A Miami Heat Fan's View on the NBA (from Kansas City)

Who can afford Kobe's enormous thirst for money and non-consenting women?

Prediction: New York

Everyone's favorite athlete in the world, Kobe Bryant, is now going by the moniker "Black Mamba."

Kobe calls himself the "black mamba" as a reference to Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill.

If you've seen the film, then you may remember that Black Mamba is on the receiving end of a brutal rape, rather than playing the role of perpetrator.....Bryant seems to have conveniently flipped the roles around.

Robert Horry has always been somewhat overrated in my book. Ok...GREATLY overrated.

But he's still hitting big shots for the Spurs when the money is on the line. It makes me feel old as hell to look at Horry and think he's 34-years-old.

He's managed to collect 5 and possibly a 6th championship ring this season. Yet somehow, he's still a lot of hot air in my book. Is it because he use to look somewhat like Will Smith (in his thinner days when he sported the flat top without the receding hair line)? It sure ain't because of his stats: he's never averaged over 12 points or 8 rebounds in a season. His big game, three point heroics have only translated into one season in his 13-year career when he shot better than 40% behind the arc. 100 blocks in only one season, and after he left the Rockets in '96, he never averaged more than 3.0 assists per contest (even with Shaq to throw it into).

Magic Johnson, after the 2002 playoffs, called Horry one of the top 15 playoff performers OF ALL TIME! Maybe I'll just never figure out why everyone loves this guy. To me, he's a nice player who threw a temper tantrum and attacked Danny Ainge with a towel.

hoopshype.com has an excellent section on NBA team and individual player salaries.

The site lists 30 NBA players who made more than $12.5 million this past season. The names on the list are just astonishing. It's hard to fathom just how these players (and their agents) were able to persuade a team into offering a yearly, double-digit contract. Here's some of the ugly contracts courtesy of the list:


2. Dikembe Mutombo New Jersey / Houston $18,771,511
3. Allan Houston New York $17,531,250
-. Chris Webber Philadelphia $17,531,250
7. Anfernee Hardaway New York $14,625,000
-. Antoine Walker Boston $14,625,000
-. Shareef Abdur-Rahim Portland $14,625,000

-. Stephon Marbury New York $14,625,000
-. Zydrunas Illgauskas Cleveland $14,625,000
14. Michael Finley Dallas $14,609,375
15. Grant Hill Orlando $14,487,000
-. Keith Van Horn Dallas $14,487,000
-. Jalen Rose Toronto $14,487,000
-. Latrell Sprewell Minnesota $14,462,500
22. Eddie Jones Miami $13,455,000
23. Brian Grant LA Lakers $13,233,434
24. Tim Thomas New York $12,900,000
29. Damon Stoudamire Portland $12,500,000

Their's talk that this summer we will see Michael Redd cash in on a big deal such as these.

With one year left on his contract ($30 million plus), Pat Riley and Stan Van Gundy are going to have to determine how much they are willing to break the bank to keep Shaq happy in a Miami Heat uniform. O’Neal, who will turn 34 next season, and is once again falling apart at the season’s most crucial moment. His physical breakdown actually began about six weeks ago.

For as much as he’s done for the franchise this year, I just don’t see him playing 70 games a year at a high level was he’s passed his mid-30’s.

I think the best thing the Heat could do is convince him to do something on a year-by-year basis. Eddie Jones’s huge contract expires in 2007. If Jones and O’Neal’s contract both came off the payroll simultaneously, the team would have a blank slate to start over with. Wade will have to be given a Kobe-like extension soon (The acquitted rapist collected 7 years, at $130-some million from L.A. Future max. salary extensions could be shortened to five years, assuming the Commish gets his way this summer with a new collective bargaining agreement).

P.S. I still say the Pistons will wrap up this series in 6 games. If the Heat can find a way to push it to a game seven back in Miami, then I’d be giddy as hell. Still, it’s hard to imagine O’Neal’s injuries allowing him to help Wade carry the series the distance.

ESPN NBA analyst Dee Brown says he and his wife Tammy are expecting a baby boy next month who'll they name "Anakin Walker Brown", after Darth Vader.

I suppose this is a better choice than Harold Miner, J.R. Rider, or another fellow, washed-up slam dunk champ. How about Jar Jar Rider or Dominique Solo?

