http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/204096.html
NBA Beat: Bryant shows loyalty isn't in his vocabulary
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, June 3, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Kobe Bryant went back to risking image and professional reputation as only he can, saying he didn't want a trade, then demanding a trade, then retracting the demand, then insisting anew the time had come to part with the Lakers.
It was great theater, even the parts that couldn't be entirely heard over the roaring laughter from Shaquille O'Neal.
In the week that Bryant lost his mind, swerving about and overplaying his hand as never before in public, he dragged a career to uncommonly low depths, which is saying something with his history. There was the sexual assault charge that was dropped, of course, but also, as the team stood firmly behind him, legal vindication and a return to immense fan popularity.
He just topped the league in jersey sales. He received the third-most votes in All-Star balloting. He had O'Neal on the other side of the continent, which did not displease Bryant even if he hadn't demanded it as a condition to re-sign in 2004, and Phil Jackson back as coach. Bryant put his pride aside to publicly and privately endorse the return even after Jackson cut him up in a book.
This wasn't Bryant in a good place. This was Bryant back from the fallout of the triangle with O'Neal and Jackson that ended in embers and all the way back from the stain of the charge. He had fan adulation and had most within the league rating him the best player in the world.
It was finally good to be him again. It is that perspective that makes the latest step off the cliff all the more historic and among the most bizarre moments in the Lakers' soap opera without commercial interruption. Not merely displeased with O'Neal or Jackson, as many others had been, Bryant showed up the very front office that had sided with him in so many difficult times.
The Lakers, saying all the right things publicly but privately angered on some fronts on the payback for their loyalty, insist Bryant will not be traded. Indeed, by the end of last week, there were reports of emerging deals with the Nuggets for Marcus Camby and the Pacers for Jermaine O'Neal in a continuing plan to give Bryant the veteran big man he wants and needs, not reload.
It looked a lot more like another long road for another reputation repair, in other words. And a great irony. For all Bryant's talk that management had let him down by not acquiring a surrounding talent upgrade as promised, he had let them down just as much.
Out of tune
The feel-good season in Utah wasn't feeling so good at the end, with Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams calling out unnamed teammates for being more concerned about impending vacation plans than climbing back into the West finals against San Antonio, an unworthy ending for a season built on the heartfelt and the comeback.
The Jazz, out of the playoffs a year ago, won a Game 7 on the road and won two rounds for the first time since 2000. Derek Fisher went public with his daughter's cancer to raise awareness of testing and treatment options, and twice flew from her medical appointments in New York to play with little or no warmup. Boozer went from an injury-prone, often-criticized free-agent signing to averaging 20.9 points and 11.7 rebounds in the regular season and 23.5 and 12.2, respectively, in the playoffs.
"When you're making that kind of money," coach Jerry Sloan said of the expectations brought on by Boozer's six-year, $68 million deal signed in 2004, "people expect you to play if one leg has fallen off."
When the end came in a reasonable loss to a superior team playing well, the Jazz had established a new identity and a new positive direction, with Williams in his second season and already a prized point guard and Boozer an inside force of a power forward at age 25. The only hole in the opening lineup is shooting guard.
The greatest uncertainty is on the sideline. Sloan, 65, enters the offseason considering retirement, as he had about this time the previous few years, with those who know him best split on the outcome. One insider suggested Sloan will step aside this summer because his conscience will allow him to leave now that the Jazz is again pointed upward. Another said Sloan has been rejuvenated by his marriage last fall and the subsequent success on the court.
Seriously
San Antonio assistant Don Newman, who was Sacramento State's coach for five years before resigning in 1997, has been linked to the opening in Seattle. No interviews have been arranged because the Spurs are still playing, but the SuperSonics have talked to the Western Conference champions about P.J. Carlesimo, the top lieutenant to Gregg Popovich, and Newman.
Withdrawal symptoms
Indications are that Cal center DeVon Hardin, on the NBA radar but a second-round pick at best after missing most of last season because of a stress fracture in his left foot, will take his name out of the draft and return to school. Hardin in Berkeley would give the Bears a formidable frontline with Ryan Anderson, the Oak Ridge High School product coming off an impressive freshman campaign.
Close quote
Joakim Noah, the son of former tennis star Yannick Noah and an agile 6-foot-11 power forward from Florida expected to be drafted in the lottery, when asked how good he is at his father's sport: "I'm unlobable."
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard- cooper@sacbee.com
NBA Beat: Bryant shows loyalty isn't in his vocabulary
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, June 3, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C4
Kobe Bryant went back to risking image and professional reputation as only he can, saying he didn't want a trade, then demanding a trade, then retracting the demand, then insisting anew the time had come to part with the Lakers.
It was great theater, even the parts that couldn't be entirely heard over the roaring laughter from Shaquille O'Neal.
In the week that Bryant lost his mind, swerving about and overplaying his hand as never before in public, he dragged a career to uncommonly low depths, which is saying something with his history. There was the sexual assault charge that was dropped, of course, but also, as the team stood firmly behind him, legal vindication and a return to immense fan popularity.
He just topped the league in jersey sales. He received the third-most votes in All-Star balloting. He had O'Neal on the other side of the continent, which did not displease Bryant even if he hadn't demanded it as a condition to re-sign in 2004, and Phil Jackson back as coach. Bryant put his pride aside to publicly and privately endorse the return even after Jackson cut him up in a book.
This wasn't Bryant in a good place. This was Bryant back from the fallout of the triangle with O'Neal and Jackson that ended in embers and all the way back from the stain of the charge. He had fan adulation and had most within the league rating him the best player in the world.
It was finally good to be him again. It is that perspective that makes the latest step off the cliff all the more historic and among the most bizarre moments in the Lakers' soap opera without commercial interruption. Not merely displeased with O'Neal or Jackson, as many others had been, Bryant showed up the very front office that had sided with him in so many difficult times.
The Lakers, saying all the right things publicly but privately angered on some fronts on the payback for their loyalty, insist Bryant will not be traded. Indeed, by the end of last week, there were reports of emerging deals with the Nuggets for Marcus Camby and the Pacers for Jermaine O'Neal in a continuing plan to give Bryant the veteran big man he wants and needs, not reload.
It looked a lot more like another long road for another reputation repair, in other words. And a great irony. For all Bryant's talk that management had let him down by not acquiring a surrounding talent upgrade as promised, he had let them down just as much.
Out of tune
The feel-good season in Utah wasn't feeling so good at the end, with Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams calling out unnamed teammates for being more concerned about impending vacation plans than climbing back into the West finals against San Antonio, an unworthy ending for a season built on the heartfelt and the comeback.
The Jazz, out of the playoffs a year ago, won a Game 7 on the road and won two rounds for the first time since 2000. Derek Fisher went public with his daughter's cancer to raise awareness of testing and treatment options, and twice flew from her medical appointments in New York to play with little or no warmup. Boozer went from an injury-prone, often-criticized free-agent signing to averaging 20.9 points and 11.7 rebounds in the regular season and 23.5 and 12.2, respectively, in the playoffs.
"When you're making that kind of money," coach Jerry Sloan said of the expectations brought on by Boozer's six-year, $68 million deal signed in 2004, "people expect you to play if one leg has fallen off."
When the end came in a reasonable loss to a superior team playing well, the Jazz had established a new identity and a new positive direction, with Williams in his second season and already a prized point guard and Boozer an inside force of a power forward at age 25. The only hole in the opening lineup is shooting guard.
The greatest uncertainty is on the sideline. Sloan, 65, enters the offseason considering retirement, as he had about this time the previous few years, with those who know him best split on the outcome. One insider suggested Sloan will step aside this summer because his conscience will allow him to leave now that the Jazz is again pointed upward. Another said Sloan has been rejuvenated by his marriage last fall and the subsequent success on the court.
Seriously
San Antonio assistant Don Newman, who was Sacramento State's coach for five years before resigning in 1997, has been linked to the opening in Seattle. No interviews have been arranged because the Spurs are still playing, but the SuperSonics have talked to the Western Conference champions about P.J. Carlesimo, the top lieutenant to Gregg Popovich, and Newman.
Withdrawal symptoms
Indications are that Cal center DeVon Hardin, on the NBA radar but a second-round pick at best after missing most of last season because of a stress fracture in his left foot, will take his name out of the draft and return to school. Hardin in Berkeley would give the Bears a formidable frontline with Ryan Anderson, the Oak Ridge High School product coming off an impressive freshman campaign.
Close quote
Joakim Noah, the son of former tennis star Yannick Noah and an agile 6-foot-11 power forward from Florida expected to be drafted in the lottery, when asked how good he is at his father's sport: "I'm unlobable."
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard- cooper@sacbee.com
