running for president of Sweden in 4 years. So what’s her logic? Invariably, you’d start cheating on her again. She’s already shown that she won’t leave.

Of course, the more likely reason that she’d stay would be to light you up. Hope you didn’t have any enemies, dawg. I’ve read how you and Phil Mickelson ain’t exactly simpatico. You better hope he’s not the kind of guy that cheats on his wife. Otherwise, get used to picturing him and your wife in weird and compromising positions.

And forget about your enemies; what about your friends? I hope you don’t trust Michael Jordan farther than you can throw him! Your wife would be an upgrade over the kind of stuff I’ve seen Jordan trotting around with lately. And Barkley! Lord, please tell me that you don’t trust Charles Barkley!

Kobe Bryant’s about as simple-minded as you are and also about as talented. Don’t you remember how after Kobe got caught going backdoor commando in Colorado, his wife broke up the old Lakers by flirting with Karl Malone? You think she’s stopped flirting?

Your wife would be getting it in, my man, and here’s the worst part about that: she’d be totally justified!

And dude, the thing is; it wasn’t as if you were smart enough to have a fetish for Black girls or be secretly gay—two instances against which your wife would have been helpless. But you went after the same exact woman as your wife, again and again and again. And I’m not the biggest fan of the looks of one Ms. Elin Nordegren, but she is way hotter than all of your side-chicks. She’s gotta be furious.

The bottom line is, you should never ever ever ever cheat. But if you do and you don’t even have the decency to lie, you’ve gotta be the one to leave.

Your friend,

RK

Here’s why racism makes no sense: if left unchecked, it can obscure self-interest. For example, we all stand aghast at those mad citizens that suddenly pray for American sorrow just because a Black man is president. Similarly, I’d have been crazy to be pulling for LeBron or D Wade or Kevin Durant in last night’s NBA all-star game just because they’re Black like me. I had a more specific self-interest to look out for. We had a Knick in this year’s all-star game!

David Lee, in his 5^th year out of the University of Florida, is currently averaging 20ppg to go along with 11.4rpg. Lee has improved his scoring average every season since being drafted and he is the one New York Knick that is deservedly excluded from any trade talks.

Of course, I had to apply a little bit of self-administered racial back-patting just so that I could cheer more easily for my pale hero. I had to remind myself that it was the much maligned Isiah Thomas that brought our great, white David Lee to New York. Thomas’ taking Lee with the 30^th and final pick of the first round in the 2005 NBA draft secured the guy for us. David Lee is the first Knick to make an all-star team since we had both Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell on the East’s squad in 2001.

David Lee is the best player on the New York Knicks—and I’m a fan of Nate Robinson. We’d have been a playoff contender this year if those idiots D’Antoni and Walsh had taken Brandon Jennings with the 8^th pick instead of Jordan Hill. Brandon Jennings, taken by the Milwaukee Bucks with this year’s 10^th overall selection, should win the Rookie of the Year award (if Sacramento’s Tyreke Evans doesn’t). Jordan Hill barely gets off the bench.

Yes, I am a Knicks fan and the minute you finish laughing realize this: next year, we might get LeBron James. In the meantime, we still have David Lee.

Notes from around the game: Why did Usher perform? Who came up with the Bloods vs. Crips version of the uniforms with the Western all-stars wearing red and the Eastern all-stars wearing blue? Doesn’t one team normally wear white? Expect Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban to be fined for saying that this year’s all-star game will make last week’s Super Bowl “look like a Bar Mitzvah.” I’m sure they’re something racist about the way that Black men are being used in those Old Spice commercials and I intend to find out what it is as soon as I can stop laughing. By sitting out with a (wink! wink!) injury, Kobe was trying to be as cool as Kanye at last year’s BET Awards. You ain’t hurt, punk! I saw Gabrielle Union in the crowd! She was with some other chick, I think Carmelo Anthony’s fiancé Lala Vazquez. Shakira was ok. Why did Alicia Keys sing a retooled Empire State of Mind II in Dallas? Makes me wanna wear a Barack Obama T-shirt to a gathering of Tea Party Patriots. The Eastern Conference won the game 141-139. Dwyane Wade was named MVP.

Obama invited the team and Lamar Odom’s wife for a little meet and greet. See the photos below:

OPINION: If Kobe Ain’t Better Than Jordan, He’s The Closest One

LA Lakers Win 15th NBA Title

From the minute that he called himself a ‘Cablinasian’, I knew there was something wrong with that dude. Not only is ‘Cablinasian’ a made up word and nuttier than if he had called himself, say, a ‘Martian’ (something I’ve actually heard of), it’s also misleading and even by his own definition, well, wrong.

The word itself is supposed to represent Tiger Woods in all of his diverse ethnicity. The ‘ca’ part is for his Caucasian side, the ‘bl’ for his Blackness, the ‘in’ for the American Indian in him and the ‘asian’ represents his Asian heritage. The problem is that with a Black father and a Thai mother, I can’t find a Caucasian or an Indian anywhere! Tiger, however, not only found the Caucasian in himself, but he put that part at the forefront of his identity.

The first thing you see when you look at the man on paper is the ‘ca’. The first (and possibly the only) thing you see when you look at the man in the flesh is the ‘bl’. And Bl people have had a pretty contentious relationship with the guy ever since he unfurled his own genotype.

And it’s too bad that Tiger’s a Cablinasian because if he’d been Black, he would have almost instinctively known what to do next, or he could have at least drawn inspiration and guidance from two of today’s greatest Black leaders: Kobe Bryant and R Kelly.

You see, instead of sitting around wasting money at a spa that’s supposed to be curing him of his ‘sex addiction’ (dig: when alcoholics get cured, they can never drink again; when drug addicts get cured, they can never do drugs again; what happens when sex addicts get cured?), Tiger could have followed the path of our great leaders and gone out and did what it was that made us love him (a stretch, I know) in the first place.

That’s right; after R Kelly’s sex scandal, he released The Chocolate Factory, one of the greatest R&B albums in recent history. After Kobe Bryant’s sex scandal, he played 6 straight seasons of MVP-caliber basketball, culminating in his Lakers winning last season’s NBA Championship. Tiger Woods just had a sex scandal that will probably end up costing him $300 million in payments to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Somebody better turn Black soon.

But maybe Tiger doesn’t need to be completely ‘Black’. Maybe he can get by with just being ‘Blaucinasian’.

Whatever the case, he needs to go out and win some golf tournaments. And then afterwards, he should serve the fried chicken.

During the first decade of the new millennium, people had a lot of trouble keeping it in their pants, in their bras, and off of videotape. Cheaters, abusers, and other lewd activity-perpetrators ran rampant. Without further ado, here are the top 10 sex scandals of 2000 – 2009.

