On Thursday night June 14, 2007, game four of the NBA Championship between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavilers was played out to the season’s conclusion. With the Spurs up by just two, after a three pointer by LeBron James, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili received the ball and proceeded to kill 2.3 seconds off the clock before he was fouled. The run killed Cleveland’s dreams of a Championship and completed a series sweep for the Spurs. San Antonio was crowned the 2006-2007 NBA Champions. Seconds later Tim Duncan was pumping his fists. LeBron James was hanging his head. And most important of all Tony Parker was hugging Eva Longoria, capturing the hearts and genitalia of every heterosexual male watching.
Lucky Chap!
The reason I flash back is not to praise the defending Champions or to lust over Eva. Rather it’s because there has been one NBA constant every single day between that game, and the present moments as I type this article. That constant can be found in Los Angeles California with the franchise Icon of the LA Lakers. The constant has been the repetitive malicious weeping of Kobe Bryant. His demand to be traded from the team that made him famous has been the NBA cover story every California day since the spring.
Bryant has been in a constant verbal battle with LA ownership since the end of last season. He put the situation only slightly on the back burner over the summer while playing for team USA. Now he is complaining of a sore leg that has restricted him from preseason workouts. And the latest report out of Tinsel Town is that Kobe was seen clearing out his Lakers locker this past Monday.
When confronted by the media on Tuesday, Kobe denied that he had cleared out his locker, but his overall tone in attitude toward his current team almost contradicted his statement. As Boomer Esiason said on his morning radio show on sports radio 660am,
“A reporter had to have been inside the Lakers locker room, and had to have seen Kobe clearing out his locker in order to make this story news worthy”.
Otherwise we would be talking even more Joe Torre and even less Colorado Rockies this week in the world of sports media.
All sports fans have seen these antics before. Professional athletes testing the limits, trying to break the rules in order to get what they want. Faking injuries, demanding more money, bashing people within their organizations, crying to the media, insisting on trades, and clinging to their agents for their sports lives. Terrell Owens, Manny Ramirez, Michael Strahan, and now Alex Rodriguez are just a few names that come to mind in recent months.
The real trouble is that Kobe is among the highest paid players in the NBA, making a whopping 88.6 million over the next four years. Truth be told I think Lakers ownership would love to part company with their over paid guard. LA has looked to meet Kobe’s demand, but they simply can’t move enough of his salary or get enough in return to make quality trade.
It’s the old “were stuck with you so you’re stuck with us”.
But man is Kobe trying to get out of LA!
Keep in mind Bryant is the same guy who had Shaquille O’Neal kicked out of town! His constant fighting over whose ego was bigger drove O'Neal to Miami, where Shaq had the last laugh with a Championship season two years ago. Bryant has an incredible ability to conduct himself in such a childish fashion that eventually he gets what he wants as someone bows to his demands.
So where is Kobe Bryant going?
My guess would be nowhere. If Lakers owner Jerry Buss and the Lakers brass were going to trade Kobe it would have happened over the summer. I would imagine Bryant will continue to make the situation miserable for his the organization, his teammates, coaching staff, and most of all for himself. I would anticipate a miserable season in LA and an unhappy franchise.
However my track record for predicting the future in professional sports is not exactly stellar. After all I said there would be a Boston / New York ALCS in MLB and that I would be up at least a grand in Vegas last week. Neither of which manifested.
So the safe bet is that Kobe will be in Chicago or Dallas by the NBA opening day!
Kobe is like so many professional athletes in this day and age, tremendously talented on the field, but lacking any essence of honor off.
