A few weeks ago when New York Knicks guard Chris Duhon was throwing former Chicago Bulls teammates under the bus he said Luol Deng is a p-hound, Andres Nocione is a selective understander of English, and Ben Gordon has man slaves. Gordon is probably more concerned with what team the Bulls will trade him to, but he had time to respond to Duhon’s allegations.

Read the full story

Read the full story

Read the full story

When the Chicago Bulls drafted Joakim Noah, I thought it was a good pick. He wasn’t gonna solve their low post scoring problems, but he’s a winner. I thought he would add energy and excitement to the team, and he has, just not the kind I was expecting.

Falling to 14-22 and hardly competitive, several Bulls players on the bench late seemed relatively indifferent to the result. It was perhaps a worse message than the events of the evening, which were discouraging as well.

Apparently it led to a dispute in the locker room as rookie Joakim Noah complained about the attitude on the bench and argued with veteran Ben Wallace. One witness said Luol Deng had to step between them to ease the tension.

What the hell is going on in Chicago? Just the other day the team voted to sit Noah down, now he’s the only guy that cares about winning. That’s probably the overall problem. Joakim Noah is a winner born and bred. A tennis champion father, model mother, multiple national titles don’t allow Noah to be complacent. He might be going about things the wrong way, but butting heads with Ben Wallace doesn’t make Joakim a bad guy. I’m not going as far as saying Ben Wallace should be benched for the season, but his attitude and contract are bigger problems for the Chicago Bulls than Joakim Noah will ever be.

Struggles-and apparently strife-continue for Bulls. Courtesy of The Chicago Tribune

Tags: Joakim Noah, Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls, NBA

 When you’re a regular kid, the thought of having a superstar athlete for a parent is dream. You have anything your heart desires, and an unearned sense of accomplishment. The “oh yeah, well my dad’s Michael Jordan” is a pretty powerful card on the playground too.. And it doesn’t even have to be MJ.. The kid of any athlete, minus Michael Vick or Eli Manning, gets the respect and privilege that the children of less athletically inclined parents can only imagine.. When I was in 3rd grade there was a girl that got all kinds of luv cuz she was the niece of Bears fb Matt Suhey (pronounced Matsui).. So what child in their right mind would resent that lifestyle? Chicago Bull Joakim Noah.

“Everyone was trying to compare me to my father. I just didn’t want to deal with it. I remember going to tournaments with my father and wanting him to lose because I just wanted to go home and spend some time with my father.”

I can understand a son wanting to spend more time with his father, but wanting pops to lose so the two of them could go play with their hair is ridiculous. There’s no way that Roger Clemens’ sons would be hoping The Rocket got shelled and whatever team he was ripping off got knocked out of the playoffs.. I hope Yannick Noah was rooting against Florida in the NCAA tournament to keep things balanced.

NBA education comes tougher than college for rookie Noah. Courtesy of AFP

Tags: Joakim Noah, Yannick Noah, NBA, Chicago Bulls

Kobe got awfully quiet after making a lot of noise about wanting to be traded. It was as if the team had told him chillout, we’re trying to move you. I’ve documented how Kobe likes to rain on people’s parades, and with the start of the MLBCS this is another opportunity, but KB24 didn’t start this one.. Mike Bresnehan of the L.A. Times caught up with Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss in Hawaii, and the good Dr. got loose. On his Barcelona meeting with Kobe over the summer:

“He was very, very respectful. I told him when I walked in that I was going to try to talk him out of it. And he said, ‘I’ll listen carefully.’ And he did. He listened very carefully for 30, 45 minutes. I tried to explain to him how much the city of Los Angeles loved him, and that to leave 10 million sweethearts for unknown territory might not be the right thing to do. But when I was finished, he said he basically felt the same way. And I said, ‘OK. With that, I will proceed to see what’s available.’ “

And proceed he did. Unfortunately for Kobe, the Lakers got offered a crap platter, and Jerry couldn’t pull the trigger.

“You have to get comparable value when you make a trade. It’s very hard to trade somebody like him because people who have enough material to make it worthwhile are usually contenders and they don’t want to make the trade.