1. Tiger Woods & Jamie Jungers, 2. Tiger Woods & Rachel Uchitel, 3. Tiger Woods & Jaimee Grubbs, 4. Tiger Woods & Kalika Moquin, 5. Tiger Woods & Mindy Lawton, 6. Tiger Woods & Cori Rist, 7. Tiger Woods & Holly Sampson, 8. Tiger Woods & Joslyn James, 9. Tiger Woods & Loredana Jolie, 10. Tiger Woods & Julie Postle

Honorable Mentions: Tiger Woods & Theresa Rogers, Tiger Woods & Unidentified cocktail waitress, Tiger Woods & Unidentified British TV presenter, Tiger Woods & Unidentified “sex-addicted cougar”

… Just kidding! Here’s the real list:

10 – Paris Hilton Sex Tape

In 2004 (back when leaked sex tapes were still a surprise) Paris Hilton’s ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon released footage of the pair having intimate relations. Hilton sued Salomon for making the tape public, but eventually settled out of court. The video, entitled “1 Night in Paris,” went on to claim the title of most rented release of 2005 and catapulted Paris Hilton’s already undeserved fame to even greater heights.

9 – Bill O’Reilly Sued For Sexual Harassment

A former producer of his show sued Bill O’Reilly for sexual harassment in 2004, alleging that he spoke to her about sexual fantasies, masturbation, and vibrators while sometimes seeming to pleasure himself. O’Reilly countersued for extortion, and the case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!

8 – Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Caught Exchanging Explicit Text Messages With Staffer

Sexting: Not just for tweens anymore. In early 2008 the Detroit Free Press revealed the existence of more than 14,000 text messages between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty. Kilpatrick and Beatty, both married to other people at the time, used their city-issued phones to communicate in graphic detail about about their affair. This, combined with Kilpatrick’s many legal troubles, led him to step down as mayor. For his other crimes – including obstruction of justice and assaulting a police officer – he faces 120 days in prison and 5 years of probation. Not sexy.

RELATED: Kwame Kilpatrick’s Scandalous Text Messages Revealed

7 – Nipplegate

During the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII in February of 2004, Justin Timberlake sang “I’m gonna have ya naked by the end of this song” during his duet with Janet Jackson. Apparently he meant it, because when he ripped off part of her bodice, Janet’s breast was revealed to the world (except for a strategically covered nipple). Nipplegate gave us the term “wardrobe malfunction,” and MTV, which co-produced the show alongside CBS, was banned from ever producing a halftime show again. To top it all off, CBS was fined a record $550,000 for indecency by the FCC.

6 – Mark Sanford “Hikes The Appalachian Trail”

The South Carolina governor had not been seen in public for some time in mid-2009 when his staff told media outlets Sanford was “hiking on the Appalachian Trail.” Apparently by “hiking” they meant “visiting his ‘soul mate’ Argentinian mistress.” An honest mistake, we’re sure.  Sanford’s infidelity was ultimately exposed, leading him to apologize during a rambling, teary-eyed press conference. Flying in the face the political wives’ “stand by your man” code of honor, Jenny Sanford has since filed for divorce.

5 – Tiger Woods Cheats On His Wife … A Lot

A late-night car accident over Thanksgiving weekend 2009 drew intense media scrutiny, leading to the revelation that Tiger had cheated on wife Elin with 14 different women (and counting). With all that’s been written about the golfer lately, there isn’t a whole lot left to say to Tiger except … C’mon son!

RELATED: ROUND-UP: Mistresses Tattle On Tiger With Technology

4 – Larry Craig “Has A Wide Stance” In Airport Bathroom

Craig was arrested in 2007 for lewd conduct when he sought sex from a male undercover officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom using well-known solicitation signals. Craig insisted upon his innocence, stating that he merely had a “wide stance” and that he had been picking up a piece of paper from the floor. This was of course the same Larry Craig who in 1989 pushed for more severe punishment of Representative Barney Frank for his involvement in a gay prostitution scandal.

3 – R. Kelly Charged With Child Pornography

R. Kelly has been roiled by several sex scandals. In 1995, he reportedly married the then 15-year-old Aaliyah, for whom he was a songwriter. The marriage was ultimately annulled, but that wasn’t the last we heard of Kelly’s alleged affinity for the Miley Cyrus set. In 2002, he was indicted on several counts of child pornography after a video was released of a man – purported to be him – having sex with an underage girl. His case finally went to trial in 2008, with the jury ruling Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts. The ill-advisedly self-described “Pied Piper of R&B” has since gone on to make more hit music, apparently forgiven by all his fans.

RELATED: Tavis Smiley Draws “Child Rape” Criticism For Publishing R. Kelly’s Book

2 – Kobe Bryant Accused Of Rape

In the summer of 2003 NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was arrested for the rape of a 19-year old hotel employee in Colorado. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied the assault allegation. The case was dropped after the accuser declined to testify in the trial, and a civil suit was settled out of court. Kobe lost several endorsement deals, but was able purchase his wife’s forgiveness with a $4 million diamond ring. Basketball fans are also back on his side thanks to his role in leading the Lakers to an NBA Championship in 2009.

1 – Priests In Catholic Church Sexually Abuse Young Boys

In 2001, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study that found that four percent of all priests who served in the U.S. from 1950 to 2002 faced some sort of sexual misconduct accusation. The Church was criticized when it emerged that some bishops had known about abuse allegations and failed to report them to police, instead merely reassigning accused priests. There are obviously about a million things wrong with this entire situation, but the sheer number of people affected and the church’s supposed position as a moral beacon combine to make this the biggest and most shocking sex scandal of the decade.

Check out more of NewsOne’s Best & Worst of 2009 and the Decade HERE.

I felt like I was re-watching the scene in Roots where Kunte Kinte is forced to accept that his new name will be “Toby” upon hearing that Michael Vick had actually thanked NFL commissioner Pete Goodell for reinstating him into the NFL after a 6 game suspension due to a dog fighting conviction.

As you might have read, I didn’t think Vick should have done a day in jail or spent a penny in fines because the dogs he fought were, after all, his dogs. Feel free to disagree, but for my money, the only contrary argument I’ll even entertain must come from a complete vegan (that includes fish) who opposes pet ownership on the grounds that all God’s creatures are born free.

We all know, however, this won’t be the case. The most vocal of Vick’s critics will surely be the guy pulling out of the McDonald’s parking lot with a McChicken for wifey, a Double Quarterpounder for himself and Spot chained up in the rain to a spike in the yard.

This guy’ll go to one of Vick’s games, order a bratwurst and curse Vick as an animal killer through a mouth full of dead meat.