ESPN the Magazine has come through with two good NBA features in their latest issue. The first deals with my favorite player in the world, Manu Ginobili, and the San Antonio Spurs. The second story is dedicated to Jimmy Jackson’s journeys through the league in the last 13 years. Jackson has always been somewhat of an underrated, underappreciated player in my book. His play in this year’s playoffs with the Suns has again been exceptional, but at 34, he is probably past the point of being anything more than a one-year stop gap player. I still recall Jackson’s solid performances with the Heat in 2001-2002. With Miami still deficient at small forward, I hope Riley and Van Gundy make a push for him this off-season.

The Sacramento Kings may not be the Western Conference powerhouse they were two short years ago, but they've been able to make a handful of great personel moves in the last two years to make their future much brighter.

This spring they dumped Chris Webber's bad knees and huge contract on the 76ers. They also were able to rid themselves of Doug Christie and his crazy wife, Jackie. Last summer, they also cut ties with the soon to retire Vlade Divac. Two years ago, they were able to acquire Brad Miller from the Pacers. Not to mention, they somehow acquired Mike Bibby in 2001 in exchange for Randy Moss's best white friend, Jason "White Choclate" Williams.

After coming out in 2002 like an All-Star, Bobby Jackson has been plagued by one injury after another for the past three years. He was only able to suit up for 25 games this season. Luckily, the team has the option to cut the 32-year-old loose this summer.

Hedo Turkoglu was said by some to be just as good as Peja Stoijakovic. While Stoijakovic isn't the all-around player you'd like him to be, he's clearly much better than having Turkoglu on the floor. The Kings decision to dump him on San Antonio last year in the Brad Miller trade continues to look better and better.

My only gripe with the Kings right now is there decision to sign Greg Ostertag last summer. Giving him a two year deal (or any deal for that matter) just boogles the mind. I know they were hurting for big men, but it's still a signing that makes no sense. They were, in the words of Neil Patrick Harris, "trippin' balls" when they decided to do this one.

Even if they decide against bringing back Jackson and Songalia (both with one-year options for next season), the team is still capped out for all intensive purposes until 2007. Despite that depressing thought, Kings fans have to be happy to see the roster moves paying off, while other teams have taken on their over-the-hill players.

David Stern will one day make a great socialist dictator.

Stern is blaming New Jersey politicians for the Nets' coming move to Brooklyn in either 2007 or 2008.

"New Jersey blew it," Stern said. "We practically begged them, and the New Jersey politicians did not step up."

Stern did concede that the New Jersey politicians did not want state taxpayers saddled with the debt of a new arena.

"That's a fair retort, but you have to make your choice," Stern said.

Hey Stern -- take your greasy business practices and shove them! You've almost managed to completely ruin what was once a great game and a good league. Maybe Shawn Kemp can take this pint size midget to jail with him soon.

Skip Bayless gives Manu props in his latest ESPN.com column.

On 610 AM Sports today, Randy Covitz and Neal Jones took turns kissing the butt of Mayor Kay Barnes. They both admitted to being possibly naive about the Sprint Center Arena issue, and went on to say that it may just take blind faith to trust Barnes and company to do the right thing.

Beautiful sentiments to hear coming from your city's prominent sports journalist/personalities.

Covitz's latest crappy report dealing with the Arena and yet to be determined tenants, names the Sonics, Kings, and Magic, as all being possible NBA franchises on the move. In the article, NBA commissioner David Stern jokingly says that KC maybe lucky to get a WNBA franchise (uuggghhhh).

Of those three teams, the Sonics are the only team with cap flexibility to give KC a winner by 2007 or 2008 when the arena is up and running. I've already detailed why the Magic are an awful franchise to acquire (you can read it here). I doubt the Kings are going to be heading back to a city they left 20 years ago.

Between Mark Blount and Raef LaFrentz's lackluster play and bloated contracts, the Celtics aren't going to be making the jump back into the Eastern Conference Finals anytime soon.

GM Danny Ainge foolishly gave Mark Blount big-time money to re-sign last summer, and traded Antoine Walker away in exchange for LaFrentz in the summer of '03. Although LaFrentz had the game of his life against the Pacers in game 1, he has since reverted back to his disappointing ways that have followed him since leaving KU's motion /post offense.

People are starting to drool all over Sonic's big man Jerome James.

This perennial underachiever had a good playoff series against the Kings, and now is the second coming of Moses Malone.

I pity the team that gets suckered into giving this guy a bloated free agent contract over the summer.

He reminds me a lot of Benoit Benjamin.