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Ira
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Joined: 8/14/2001
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I haven't seen this posted yet. http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spkobe1223,0,769463.story BY KEN BERGER | ken.berger@newsday.com
December 23, 2007
Kobe Bryant strolled down the hallway of what they now call Wachovia Center in Philadelphia on Friday night and smiled when he came across an old friend. By that, we mean an old friend.
Bryant's whole body seemed to relax as he embraced Sonny Hill, founder of the famous Philadelphia youth basketball league that bears his name and has produced such NBA All-Stars as Bryant, Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton, not to mention Kobe's father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant.
Hill is one of the few people who truly have a window into Bryant's complicated mind. He has known Kobe as long as he has been alive -- or longer.
"I've known him," Hill said, "since before he was born."
On Sunday, Bryant will walk into Madison Square Garden for his first appearance there in nearly two years, needing 20 points to become the youngest player in NBA history to score 20,000. After an offseason of 20,000 trade demands and just as many doses of animosity, the Lakers' superstar finally has settled down. But it seems only temporary.
After staying quiet about his desire to be traded since the beginning of the season, Bryant opened up Saturday after practice at an Upper East Side health club.
Yes, the Knicks were on the list of four teams he asked to be traded to late last spring, Bryant acknowledged for the first time Saturday to a small group of reporters. And, he said, no teams have been taken off the list.
"They were, yeah," Bryant said when asked if the Knicks were among the teams for which he'd agree to waive his no-trade clause. After the Knicks and Bulls, Bryant said it was the Mavericks and Suns, marking the first time he has publicly disclosed the list.
The Knicks, who declined to comment Saturday on their role in the Bryant saga, have been aware since the summer that they were among his chosen teams. The situation never advanced beyond exploratory talks, though.
Bryant's answers Saturday to a series of questions about his level of happiness with the Lakers, the mechanics and details of his trade request, and where he goes from here, qualified as his most revealing comments since he announced, then sort of rescinded his public trade demand in late May and early June.
And though Bryant has patched things up with 20-year-old center Andrew Bynum, whom he infamously ripped in an amateur video, and has grown satisfied with what he describes as a "solid" team, he realizes that the Lakers are not championship contenders. Not yet. Not even close.
More to the point, Bryant isn't sure how much longer he can afford to wait.
Asked if he removed the Knicks from consideration in mid-October because of the uncertainty and turmoil churning at Madison Square Garden, Bryant said: "No, I just kind of pushed everything to the back burner and stopped thinking about trades. It wasn't something where I was scratching teams off or anything like that. I just stopped thinking about it because once the season got under way, my focus had to be here. It couldn't be split, because I'd be doing a disservice to my teammates."
Asked if the list still is on the back burner and if his formal trade request still is on the table, Bryant said: "Call Mitch Kupchak and see what he thinks about that. I don't get into that ... It's all what Mitch wants to do, really. Mitch and Dr. Buss. It's all on them. They can either trade me or not trade me. It's completely their decision."
Well, yes and no, as we saw during the many twists and turns of Kobe's "trade me ... I want to be a Laker for life" summer.
As the only player in the NBA with a complete no-trade clause, Bryant can veto any deal. Though he is surprised that the Knicks have spiraled so rapidly, he wouldn't rule out a trade to New York if it were presented to him.
"I would look at it as just another challenge to prove that you can win," Bryant said. "That's how I would approach it. I wouldn't be down about it. I'd just work that much harder to try to prove that if we do work hard, we can win ballgames.
"Every storm passes," said Bryant, who then was asked if the chaos surrounding the Knicks and their embattled coach, Isiah Thomas, would frighten him.
Said Bryant, "I don't scare too easily.".... |
12/23/2007 9:24 AM