Meanwhile, this guy-

has been accused of pulling a “Kobe” on a woman in a hotel room.

Two-time NFL champion and Super Bowl 43 MVP, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger allegedly raped a female hotel employee in Lake Tahoe, Nevada who was, in her words, “lured” into his room to fix his television set.

Roethlisberger’s alleged parting quote upon completing the deed was “If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!”

Roethlisberger hasn’t been suspended by the NFL nor should we expect him to be. He’s facing “allegations” and that’s the key word. These “allegations” are also coming from a woman-and as anyone knows, in America, if you’ve got enough money and your last name isn’t Tyson, you can do anything you want to women, including; make them fight.

Maybe that’s where Vick went wrong. He picked the wrong combatants.

Hate him or love him, anyone that knows basketball can attest to the fact that Kobe Bryant is currently the best player in the world. He is a ruthless assassin when it comes to the basketball court and he has the intangibles to finish games: It’s what puts him in the conversation of all time greats in NBA history.

Because of the embarrassing loss to the Boston Celtics last year, this season was the road to redemption for Mr. Bryant. So it was no secret that as the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic to win the NBA Championship, Kobe’s legacy was solidified. This title is Kobe’s fourth and, yes, the first one without Shaquille O’Neal.

So now that it’s in the record books and all is said and done, are we ready to put Kobe in the conversation with none other than Michael Jordan?

Throughout the last couple of decades, there have been many players hailed as the second-coming of Michael Jordan. From scrubs like Harold Minor aka “Baby Jordan” to players like Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill who had great careers but never quite lived up to the hype.

I personally think that LeBron James is well on his way but, unfortunately, he has no championships to show for it yet.

So that only leaves Kobe “Black Mamba” Bryant.

As we take a closer look, Kobe has 4 rings versus Jordan’s 6. Jordan has 5 MVP awards not including the Finals, compared to Kobe’s 1. Jordan averaged 30.1 points for his career, while Bryant is far behind with 25.

If you want look at stats, Kobe has a long way to go but anything is possible. At 30 years old Kobe has accomplished a lot and I foresee him playing at a competitive level for at least another 5-6 years. At age 30, Jordan had won 3 straight titles before retiring for the first time, so Kobe has the advantage in that category.

A lot people like to downplay Kobe’s first 3 rings, arguing that it wouldn’t have been possible without Shaq. To me, this is an unfair claim seeing as Jordan wasn’t exactly all alone either. Could Jordan have done it all without Scottie? I won’t completely doubt it, but Pippen was indeed an integral part of Jordan’s success.

Aside from stats, there is one comparison that is right on the money, and that is their determination to win. Kobe’s will to be number 1, along with the notion that he ran Phil and Shaq out of town all those years back, has given him a label of being selfish and narcissistic in the eyes of many. But when I look at Kobe, I see the same fire that I saw in Michael, and I say to myself, “This guy ain’t gonna lose.” It’s the same faith fans had in Jordan. The ferocity with which Kobe plays the game is a clear nod to his predecessor, Jordan.

So if you don’t think Kobe is anywhere near Michael Jordan’s legacy, exactly how far away is he?

The Lakers as a team are 2 titles away from Jordan and Bulls status. As far as individual accolades go, Kobe might get close but Jordan was a pioneer and is in a class of his own. In the end, it may be simply too much for Kobe to accomplish.

Something that can be overlooked in this argument is the legacy of other players not named Jordan. There are a bunch of guys like Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar that can easily claim the number 2 spot, as well as many others. If I had the difficult choice between the three individuals I’d have to put Magic in the number 2 spot.  Just the whole “Showtime” persona and endless highlight reels of flashy passes and sky hooks is enough for me. Being a versatile 6’8 point guard with the unique ability to play all 5 positions is just unheard of.

Before Kobe can be compared with Jordan does he match against Magic first? From a statistical aspect maybe, seeing that Magic averaged 20 points for his career but averaging 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds is in his favor. Magic managed to win 5 championships in his career, which beats Kobe’s current total by 1. If Kobe has not completely eclipsed Magic’s career yet, I don’t think he is too far away. Magic’s legacy will always be remembered because of his uncanny abilities on the floor and what he did for the Lakers organization.

So, do I think that Kobe will ever surpass Michael Jordan’s career? Absolutely not. Do I think he will ever be better than Jordan? No way. I don’t know if anybody will. But I do know that Kobe is the closest heir apparent that my eyes have seen and he has earned my respect. If people think it’s disrespectful to compare him to Jordan, I’m okay with that opinion. But what happens when Kobe manages to win a couple more championships? What then? Will people still be in denial because they don’t want to believe the fact that anyone has reached the plateau of “His Air-ness”?

Records were meant to be broken and I feel that no one man is meant to stand-alone forever. Sooner or later someone will come along that deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence of greatness. Whether it is Kobe, LeBron, or some young kid just picking up a basketball today, who knows? But, whoever that individual is will spark competitive debate for years to come.

Dear Kobe,

You suck. You make me a hypocrite cause I used to say that nobody who won a championship could suck but— there you go. I couldn’t even watch the game. I passed out. When I woke up, you were covered in grease, wearing one of those stupid hats, holding the Larry O’Brien trophy and talking to one of those bozos on ESPN. It was like seeing Darth Vader wearing a swastika armband giving the American Presidential Inaugural address in the voice of Bobcat Goldthwait—everything about it was wrong.

Before you came into the league, I was like, “I don’t like this guy.” You were taking Brandy to your prom and had your face all tight like you were carrying liquid explosives in a cocktail glass. I was thinking, “All right, dog. That’s good for you. You got Brandy, now leave us alone.”

But no.

Then you shot airballs and lost in your first playoff series against the Jazz and I was like, “Ha! Iverson’s better.” Then you started winning. I attributed it to Shaq. Guilty of post-coital rape of a hotel clerk in Denver cause you made her feel like a fool after the fact and what’d you do? You blamed Shaq! What did Shaq have to do with it, dog? You still ain’t answer that one. Then you ran Shaq out of town.

Don’t let me sound like a lunatic here, though. I never fronted on your skills. I always admitted to your superfan, N’Gai Croal, who’s probably watching porn right now in his Laker jersey and calling the male star Kobe (I don’t wanna suggest what else he’s doing) that I’d take you on the Knicks in a heartbeat. I even named a character after you in that book that I self-published and that only my closet friends and family bought. Trust me dog, that Kobe is NOT the hero.

But in fairness, this win moves you onto my own personal Top Ten All-Time list. You and Clyde Frazier come off the bench behind Jordan and Magic and while there’s not too much of a drop off in scoring, my defense actually improves.

