A whole lot of Kobe and greatness remembered

I know, it’s late again but, what the heck, it’s Saturday and everyone wants to sleep in anyway, right? Not a whole lot going on out here, it was a very boring off-day, to likely be followed by an equally boring off-day today. Memo to self: Find interesting angle.

But before I search, there’s these tidbits:

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Way back in the day, when he was losing NBA finals and when he was winning them, too, Kobe Bryant was a pretty good guy in the interview room.

He’d be engaging and entertaining and gave a good, insightful quote.

That was then.

This is now and, man, is he ever boring.

It’s all part of his “locked-in” Grumpy self. Short answers to good questions, no expression, no “engaging.” Boring. And, seemingly, quite miserable.

Which makes me wonder, if he didn’t win the last two times being expressive and he doesn’t win this one being a grump, what’s left? Silence?

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You know how story lines develop at these things, where some off-beat or odd thing becomes the topic du jour.

Here, it’s becoming Kobe’s face.

Maybe you’ve seen the look – although I would wager there hasn’t been a whole lot of NBA video on the news in between the zillion pucks reports – where he bares his teeth and gets all crazy looking after some particularly spectacular play?

We’re all trying to figure out what the best way to describe it is.

In fact, one guy went as far to suggest to Derek Fisher that Bryant’s visage bore a bit of resemblance to the maniacal look Jack Nicholson had in The Shining.

“That's all time No. 1. I don't know if anything can compare to that one. Even for me as a kid that was pretty scary moment, seeing him in that film.”

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I’m not sure how much play the story got back in Toronto but news of Randy Smith’s passing was a big topic around here.

As it should have been.

To people of a certain age who used to travel to the Aud to see the Buffalo Braves – that’d be people like me – the sight of Smith with the wild Afro wearing those crazy baby blue jersey and racing past every player on the court.

“The best athlete I ever coached,” was what Dr. Jack Ramsay told my buddy Tom Withers of the AP yesterday.

I don’t think Smith got nearly the credit he should have for his game. He was an ironman – played 906 straight games, a record that last 14 years, until A.C. Green went past him in 1997 – and is the all-time franchise leader (including Buffalo and L.A. Clippers they eventually became) in points, games played, steals, and assists.

He was one of the great under-rated players of all time.

He was 60 and in apparent good health when he died suddenly.

That sucks.

And if you want a really good read on Smith, check this out thanks to Henry Abbott and his excellent TrueHoop blog.

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Quick question:

Did any other group come forward to put another NHL team in Toronto today?

Seems like a daily occurrence, no?

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The things you see …

There may be no more recognizable a basketball icon than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, right? Bald fellow, a shade over 7-feet, was a pretty good player that a lot of people would know, right.

Found it odd, then, to see him at the Staples Centre yesterday wearing a t-shirt that said, simply:

Skyhook.

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Speaking of fashion (and we do a lot of fashion here, don’t we?), there’s Dwight Howard.

That sleeve he had on his arm the other night? The one that’s there for, oh, I dunno, support or to soothe muscles or provide some protection from getting hit?

Um, not so much.

“Man, I just wear the sleeve because I like how it looks. It has nothing to do with performance or making shots or anything. I started wearing it in practice, it felt good one day, and I thought, man, I should wear this in the game, it might make my shot look better. But there's nothing.”

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Finally, one from the mail:

Q: Hey Doug, I meant to submit this question last night but life interrupted me. If they don't reseed (is that a word) the teams during the playoffs, shouldn't the Magic have the 4 games a home. They after all beat the team with the most wins this year. Also do you think Bosh is being a little too honest about saying he wants to wait and get the most money possible and that was his master plan along.

Bob C, Hamilton

A: Hope life’s interruption was worth it.

In the final, it’s the team with the best regular season record that gets the homecourt advantage, just like it is for every other round of the playoffs. The Lakers won more games than the Magic did

Too honest? You can’t be too honest, can you? I think three years ago, Bosh decided he’d like to have some options after the 2009-10 season and nothing’s happened to make him change his mind.

