Kobe Has No Desire To Leave The Lakers, Says His Knee Feels 90 Percent Better

You see that picture above with Kobe holding up four fingers? Despite not having his thumb up due to him holding a trophy, the Black Mamba has won 5 NBA titles during his 16-year career in a Laker’ uniform. Why on earth would he want to leave? Because he lost Lamar Odom? Please. Kobe’s old enough now to know that losing a player doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end. In fact, according to RealGM.com, Bryant put a stop to all those rumors.

“I don’t have any feeling about [leaving] whatsoever,” Bryant said, addressing speculation that he might request a trade. “I’ve been here for 16 years. I’m going to up and leave now?”

He’s right, why would he want to leave now? Kobe’s not a quitter that’s for sure, he’s probably the only guy left in the league that has the Michael Jordan gene to do whatever it takes to win. He’ll throw his teammates and his own coach under the bus if it means winning a title. You need a guy like that on your team, you need someone who will ride your ass like Zorro when he feels like you’re not giving everything you have. You’re getting paid to play basketball and at the end of the day, winning a championship is the ultimate goal. Is the money nice? Hell yeah. But it’s not everything, and most guys figure that out rather sooner than later.

I expect the old Kobe to be back this season, not the banged up one with a bad knee and having to alter the way he plays just in order to stay on the court (see his index finger). He says his knee is 90 percent better than it was last season, and you know what? I believe him.

“I’m not a big medicine, techie guy,” Bryant said. “But I know my knee feels 90 percent better. My understanding was that the guy who invented it … [Germany] is where he’s from and where his home base is. So I didn’t want to go someplace else where he had to move his equipment. If I am going to do it, I want to do it right and do it in the place where he is most comfortable doing it.

“I can run. I can jump. I can run the track. I can lift weights the way I want to lift weights. I can practice every day. Those are things I couldn’t do last year.”

Traveling to Germany just to get your knee fixed? That’s dedication and motivation. Most guys would say screw it and find the best person for the job in the states, not in another country. If he’s back to the old Kobe, every team in the league better be on their toes because it doesn’t matter who has the best Big Three and this and that, Kobe has one thing that’s more dominant than anyone’s in the league: The will to win.

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.

Boston Celtics Close To Adding David West

The Boston Celtics are out here making moves! It all started with constant trade rumors floating around that Boston was working on a trade with New Orleans to bring in Chris Paul for the year — although they had hopes of him signing a long-term deal — which, eventually fell apart after the Lakers hopped aboard with the Houston Rockets to bring Cp3 to L.A., while the Rockets received Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom went to New Orleans (lucky break for Bean-Town if you ask me).

On Friday, Boston worked a deal with the Orlando Magic that would send PF/C Glen “Big Baby” David down south in exchange for Brandon Bass (not sure exactly what either team gets out of this because one is better defender while the other is a better scorer), but I must admit that Davis’ skills depleted after he was given more minutes and Bass is more athletic and little bit tougher in the paint. There were also reports of the Celtics being extremely close to signing All-Star forward David West, which would ultimately land him a 3-year deal worth around $29 million — another undisclosed player — and would send Jermaine O’Neal to the Hornets. With the recent re-signing of Jeff Green (1-year deal), Boston looks to be right up there in competition with the Knicks and Heat (Chicago hasn’t made any kind of moves for another SG).

They now have a bunch of young scorers coming off the bench at nearly every position (fellow Purdue teammates JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore now have big opportunities to earned playing time in a shortened season), but the really need to address the situation at center. A longer off season will certainly help keeps the Celtics older players fresh, especially since they have one of the hardest road schedules in the league, and I’m sure Rondo is going to play lights out after the rumors have diminished and he’s finally gotten over the Kendrick Perkins trade.

Lamar Odom & Stalley Are #AlwaysOn via Nike Sportswear

Nike Sportswear releases their newest #AlwaysOn athlete / artist collaboration with the Los Angeles Lakers’ Lamar Odom and Maybach Music Group’s Stalley. Although Lamar is all Hollywood on us (plays in LA, in a reality show), he takes us through his old hood of Jamaica Avenue in Queens over the backdrop of Stalley’s new Born To Win track. As a bonus, check out this other new Stalley video he made for paying homage to the greatest white basketball player ever, Larry Bird.

An Awkward Commercial For Khloe Kardashian And Lamar Odom’s Unisex Fragrance

First of all – what the hell is a unisex fragrance?  How do you even buy that?  If you’re a guy, you’re gay.  If you’re a girl, you’re a tomboy.  Lose, lose purchase.  If you’re not about winning – go ahead and purchase yourself a bottle of Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Kardashian Odom’s Unbreakable unisex fragrance at Perfumania.

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Video: Los Angeles Lakers Ring Ceremony

After the Celtics took care of business against the new look Miami Heat on the NBA’s opening night, the Los Angeles Lakers accepted their 2009-2010 NBA Championship rings in front of a rocking L.A. crowd.  It was cool see Phil Jackson shout out the former Lakers as well as each player give their teammates a nice little introduction.

Team USA Wins The Gold Medal At The 2010 FIBA World Championships

Team USA won it’s first FIBA World Championship gold medal in 16 years on the shoulders of Coach Krzyzewski’s coaching, Kevin Durant’s amazing offensive arsenal, and solid contributions from Derrick Rose, Lamar Odom, Andre Iguodala, Chauncey Billups, Rudy Gay, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Tyson Chandler, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, and Danny Granger.  As a huge basketball fan, I’m excited to see what roster the USA Basketball committee rolls out for the 2012 Olympics after so many of these players had such strong performances in these past couple of weeks in Turkey.

Team USA Intrasquad Scrimmage Highlights

Team USA held their official intrasquad scrimmage this past Saturday night to give the public their first view of this year’s World Basketball Championship competing national team.  The roster will be trimmed down to 12 players today and so far the only locks are Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups, and Derrick Rose.  Find my final roster picks below:

• PG – Billups / Rose / Rajon Rondo
• SG – Iguodala / Stephen Curry
• SF – Durant / Rudy Gay /
• PF – Kevin Love / Lamar Odom / Jeff Green
• C – Tyson Chandler / Brook Lopez

Russell Westbrook Dunks On Lamar Odom

I didn’t get to see much of this game last night but when I woke up this morning and saw Russell Westbrook dunking ALL OVER Lamar Odom, I had to find the video.  Look out L.A. fans, the Oklahoma City Thunder are looking nice.

The Kardashian Family Holiday Card

A few notes:

1. Lamar Odom looks photoshopped.
2. Ryan Seacrest, you are not a Kardashian.
3. Kim looks good.  Kourtney looks good even with that belly.  Khloe not so good.

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