WAY I hear it, Phil Jack son banned Kobe Bryant from being around the Lakers Tuesday when his petulant VIP – offended that owner Jerry Buss alerted the Los Angeles media he was available in an equitable trade – informed him he wouldn’t be practicing, for the third straight day, because he wanted to rest his legs, knee, bruised ego, whatever.
“I don’t want you riding the exercise bike in front of the team,” Jackson hipped Bryant, according to a source. “There’s nothing wrong with your legs. I need you to be part of the team. I need to come to practice and work hard. And I need you to come to games and play defense.”
Last season, Inaction Jackson felt Bryant had gotten a little lazy on the sidelines and at practice. In his considered opinion, he and his coaching staff were too easy, too soft on the players, especially Mr. Big Stuff.
Jackson demanded that change this season. He notified his assistants he wanted them to be considerably more proactive and expected them to be in the players’ faces whenever there was an conspicuous lack of discipline, effort and respect regarding team goals.
Jackson proved he wasn’t spewing idle chatter by manning his battle station and confronting Bryant concerning his sit-down. Far better to crack down now before the hostage-of-services-situation became unmanageable, before the season starts for real. Far better to set the ground rules, establish limitations while Bryant’s merely testing his teacher. Better to find how far Bryant’s willing to push the envelope. Is he intent on leveraging his way out of Los Angeles or will he cooperate and play nice with the other kids?
Surely that was Jackson’s motive for showing Bryant the gym practice door. The only chance the Lakers have of bonding and beating better competition is to straighten out this problem once and for all, one way or the other, while there’s still a little time to make controllable adjustments.
Had Bryant rebelled at being exiled for a day, had he not practiced Wednesday, I’m convinced Jackson would have beseeched, insisted, maybe, that Buss deal his crowd-pleasing colossal draw, even at a talent discount.
Instead, Bryant abided by his word given to the players at a recent team meeting when he promised not to be a distraction (OK, so he went off on a tangent for a few days) and show up with no agenda other than winning games. So there he was Wednesday, working out with the Lakers (though he didn’t scrimmage) and he played last night against the Sonics in Bakersfield, Calif.
How many losses will it take before Bryant changes that attitude? How can skeptics float such a loaded question?
Then again, maybe it’s not that unfair. This just in: Buss told the family of Jack Kent Cooke he’d changed his mind.
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Is Portland trying to move Channing Frye? At the very least the Blazers tried moving him to Chicago for Tyrus Thomas.
Let me rephrase that: The Bulls are so enthusiastic about Thomas I’m not sure the Blazers ever got to make a legit offer. But I do hear Frye is being shopped. Portland lobbied the Knicks hard for David Lee as partial payment in the Zach Randolph trade and it was either accept Frye or get stuck with Randolph’s $61M, four-year tab.
Are we clear on this? Suffice to say, the Nets selected banished Boston College forward Sean Williams only after credibility corporations NBC and MSG both initialed their approval. Think about it, if Williams has trouble getting to East Rutherford on time, earning a seatbelt against the 76ers, what possible chance does he have if New Jersey ever relocates to the Railyards?
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Have Chris Webber and the Pistons stopped talking? If so, if C-Note is to be believed, he intends to call it a career rather than replant again away from his Michigan roots. Perhaps Joe Dumars simply is waiting to see whether forwards Jason Maxiell (wearing out opponents during the preseason) and Amir Johnson are ready for prime time.
Then again, I’m told it’s not that simple. Yes, the Pistons would like to bring back Webber, though not as a starter. But first money and a roster spot must be cleared. They’re a mere $400K below the luxury tax number of $67 million and change, I believe. As much as Dumars and Flip Saunders would like to have Webber available for competition, the difference he’d make doesn’t justify the ramifications of topping that number, at least not on financial statement owner Bill Davidson swears by.
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Nothing going on the Shawn Marion trade front, I’m told. He’ll be with the Suns for the season and nobody associated with Phoenix is complaining. He’s a perfect complement to Mike D’Antoni‘s system, far more complementary to Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, etc., than, say, Andrei Kirilenko or Lamar Odom or just about anyone else in that caliber you can think of who’s unhappy, coming off surgery, whatever.