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Okay, gotta run.

ESPN’s putting on some breakfast here in the hotel to discuss the series with some of their talent. Usually, that’s the kind of thing that I avoid like the plague but when the e-mailed said the talent was going to be Jalen Rose and Mark Jackson, how could I resist?

Breakfast With Jalen.

Sounds likes a TV show.

I’ll you know how it turned out tomorrow.

Comments

[Richard Yun]

Hey Doug what's with owning the print edition of the paper? Three big articles took over a page of the sports section (all you needed to do was write one on the French Open and the page would have been all Doug). Then there you are in the ad about Toronto Stsr speakers where you are offered to speak to community groups about all manner of sport. Maybe we get a bunch of us blog fans to form a community group and get you to come speak to us (about fencing or polo or five pin bowling!)

[Rick]

I think my 8 year old daughter said it best (Kobe has got his fangs on ,the other teams in trouble ,right Dad?)

[Rob.V]

Good point on Kobe. It's interesting to see how a kid "having fun" has turned in Kobe Bryant. The business side of things and the lure of being "the greatest" seems to have gotten the better of him. I suppose it's no different than any of us having to grow up in our lives however to see the "fun" in Sports distintigrate before your eyes (over the years) is a shame, no?

It's an interesting point Doug because I've heard Howard say we just want to "play" and have "FUN" on at least 3 of 4 different occassions. Makes me wonder, if the Magic happen to loose this series... if we'll ever hear Howard utter those same words again!

We're all suseptible to this MACHINE!!!

Maybe that's a little to deep for this Saturday afternoon... and now, back to the sun... and a couple of frosty ones.

Go Magic!!!

[Phil A]

I just heard an audio clip of amare stodamire saying that he's better than chris bosh. He was talking in a very arrogant tone of voice. There are days that I wonder why some players think so highly of themselves. Like what has amare accomplished that chris bosh hasn't? Players like him just need to be quiet.

[aditya]

yeah i saw the skyhook shirt kareem was wearing...it was a black shirt with skyhook in white

[Jim Docherty]

Hi Doug

In 1985 Randy Smith played in the World Masters Games in Toronto and for those of us that attempted to cover him, and I use the term cover loosely, he was still the NBA's fastest man and very classy at that. If I remember correctly his team went on to take it all and the rest of us, particularly the Canadians, watched in awe this tremendous athlete and person. It is a fond memory for many of us and I am sorry to hear that he died. It was way too soon.

[Viktor]

Can't Kobe just be himself? I don't think purposefully fitting himself into an emotion makes a difference.

[Ryan from Ottawa]

I get that you're a journalist and when players aren't expressive it can make the job boring, but as far as the Lakers organization and their fans go, who cares if Kobe is being expressive or not right? I mean, if the guy puts in 40 points a night and they win the championship, which would fulfill his job description than it really doesn't matter does it?

[Matt]

doug say BC had a chance at reacquiring Vince, do you think he would do it to keep Bosh happy? I mean a starting lineup of Jose/VC/Marion/Bosh/Bargnani would be deadly and say the deal had Fillers to make it match + our draft pick for VC, do you think he would pull off a deal like that.

It could pay off, bring fans back and media attention to toronto. Also may make bosh happy because that team could go far in the playoffs, so do you believe BC would ever even think about reacquiring VC or is there 0 chance. I mean if the deal was Kapono, Banks, #9 how could he really turn that down and it could appeal to the nets to get Derozan who would fit with their young core.

VC seems like the only legit 2 guard on the market this offseason and we have a problem at that spot. Anyways you know the question, great work on the blog, hope you had a great lunch with Jalen i actually met him once too, have an autographed ball by him actually anyways love to hear back from you.

Matt

Blogger's note: From what people in the organization have told me for months, there's a better chance they sign me than do anything with Carter. Not only is there no way it works financially, it's opening a can of worms they don't want to; you cannot go home again

[Lake]

Would you mind stop posting any question about reseeding? Especially there is no such issue except the second round...