I ain’t ever gonna like you, dog.

But congratulations.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Kobe Bryant jumped and punched the air. He did it again, seven years of pent up frustration freed in a fit of joy.

This was the one he wanted more than all the others.

The one to top them all.

One year after failing miserably in the finals against Boston, Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers found redemption. They finished a season they felt was theirs with a 99-86 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night in Game 5 to win the 15th NBA title in franchise history.

For Bryant, this was the missing piece from his resume, his fourth championship and first without former teammate Shaquille O’Neal.

“I don’t have to hear that criticism, that idiotic criticism anymore,” said Bryant, the finals MVP. “It was annoying.”

For Lakers coach Phil Jackson, this was title No. 10, moving him past legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach for the most by a coach in league history.

“I’ll smoke a cigar in honor of Red,” Jackson said. “He was a great guy.”

For Pau Gasol. For Derek Fisher. For Lamar Odom. For Trevor Ariza and for Andrew Bynum and the rest of the Lakers, this was a title to savor.

“It’s a dream come true,” Gasol said. “The completion of a goal.”

Odom scored 17 points, Ariza had 15, Gasol 14 and 15 rebounds, and Fisher, whose two big 3s in Game 4 saved L.A., had 13 points.

It took longer than Bryant expected, but he has stepped from O’Neal’s enormous shadow — at last.

Bryant averaged 32.4 points, 7.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds and more than a dozen cold-blooded glares per game. He wasn’t out to make friends in these finals, he was out for redemption. Throughout the playoffs, he didn’t smile. He just snarled and bared his teeth.

“I was just completely locked in,” he said. “I was grumpy for a while and now I’m just ecstatic, like a kid in a candy store.”

O’Neal, who won three titles with Bryant before the pair had a major falling out, was glad to see his former teammate win another.

“Congratulations kobe, u deserve it,” O’Neal said on his Twitter page. “You played great. Enjoy it my man enjoy it.”

Bryant and Jackson, whose relationship strained and briefly snapped under the weight of success, are again at the top of their games.

Together.

Following the game, the pair shared a long embrace.

Jackson, who once called Bryant “a selfish player” now sees the 30-year-old in a far different light.

“He’s learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him,” Jackson said. “That’s really important for him to have learned that because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he’s become a giver rather than just a guy that’s a demanding leader. That’s been great for him and great to watch.”

After the final horn, Bryant and his teammates bounced around the floor of Amway Arena. Moments later, Bryant swept his two daughters, both wearing gold Lakers dresses, into his arms.

It was just as he dreamed.

“It finally felt like a big old monkey was off my back,” he said. “It felt so good to be able to have this moment. For this moment to be here and to reflect back on the season and everything that you’ve been through, it’s top of the list, man.”

Bryant had come up short twice in the finals before, in 2004 with O’Neal against Detroit, and again last season against the Celtics in the renewal of the league’s best rivalry. The Lakers were beaten in six games, losing the finale in Boston by 39 points, a humiliating beatdown that Bryant and his teammates had trouble shaking.

They went to training camp with one goal in mind. This was going to be their season, and except for a few minor missteps, it was.

In the locker room afterward, Bryant made sure Jackson got a champagne shower.

“He took his glasses off, threw his head back and soaked it all in because this is a special time,” Bryant said. “For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us.”

Orlando will be haunted by moments in a series that swung on a few plays and had two overtime games.

After losing Game 1 by 25 points, the Magic had their chance in Game 2 but rookie Courtney Lee missed an alley-oop layup in the final second of regulation. In Game 4, Dwight Howard clanged two free throws with 11.1 seconds, and the Magic allowed Derek Fisher to nail a game-tying 3-pointer to force OT.

Howard, the Magic’s superhero center, was hardly a factor in Game 5. He scored 11 points and took just nine shots. Rashard Lewis scored 18 points, but was only 3 of 12 on 3s for Orlando, which after living on the 3, finally died by it.

The Magic went just 8 of 27 from long range.

When the game ended, Howard didn’t move. As his teammates headed to the locker room, Howard stayed on Orlando’s bench and watched as the Lakers celebrated on the Magic’s floor. Jameer Nelson, Orlando’s point guard who came back for the finals after missing four months with a shoulder injury, finally joined him

The two sat stunned.

“What I just told Jameer is look at it, just see how they’re celebrating,” Howard said. “It should motivate us to want to get in the gym, want to get better.”

Orlando was trying to become the first team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals. They had rallied to knock off Philadelphia and Boston, and then upset LeBron James and Cleveland in the conference finals. The Magic always felt they had a shot at history.

Bryant, though, wouldn’t be denied his place.

“They had an answer,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said, “for everything.”

Like him or not, until the ascension of Weezy in 2008, Jay-Z had been the titular “Best MC in the Game” for an astonishing 11 years. His reign began in 1997 with the death of the Notorious B.I.G. who had taken the reigns from Snoop in ‘95, who himself had come to power after that contentious period between 1986-1992 when the crown went back and forth regularly between Rakim and KRS-One, with Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and LL Cool J all staking legitimate claims.

But then I turned on the radio Friday evening and heard Mr. Cee and Funkmaster Flex cackling like two geriatrics that had just discovered internet porn. Turns out, each of these two get a shout-out in Jay-Z’s latest song. Since they’ve also got some scores to settle of their own, they seem to figure that Hov’s latest is just the cover they needed to get behind for them to begin firing wildly.

In Jay-Z’s newest song, D.O.A., or Death of Autotune, Hov uses his status as a trend-setter and tastemaker to attempt to end the latest trend run amok, rappers and singers who use Autotune; that infuriating voice altering device, first brought to the surface by Peter Frampton, which makes everybody sound like Roger Troutman on crack. T-Pain, today’s standard bearer of the device’s usage, gets a special mention (well, diss) in the song as well.

It’s a good song. The lyrics are vintage Jay, and the No I.D. track is steady with occasional flashes of the spectacular. But will it work?

Sure, Jay saying that “I don’t wear jerseys, I’m 30 plus” ended the trend of grown men running around impersonating sports stars and his throwaway lyric, “I guess I got my swagger back” started the runaway usage of a word that was never even clearly defined as complimentary. We can attribute “ass-bet”, “real talk” and a host of others to him and his crew, but the difference this time seems to be that while those other culture-altering phenomenon were organic, never before has Hov attempted something so clearly contrived. Added to the risk involved is that Jay’s own label-mate, protégé and the Kobe to his Jordan—Kanye West—is completely addicted to Autotune.

Sounds like the old man’s gone off his meds.