What was offered was not ever under consideration. And I told Kobe that. I told him I would try my best to accommodate his wishes, but that I could not afford to let him go unless we got comparable talent, if there is such a thing. . . . I even told him occasionally what I was offered and I said, ‘You have to know that this is not in favor of the Lakers. This would just be terrible to do.’ And he said, ‘I understand.’ “

So there it is. Kobe’s as good as gone and he knows it. That’s why we haven’t heard a peep from him, he’s getting his way. The only problem is finding a team that has enough disposable parts to trade for Kobe and still field a championship caliber squad. I would hate to see the Bulls gut their team to bring in Kobe Bryant.

All Kobe, All The Time
Buss: Bryant isn’t untouchable. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
Kobe Bryant Leaving Los Angeles?
Kobe Speaks, Lays Groundwork For L.A. Exodus
Kobe Bryant, Funcrusher

Tags: Jerry Buss Trading Kobe Bryant, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Trade Demands

I was watching NBA Shootaround on Friday night while waiting for the Warriors/Jazz game to get started. Stephen A. Smith dropped some interesting information:

I’ve spoke to several people in the league, believe it or not Kobe does have an abundance of friends in this league contrary to popular belief and they all said to me, you know what, he is completely disgusted and you can’t even measure the level of hostility he’s feeling towards the Lakers organization right now.

Go on…..

Listen to this.. Kobe Bryant, ever since he resigned with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to everything that I’ve heard he wanted Baron Davis before he got traded to Golden State. They didn’t get him. He had an opportunity to, they didn’t get him. He wanted Carlos Boozer because Larry Miller, the owner of the Utah Jazz, was on the outs with Carlos Boozer, they wanted to move him, the Lakers didn’t get him. He wanted Ron Artest, they didn’t get him. And then even when Kwaaameee Broooown was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for his best friend on the team at the time, Caron Butler, he didn’t learn about it until after the trade was consumated. Having spoken to Mitch Kupchak, the general manager for the Los Angeles Lakers in fairness to him, couldn’t reach Kobe earlier in the day, but I’m telling you everything that I’ve been hearing, if you think for one second that he is in love with Los Angeles, he loves winning more than he loves Southern California. He almost went to Chicago in a sign and trade, tried to force a sign and trade before he signed. You understand? He has absolutely no problem leaving if the Los Angeles Lakers, specifically owner Jerry Buss doesn’t get his act together. Do not be surprised at all if this stuff continues if Kobe Bryant some time around next year is asking to be traded.

 Now let’s be real.. Kobe’s not leaving the Lakers. Mitch Kupchak won’t let that happen. Not that he couldn’t let it happen, he has turned the Lakers  from contenders to first round whipping boys of the West elite, but he’s not gonna let Kobe get away. This has all the makings of a well timed leak of information from the Kobe camp. Like Stephen A. said, Kobe did talk about going to Chicago, and there were also the Suns and Clippers rumors when Kobe was a free agent. He didn’t leave then and he’s not leaving now.

The heir apparent to the Laker ownership throne, Jim Buss (son of Jerry) was on AM570 in Los Angeles this week and said not so fast on the Kobe trade talk:

Bryant needs to be aware that any trade involving him would require the other team to surrender its best player. For example, trading Bryant to Cleveland would cost the Cavaliers LeBron James. Any trade would markedly weaken Bryant’s new team, giving him no greater guarantee of a championship than he has with the Lakers.

Well.. That seems to take a little steam out of the Kobe trade talks, but KB can opt out of his deal in two years. He was asked about that in this exit interview and had this to say:

I’ve been a Laker fan my whole life. I hate to even think about me going someplace else.”

Notice he didn’t say “I won’t go someplace else”, he said he would hate to think about it. If the Lakers front office sits on their hands this offseason, I’m sure Kobe won’t mind entertaining the idea of bouncing.

I would bet the house that L.A. is gonna go out this summer and make a huge deal. Jerry West is no longer with Memphis so maybe he can do some consulting.. Teach Mitch how to pull off some of those miracle deals. I don’t know if it’ll be K.G., Jermaine O’neal, Jason Kidd, or any other name we’ve heard over the past few years but something is gonna happen. I would try to hold on to Lamar and Luke Walton (free agent), but I would trade anybody, ANYBODY, anybody else on the roster to become an elite team. Yes even Andrew Bynum. The young fella has shown some flashes but by the time he’s fulfiling his potential (if ever) Kobe will have some serious miles on his body. Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers don’t have that kind of time.

**YBB Kobe Update 5-29-07**

Meet the new Buss. Courtesy of the LA Times

Report Card/Exit Interview: Kobe Bryant. Courtesy of the LA Times

Listen to Kobe’s Exit Interview here.

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE