Kobe Bryant Is Not Happy About Losing Lamar Odom

We all know that Kobe and Carmelo are tight both on and off the court, but him and Lamar are even tighter. Kobe isn’t known for expressing his feelings unless it’s about losing a game, but when it comes to losing your best friend, one of your leaders and your best bench player for nearly a decade, it’s hard not to express those feelings. For those who don’t already know, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to dump their Sixth Man of the Year in Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks for nothing (and by nothing I mean a measly $8.9 million trade exemption). Absolutely nothing. And when Kobe’s unhappy, he doesn’t hesitate.

“I don’t like it,” Bryant told ESPN reporters. “To be honest with you, I don’t like it.”

“You’re talking about the Sixth Man of the Year last year,” Bryant said. “He played lights out. I don’t understand the criticism of reality shows and this, that and the other. I don’t get it. I don’t understand that. He had his best season last season, clearly wasn’t a distraction and he played his ass off. I don’t get where that comes from.”

Kobe’s right, how could you trade someone who meant so much to the team for absolutely nothing. Not just to any team, but to a team who beat you in the playoffs last year on the way to an NBA championship. Not only that, but they also just gave Dallas the best forward trio in the league with Lamar, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion, and the more reporters asked Kobe about the situation, he came back with “Now I’m getting pissed off.”

With Lamar gone, it now opens up room to get Dwight Howard, but there’s no way that the Magic deal him without getting another one of the Lakers big men in return: either Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum (probably Bynum since they’re losing a center). As of right now, the Lakers didn’t get better, they got worse. The Knicks amped up, Boston’s stacking up, hell, even the Pacers are becoming a threat. So where do the Lakers go from here? Well, as of right now, your only choice is Dwight Howard. With letting go of Lamar Odom, the team deserves that much. Kobe deserves that much. The fans deserve that much.

Deron Williams Rejects Extension With The Nets

You know what the best thing about LeBron’s “Decision” and Carmelo Anthony’s “I’ll keep playing with the fans and teams head and act like I don’t know where I want or will be traded to but secretly I know it’s New York” is? It gives all the other superstars in the league that are about to be in the same situation a little advantage. They got to sit back and watch players like ‘Bron make a national mistake and guys like ‘Melo prove that the players can control their own destiny in certain situations.

Now, it’s Deron Williams turn.

With the new rules due to the lockout, any chance the Nets had at saving millions of dollars and getting Williams to sign an extension are now out the window. Deron’s agent Jeff Schwartz went public earlier today stating that Deron will play out this season in New Jersey and will ultimately become a free agent once the season comes to an end. Now that doesn’t exactly mean he wants to leave the Nets — although he probably does unless they get another superstar — but he’ll become richer.

Deron will not be signing the extension,” Jeff Schwartz told The Record this afternoon. “Based on the new rules it doesn’t make any sense for him to sign the extension. It has nothing to do with how much he likes New Jersey. Because of the rules, he’s going to play the season out and probably opt out of his deal.”

With the new rules now set in stone, Williams can either choose to sign with another team as a free agent and roughly get around $73 million for four years, or he can re-sign with the Nets — if they get a superstar — for a five-year, $101 million ext. The only way he comes back is if they can somehow land Dwight Howard, which means goodbye to Brooke Lopez. Nothing against Lopez but, he’s nowhere near Howard’s level of play. Not even close. And he’s definitely not the kind of player that’s going to help lead the Nets to an NBA title. They already have some solid outside shooters and a decent bench, but they could use a couple upgrades in those areas as well. All big men in the league need someone to feed them the ball, and who better than Deron Williams? The biggest/strongest PG in the league who many consider to be better than Chris Paul.

Chris Paul Requests A Trade To The Knicks

Well, as of right now, the “Rondo for Chris Paul” trade has been squashed by Boston’s own Danny Ainge. So what’s next for Paul you ask? According to Yahoo! Sports beat writer Adrian Wojnarowski, Paul’s agent spoke with team officials in New Orleans stating that CP3 wants to join forces with Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire in the Big Apple.

From Yahoo! –

Chris Paul’s agent informed New Orleans officials on Wednesday that his client will not sign a contract extension and wants to be traded to the New York Knicks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

For now, it remains a rumor. The NBA hasn’t lifted lockout restrictions yet which means Hornets GM Dell Demps can’t have a meeting with Paul just yet to discuss his future with the team and what exactly he wants from the organization to stay. The thing is though, do the Knicks really want to make this trade for a 27-year-old Chris Paul with a bad knee and somewhat injury-prone? No way am I saying that Paul isn’t still a good player because that’s nonsense, but the Knicks really do have to look at the long run here: if they make a trade, they won’t be able to make another move for at least four years.

What they really need is someone like Raymond Felton — who played their before and did quite well — who is a tough guard that can get inside the paint and has a nice outside shot. They could also use a banging big man (someone like Marc Gasol from Memphis) and some more shooters like Nick Young or Jason Richardson. That’s the problem with the league right now; ever since Miami created their “Super Team,” teams are trying to up their arsenal just to keep up with those guys but don’t realize how they could hurt their teams in the long run. I’m sure Paul has reached out to Dwight Howard, who’s name is also on the trading blocks, to somehow team-up with one another (Lakers?).

Once Dec. 9 hits, expect things to shakeup dramatically.

Video: Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Commerical (Feat. Dwight Howard & Jonah Hill)

This spot really doesn’t have anything to do with MW3, but it’s still pretty dope. It starts out with a slimmed down Jonah Hill as a noob before he finally gets the hang of things and starts murking folks left and right, and just when you think it’s over, D12 pops out of nowhere with guns blazing. Dope!

DeMarcus Cousins Shows Out At Goodman Vs Indy Pro Am

Doesn’t it seem like all of the summers best basketball has taken place on the East Coast? For those who didn’t already know, the Midwest finally got some NBA love during the Goodman vs. Indy Pro Am game that took place at Butler University on Sept. 24. Players such as Zach Randolph, Gordon Hayward, Alec Burks (Jazz first-round draft pick in 2011), Lance Stephenson, Shelvin Mack and George Hill all represented for Indiana. For Goodman, the headliners were Kevin Durant, John Wall and my guy DeMarcus Cousins.

I might be Cousins biggest supporter. Many have labeled him as a problem child, which he has caused problems so far during his pro career, but trust me, this kid is going to be the next best center outside of Dwight Howard for the next decade once he learns how to control his temper and focus more in the paint instead of his outside shooting (which he’s pretty good at). The kid’s a beast, plain and simple. Check out some quick highlights.

A Baltimore Love Thing: Carmelo Anthony Assembles Super Team To Take On Philly

Has there been a more entertaining offseason for basketball than 2011? I mean, the Goodman League has been outstanding and it shows how much these players truly care about the game instead of the paycheck, but there’s nothing quite like neighborhood competition in basketball. Whose crew is better. Which city produces the best overall talent (in most cases like these, Los Angeles wins easily due to it’s size)? It’s no secret that ‘Melo and his former college teammate at Syracuse, Hakim Warrick, have gone through friendly competition over the years, but things just got serious for a minute. According to Warrick himself, he has something up his sleeve in hopes of not having to eat his words.

“My Philadelphia All-Stars look forward to getting on the court and proving to Melo and the people of Baltimore/DC that the best ballers come out of Philly,” said Warrick. “Melo told me he was bringing a squad that can’t be beat so I have a few ‘All-Star’ surprises for him when my team takes the court on September 25.”

Unless Hakim is hiding something, this is his list of ballers that he has acquired for Team Philly: Kyle Lowry, Lou Williams, Jason Thompson, John Salmons, Wayne Ellington, Markieff and Marcus Morris, Flip Murray and others who have not been mentioned. As far as ‘Melo goes, we all know he has a deep crew of hoopers: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Eric Bledsoe, Josh Selby, Gary Neal and Donte Greene are all named to be apart of Team Baltimore.

Although the game will be streamed online via The Basketball Channel, but for those who will be near the Palestra next Sunday, you can purchase tickets online at pennathletics.com today starting at 3 p.m. This is a charity event and ticket prices range anywhere from $35 to $50. I know if I were in the Philadelphia area I would be there in a heartbeat.

I have two questions, though: Where’s Dwight Howard during all of this and will Brandon Jennings be making a cameo?

Dumb Things To Do During A Lockout: Dunk On A Giraffe

Bored? Got no NBA job? Go ahead and dunk on a Giraffe Basketball Hoop starring Dwight Howard.

Jrue Holiday Gets Buried Alive By Dwight Howard

Wrong decision at the wrong time.  Watch as Jrue Holiday is chasing Jameer Nelson down on the Orlando Magic fastbreak and gets caught buried alive by a trailing Dwight Howard. There’s NO WAY Jrue knew that D12 was trailing him…right?

Read more

Adidas Is All In (Commercial)

The Adidas Is All In commercial stars Derrick Rose, Katy Perry, Dwight Howard, B.o.B, Lionel Messi, David Beckham, and more of the Adidas family as the three stripes company brings all of their members into one great campaign.

Heart over head. Inclusion over ego. United by passion, we go all in. Go all in at http://www.youtube.com/adidas to see more.

Music is “Civilization” from the new album from Justice. Buy it on April 4th on iTunes!
http://www.facebook.com/etjusticepourtous

Adidas Basketball: Fast World – Derrick Rose x Dwight Howard

Because my obsession with Nike and because I’m a huge Derrick Rose fan, I really wish he was a Nike Basketball athlete rather than with Team Adidas.  No knock to Adidas because they’ve ran great marketing campaigns but I’ve always been a Nike kid ever since I was a kid and I clearly have brand loyalty with them.  With all that said, check out Dwight Howard and D. Rose’s new campaigns for Fast Don’t Lie.

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