]]> http://newsone.com/entertainment/rk-byers/opinion-grumpy-old-men-jay-z-and-his-geezer-friends-lodge-a-formal-complaint/feed/ 43 http://newsone.com/entertainment/sports-entertainment/uzo-ometu/opinion-no-matter-who-wins-the-nba-finals-shaq-loses/ http://newsone.com/entertainment/sports-entertainment/uzo-ometu/opinion-no-matter-who-wins-the-nba-finals-shaq-loses/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:57:38 +0000 Uzo Ometu http://newsone.com/?p=200631 Shaquille O’Neal may be the most charismatic athlete in the history of sports. However, a product of being charismatic is being an engaging speaker. In order to be engaging, one... Read more..]]>

Shaquille O’Neal may be the most charismatic athlete in the history of sports. However, a product of being charismatic is being an engaging speaker. In order to be engaging, one must say something of substance and/or “shock value.” Shaquille O’Neal often goes the route of shock jock and usually wins over anybody who is listening. However, some of his most recent “shock jock” statements may have finally come back to bite him in the butt.

Biggest big-man ever. The Diesel. MVP Winner. Four-time NBA Championship Winner. Yes, Shaq has all of the credentials, and he has won just about every thing there is to win in his profession. However, this year, he won’t win his battle of the words with either Kobe Bryant or Stan Van Gundy.

As many of you all know, Shaq had the pleasure of singing a not so pleasant tune about Kobe last summer. I believe the lyrics went something like, “Kobe, tell me how my a** taste.” As charming as that historic video of Shaq ripping Kobe was, his ridicule of Kobe’s inability to win an NBA championship without him is now coming back at Shaq full-force. Because little did Shaq know, Kobe Bryant would be headed right back to the NBA Finals, and this time, it is looking like he is indeed going to take home the trophy.

Of course, Shaq has ripped other people over his career, including, but not limited to, Phil Jackson, the Sacramento “Queens,” Vlade Divac, the Los Angeles Lakers, and Eric Dampier.

However, Shaq’s latest victim, Stan Van Gundy, the coach of the Orlando Magic, is now coaching in the NBA Finals. Shaq called Van Gundy a front-runner and the “master of panic”; two phrases that no coach should ever be attached to. And not only did Shaq call him that, but he essentially got the entire sports world to debate and analyze just how much of a “Master of Panic” Stan Van Gundy actually is. However, it may be Van Gundy who gets the last laugh. If he can win an NBA Championship, he will undoubtedly put Shaq in his place. And believe me, it is not beyond Van Gundy to put players and the media in their place, as he did with a 76ers player earlier in the playoffs, and as he scoffed at the media after beating the Boston Celtics.

So no matter who wins this year’s NBA Finals, it appears as if Shaq will come out the loser. I guess the only question is, which outcome hurts Shaq less? The answer may be not so hidden in Shaq’s recent Twitter message where he claims that he is rooting for Kobe Bryant to win his fourth championship. Given the type of disdain that Kobe and Shaq have exhibited for one another over the years, that says a lot about just how much Shaq hates a Master of Panic.

Shaq’s Top 10 Quotes

Nah, there’s no Jay-Z music here, just a stringent NBA Finals Prediction. For those of you who haven’t already seen my prediction on TheSportsWatchers.com, low and behold, I am going with the Los Angeles Lakers over the Orlando Magic in six games.

Of course, I also picked Cleveland to beat Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals, so you can take my prediction for what it is: an educated guess. However, I do have good reason to believe that the Lakers will win the 2009 NBA Championship. Here are a few of them:

~Dwight Howard Can’t Have It Both Ways. For most of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Howard was an absolute beast. Even if he didn’t end the game with a staggering amount of points, he usually had 14+ rebounds and whole lot of altered shots. And while his defense and rebounding will continue to be there in the NBA Finals, his offensive game won’t come as easy.

Against the likes of Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Joe Smith and Ben Wallace, Howard dominated. The fact is , he is both stronger and quicker than all 4 of those guys. However, in matching Howard up with the Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, he doesn’t have both of those advantages. Pau Gasol is quicker than Dwight Howard, and if you don’t believe me, take a look back at their matchup in the Olympics last summer. As for Andrew Bynum, he is big enough to match up with Howard’s strength. Howard might have a little bit of a first step on Bynum, but he won’t be able to go through his chest like he did Varejao, Ilgauskas and the rest of the Cavs frontline.

So expect Howard to have to work a lot harder for his points. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few charge calls thrown Howard’s way, as he has to prepare to be a little more versatile than he was in the Eastern Conference Finals.

~Umm, Kobe Bryant can shoot. Not to say that Kobe is better than LeBron James, because I don’t think that he is, but the fact that he is a better shooter will make him a difficult cover for the Magic. If the Magic are going into Game 1 thinking they can play Kobe the same way they played LeBron, they are going to give up 40 points tonight. They will have to make a serious adjustment if they want to stop the Black Mamba.

That adjustment will have to involve forcing Kobe into the middle of paint. When guarding LeBron, that’s the last thing you want to do, but against Kobe, you can’t afford to give him the jump shot, so you have to make him put the ball on the floor. Of course, this would be great if Kobe had the type of frontline that the 76ers, Celtics or Cavs had. Then he wouldn’t have any options and would be forced to try to score over Defensive MVP Dwight Howard. However, this ain’t the Eastern Conference anymore, and Kobe has 3 really good options in the frontcourt, including Lamar Odom, Bynum and Gasol. The Magic are going to have to find a way to rotate back to those guys quickly, as Howard goes for blocks on Kobe. If the Magic can’t recover, this could be a very short series.

~Jameer Nelson is playing, but he won’t be ballin’. A lot of people look back at the two regular season wins for the Magic over the Lakers, and point to those games as reason to believe that this series will be close. However, many fail to remember that Jameer Nelson was the reason the Magic were able to beat the Lakers on 2 different occasions. Sure, Nelson is said to be in line for a few minutes a game this series, but I don’t care how many minutes he gets, he can’t just show up for the NBA Finals (the highest level of basketball in the world) after 4 months with no NBA in-game action and expect to be effective.

Nelson averaged 27.5 points against the Lakers in the Magic’s two wins during the regular season, mainly because, as we have seen in the playoffs, Derek Fisher can’t stay in front of a Mack Truck. Nelson’s replacement, Rafer Alston is a “slashing” type of point guard as well, but he is much less adept at being an efficient scorer with his pull-up jumper, and I don’t know that he is necessarily quick enough to blow by Fisher.

The lack of Nelson in the lineup really hurts the Magic. His 27 points will be missed, and I don’t know that those points will be easily replaced—if they are replaced at all.

-Lamar Odom can matchup with Rashard Lewis. Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu killed the Cavs last series. Mike “Coach of the Year” Brown failed to put LeBron on either of them, which allowed them to alternate subsequently killing the Cavs from the perimeter. However, the Lakers can put Ariza on Hedo, and with Lamar’s 6’10” frame, he is a great counter to Rashard Lewis’s perimeter ability from the power forward position.

I personally think Lamar Odom is the key to this series (and some others sort of agree with me), because if he can outplay Rashard Lewis, I don’t think there is any stopping the Lakers. And he should outplay Lewis, because he is the better player. In fact, someone should tell Lamar that Rashard Lewis is making max-contract money, and that he isn’t, despite being a better rebounder, passer, and more efficient scorer than Lewis.

However, there is one caveat to that. Lamar Odom doesn’t always show up to the arena. Sometimes we get the 19 and 7 game from Odom, and sometimes we get the 5 and 4 game from Lamar. Fortunately for him, Lewis doesn’t always show up. Thus, whichever one of these skilled-big men decides to show up the most this series is likely to take home an NBA Championship trophy.

There you have it. That is my NBA Finals Prediction…what’s yours?

Some would argue that the last two years have been the best of Kobe Bryant’s life. You see, a few years ago all the stars seemed aligned against Bryant. His image was in tatters after rape charges in 2004. It looked as if he were destined to a life as one of those tragic Shakespearian figures we sadly hear about in sports.

No championships have transpired since the nasty breakup more than a half decade ago. And I’m not talking about his wife either, because they’re still together. I’m talking about the one where Shaq talked his way out of Los Angeles, only to end up in that other warm destination called Miami.

Without the “Big Fella,” the Lakers were mired in mediocrity, while Shaq would go on to win another championship with the Heat and cement his legacy as one the greatest big men to ever play the game.

This is when life became rather interesting, as the questions began to flow. Will Bryant ever be able to win without Shaq? Is he capable of leading one of the most storied franchises in all of sports back to the promise land? Will he ever learn how to play team basketball? Is he a true champion? Eventually frustrations boiled over and Bryant demanded his way out of LA, only to be told he wasn’t going anywhere.

I once heard that “Luck is when God moves anonymously in your favor” – because what happened next was surely an act of divine intervention.

The evolution and rebirth of one of the game’s greatest players was about to happen. After the fiasco in Colorado, Bryant was no longer the young, arrogant 17-year-old kid out Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania. The tantrums. Gone. The nasty attitudes. Gone. The number 8. Gone.

He would don a new number, 24, change sneaker companies, become a loving father and give himself a deadly nickname, “Black Mamba,” which is the most poisonous animal in the world.

In the midst of it all, Bryant crawled under a rock as a friend mine says you must do, when things are not quite going your way. Bryant would take on a “Ghost Dog” persona, while his image slowly began to change. He avoided public appearances and put all of his energy into winning basketball games.

The Bible says “Faith without works is dead.” Bryant eventually found redemption. Lamar Odom would evolve into Kobe’s Scottie Pippen, a different version of Batman’s Robin. Every great player needs a great wingman. Odom who had been criticized for most of his career had finally found a home and a purpose. He too had become accepted.

In 2007 Los Angeles stole Pau Gasol from Memphis. I said stole, because it certainly wasn’t a trade. Can you name one player from that trade? I thought so. Unless you want to talk about that former worthless number one pick, Kwame Brown.  Let’s move on. That’s what I mean by divine intervention.

Bryant would go on to win the league’s MVP and the Lakers reached the NBA Finals in 2008, only to lose in six games to the Boston Celtics. The endorsers have returned and he and his family look happier than ever. Bryant has grown up.

So here we are. With LeBron James shockingly out of the picture the stars have seemed to realign in Bryant’s favor. Has God forgiven him? Or is this just a bad joke as the Lakers prepare to win their 15th title, Bryant’s fourth, against a young, hungry and dangerous Orlando Magic franchise, ready to slay a team many picked to win the NBA championship some nine months ago. Is Dwight Howard a heavenly joke for both James and Bryant? Needless to say, Bryant’s legacy is on the line.

If he is to be mentioned in the same breath as Wilt, Magic, Bird, Jordan, Russell and even Isiah Thomas – he has to win. If Bryant wins, makeover completed. Every now and then we have to reinvent ourselves, it’s a part life. As they say, “focus or fold” and “win or go home.”

Lakers in six.

As the NBA Playoffs began, there has been one question that has sparked debate and virtually a divide between NBA fans around the world. Who’s better, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James? With a daily onslaught of advertisements, funny commercials, and constant ESPN coverage, as the NBA Finals steadily approach there is no secret that everyone wants to see Kobe and LeBron go head to head in the NBA Finals. And hey why not? LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are arguably the best two players in the league and the most popular for that matter. Both have won MVP awards with Kobe winning in 08 and LeBron in 09. Now the two adversaries are vying for the coveted NBA championship, as Kobe still hasn’t proved he can win without Shaq and LeBron is out to prove he is indeed the best player in the NBA.

But the question here is, how much hype is too much? It is clear that the NBA as an organization wants to see this match up, and by all means needs it. Aside from the Boston and LA match up from a year ago, the NBA has seen a decrease in viewers in the past 5 years. So why not milk this highly publicized battle of two basketball icons to help revenues and ratings? Before all else, the NBA is strictly in the business of making money and Kobe versus LeBron is exactly what they need to spark the interest of fans once again. The NBA can’t lose; it’s a P.R gold mine. That is why the barrage of NBA commercials will continue until this prophecy is fulfilled.

Unfortunately, not everyone is happy with all the Kobe and LeBron talk, especially the two teams that they are facing currently. The Denver Nuggets or “Thuggets” as many call them and the Orlando Magic both feel disrespected in the matter. Many players from both sides have expressed their disgust in the love affair that no one can stop talking about. The Orlando Magic players say that they are tired of seeing all the LeBron “Chosen One” commercials and actually use it as motivation to play even harder. I personally love those LeBron puppet commercials they are hilarious! Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin may have said it best when he said “We’ve got a fight on our hands and the Cavs have a fight on their hands,” he said. “Everyone just thought us and Orlando were going to go down so they can play. But that ain’t going to happen. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Go play NBA Live if you want to see that match-up.” While Martin does make a very valid point, nobody thinks that L.A and Cleveland are going to breeze on through to the Finals but after all they are the leagues best two teams. K-Mart is a very good player, but honestly, does anyone want to see a Kenyon Martin and Hedo Turkoglu match up in the Finals? I for one really don’t think so!

As of game 4 in the Eastern Conference Finals, all the built up hype has not favored LeBron and his Cavs as they find themselves trailing 3 games to 1 in their series against Orlando. While I do think the series is far from over, could it be that everyone prematurely crowned King James as the next best thing, without him winning anything? Has the NBA public been so blind and amazed by the one-man circus that we lost touch of the fundamentals it takes to win a championship? In this case, I really think so. With that being said, LeBron’s teammates have not helped him much against Orlando and we all know one man cannot do it by himself. It is for that reason, I am afraid we may not see him make the Finals, unless there is a big turnaround.

There is a lot of pressure on LeBron to deliver and it may be entirely too much. Kobe Bryant barely has as much pressure on him because he’s had 5 Finals appearances triumphing in 3. His resume speaks for itself. But, LeBron hasn’t won anything and he’s already been deemed the second coming of Mr. Michael Jordan. Let’s remember one thing, before Jordan was called the best of all time, he had to earn his stripes with killer instinct, an endless amount of clutch moments, and above all else 6 championships. Those are all intangibles that LeBron James has the potential to achieve but definitely hasn’t accomplished yet. But the future is clearly very bright for the 24-year-old James, seeing that Jordan did not win his first championship until he was 28 years old. But even as great as Jordan was, he always had help from a collective team of contributors. Whether it was Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, or Steve Kerr, somebody stepped up when Jordan needed help. The problem with the Cavaliers is they are really lacking a Scottie Pippen like talent that can assist LeBron in crunch time. Without that missing piece, it will be very hard for King James to win an NBA title.

Whether or not you love the Kobe and LeBron hype, or are completely sick of it, you must admit, there has not been this much excitement for a NBA Finals match up since the historic rivalry of Magic and Bird. But more importantly, lets not hand the crown to someone who has not completely earned it.

For yet one more round of NBA Playoffs, the NBA world can continue to dream: a Kobe and LeBron NBA finals matchup remains a very strong possibility.

This is what we want. The 2 best players, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, in the NBA playing against each other on the world’s biggest stage. Cleveland fans think they have the next Michael Jordan. Lakers fans think Kobe is King. And even Vitamin Water can’t help but stay out of the “Great Debate.”

Yesterday’s two game sevens made the thinkable one-step closer to becoming a reality. First, the Lakers pounded the Houston Rockets in Los Angeles, 89-70. The Rockets were just overmatched. LA’s big men, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, finally stepped up with two stellar performances against a team playing with a 6’9” power forward at the center position. Kobe Bryant himself did not have to do much, scoring just 14 points with 5 assists, as he got an all-around effort from his team, including one of his backcourt mates, Sasha Vujacic. The Lakers were up by 10 points after the first quarter, and then up by 20 going into the half. They never looked back, as the Rockets could not even muster up a 20-point quarter until Aaron Books hit one last 3-pointer to give the Rockets 20 points at the end of the 4th quarter.

As for the nightcap, the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic squared off at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts Sunday night. With the Magic on the road, not many thought they could come away with a victory. But they defied the historical odds against them, and took it to the Celtics right from the beginning. Orlando led 27-17 after a first quarter that included a multitude of uncontested dunks by Dwight Howard. Michael Pietrus, who in my opinion is one of the most underrated players in the league, scored a surprising 17 points off the bench on only 7 shots. And Hedo Turkoglu, who with the exception of one game in these NBA Playoffs has been a tremendous disappointment to his team, came up with his best performance of the postseason, scoring 25 points while dealing out 12 assists against the Celtics. The game ended in a rout, with Orlando beating Boston 101-82.

The ends of those games and series couldn’t have gone any better for our hopes of a Kobe-LeBron NBA Finals matchup. First, it is obvious that the Lakers needed to win that game in order to stay alive in the playoffs. However, you also have to account for the fact that perhaps their series against the Rockets gave the Lakers a wake-up call, so that they will really put it all on the table when they face the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.

In the East, the Orlando Magic would be the team I want to face, strategically speaking, if I’m LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. I know Boston is without Kevin Garnett, but Cleveland is a team built around perimeter players, and I think the experience of Boston’s perimeter players could give the Cavs more of a test than the perimeter players for the Magic. That being said, the Cavs facing Orlando is really the easier series for them, because Orlando is one of the worst coached teams in basketball. They execute poorly, their best player is rarely the player who has the most shots at the end of the game, and they don’t play at a tempo favorable to their style of play. A well-coached, well-oiled machine like the Cavs have to be salivating at the prospect of playing this unsystematic squad of athletes that could barely beat a KG-less Celtics team.

So all things look good as we enter the second to last round of the playoffs. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will square off against their conference foes for now, but in 14 days (or less), we could have the matchup we wanted (and that I have been predicting) before the 2009 NBA postseason was even a thought.

Spike Lee went through the ESPN Car Wash promoting his film, “Kobe Doin’ Work”, yesterday. I suppose he is the first major motion film director to go through the car wash, and I also imagine that he’ll be the only major motion film director to do so. And after seeing his film about “a game in the life of Kobe,” I imagine this will be the last piece of work he does on ESPN’s dime.

I love Spike Lee, and I love ESPN. The marriage of the two entities seemed destined for greatness. When I was watching the film’s “game of choice” between the Spurs and Lakers last season, I was 100% ecstatic to hear that Spike Lee was doing a piece on Kobe and I could not wait to see what would come of it.

Spike is known for doing some outlandish stuff in his movies. First of all, he is a cinematographic genius, and he really can change the perception of a scene, character or purpose with any one of the hundreds of unique angles, graphic effects and cinematic techniques that he has used over the course of his career.

Secondly, Spike is the master of addressing the issues that few other directors touch on. Sure, Spielberg talks about genocide, and Allen talks about the perils of love, but Spike talks about what’s real and what’s now. When he brings up racism in his films, his characters do not just experience it, they embody it. When he brings up sex and love, he doesn’t just explore the perils of monogamy, he explores the perils of not being monogamous.

Lastly, Spike is a terrific storyteller. Have you ever meet somebody who told stories in a roundabout fashion, seemingly with no rhyme or rhythm to their tale, only to hear the end of the narrative and became convinced it was the best story you have ever heard in your life? That is Spike Lee. His movies come across off-topic at first, only to convince the viewer that it is not his movie that is off topic, but it is the viewer himself who is off topic. He makes his audience see things a in a new light, that can turn a story about a hot day in Brooklyn into one of the greatest social archetype flicks of all time.

That—and more—is what makes Spike Lee a tremendous film director and thinker beyond his time. That being said, very little of those aspects were found in his documentary about Kobe Bryant.

I know it’s a lot to ask of a guy to make this grand biopic about a guy when you’re locked into the timeframe of a 48 minute basketball game. But I thought, if anyone could do it, it was Spike Lee. I also thought, if it could not be done, than Spike would not take this project on. Needless to say, I was wrong on at least one of those accounts.

As I said before, Spike is a master of touching on deeper social issues. Of course, Kobe is not the Plato of our generation, but he is an icon in our society, and clearly his own thoughts about his place in basketball, society, and maybe even just on his own team, would all be worthy points of discussion, but the film touches on none of that. Then there is the obvious thing we all want Kobe to elaborate more on, which was the whole Colorado debacle, but Spike didn’t even go near that topic—not even so much a question regarding how he has grown individually and with his family since that dubious event. And Spike didn’t dare bring up the LeBron-Kobe debate. Some insight on what Kobe thought about LeBron, or at least what it was like to play against LeBron and MJ, would have been nice, but it wasn’t in the film. Heck, I would have settled for a conversation about what Kobe hopes to accomplish in his remaining years as an NBA player.

Remember how I said Spike was a master storyteller as well? Well, not so much in this film. “Kobe Doing Work” is basically 80-something minutes of Kobe talking over footage of a basketball game. There is no plot, there is no story to tell, and there is no underlying meaning Spike is trying to drive home. It is more or less like sitting through a poorly-written, sitcom version of a basketball film session, only the lead character (Kobe) isn’t the least bit funny. Occasionally, Kobe tries to make a joke or two about giving Kurt Thomas a hard time, which I’m sure is funny if your name is Kobe Bryant or you have a really big soft spot for guards bouncing off power forwards. And as great as Kobe is, let’s face it, he won’t be doing play-by-play for the Lakers after he retires. He has one of the most monotonous voices—which is high criticism coming from me, someone with a no inflection in my voice whatsoever. The film would have been better off if it were narrated by one-time ESPN reporter Stephen A. Smith. Too bad they let him go, huh?

I will give Spike some credit for at least bringing some of his great cinematography work to this film. He does a nice couple of ultra-slow-photo shots that are pretty unique. However, they don’t really add to anything or give the audience any new perspective that say a really good Nike commercial wouldn’t give you.

So when “Kobe Doin’ Work” airs on ESPN this Saturday, don’t get too overly excited about it. It’s really not an Oscar-worthy film. Which is probably why they are airing it on television—then again, it’s not exactly “Must See TV” either. However, if you’re a sports fan, it’s kind of a “must see” for you, if not solely for the purpose of being able to talk about the film in the future. And at least you can rest your hat on the fact that it does not come across as some kind of homage to the Lakers or any other team—so Sacramento Kings fans, you can watch this too. At its core, the film is really just a look inside the head of Kobe Bryant. Unfortunately, it only gets skin deep, which is to be expected, given that skin-deep is about a deep as Kobe has ever let the public see him.

Unstoppable at both ends of the floor this season, LeBron James claimed the league MVP on Monday, receiving the award in the high school gym where he first made his name.

The Cleveland Cavaliers star won what some expected to be a close vote in a slam dunk. He received 109 of a possible 121 first-place votes to easily outdistance Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. James totaled 1,172 points in balloting by media members in the U.S. and Canada.

Bryant, last year’s winner, got two first-place votes and finished with 698 points. Miami guard Dwyane Wade was third with 680 points and was named first on seven ballots. Orlando center Dwight Howard (328) was fourth followed by New Orleans guard Chris Paul (192).

James is the first Cavaliers player to win the award. He averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists this season, his sixth as a pro. He also finished second in voting for defensive player of the year, making him perhaps the league’s most dominant two-way player since Michael Jordan.

At 24 years, 106 days on the final day of the regular season, James is the youngest player to win the award since Moses Malone (24 years, 16 days) in 1978-79. Wes Unseld was 23 when he won it in 1968-69.

Check Out Lebron James Top 10 Plays From the 2008-2009 Season

At 24 years, 106 days on the final day of the regular season, James is the youngest player to win the award since Moses Malone (24 years, 16 days) in 1978-79. Wes Unseld was 23 when he won it in 1968-69.

James vied all season for MVP honors with the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and Miami’s Dwyane Wade. The three played on the U.S. gold medalist Olympic team last summer and seemed to upstage each other nightly.

“He deserved it,” Wade said. ” I said all year, I thought LeBron was the MVP of this league. He’s a guy who every year is going to be in that conversation. … He showed it all year, especially with his team’s success.”

Is this guy the next Lebron James?

Lebron James Gallery

Focused right from the start, the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James sharpened his already formidable skills this season.

He started a career-high 81 games and set personal bests in field-goal (49) and free-throw (79) percentages as well as blocks (93). James became the second player to post five straight seasons of at least 27 points, six rebounds and six assists. The other is Oscar Robertson, whose extraordinarily versatile game is the one James’ is most often compared.

James nearly averaged a triple-double — 32 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists — as the top-seeded Cavaliers breezed through the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Detroit Pistons in four games. Cleveland will host the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 on Tuesday.

It’s no surprise James would select his high school for the ceremony. It’s where he won three state basketball championships and where he burst onto the national scene, becoming a Sports Illustrated cover subject at just 17 years old. He announced plans to skip college in the Fighting Irish’s quaint gym and recently filmed a “60 Minutes” interview there, where his retired No. 23 jersey hangs on a wall.

A few days after the Cavaliers were eliminated in last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals, losing a Game 7 in Boston, James got back in the gym.

Despite scoring 45 points in the finale, James didn’t feel he had done enough to get his team past the Celtics. So he went to work. He spent endless hours at the Cavaliers’ training facility working on his jump shot, which has never looked better or been more accurate. He practiced finishing at the rim with his left hand, making him nearly impossible to stop inside.

James also began lifting weights like never before, adding muscle to his considerable frame. Then, once he began working out with the Olympic team, James set out to refine his defensive game and became an elite stopper, often guarding the other team’s best player — regardless of position.

In a league of remarkable athletes, James, with his package of power and speed, may well stand alone.

“His leaping ability with his strength and explosion, he’s by himself,” said Cavaliers assistant coach Chris Jent, who spent most of last summer working with James. “We don’t have anyone in the league like him. Baseline to baseline he has to be the fastest or one of the fastest guys ever, and he can do it with the ball.

“And then once he gets there, his jumping is up there — maybe by himself. That combination along with his mental attitude and aggressiveness make him unguardable.”

Just 2 days after Kobe Bryant set a Madison Square Garden records by scoring 61 points against the New York Knicks, Lebron James had an equally outstanding performance, scoring 52 points along with 10 assists and 11 rebounds.

Watch The Highlights From The Game

Watch the Highlights From Kobe Bryant’s 61 Point Game Against the Knicks