Homeward Bound: Kobe Bryant Inches Closer To Playing In Italy

How does $1.5 million over 10 games sound? Pretty good? Yea we think so. Well that’s the latest offer on the table for Kobe Bryant. According to the Associated Press, Virtus Bologna, an Italian club, has now offered Kobe $2.5 million over a span of 40 days (10 games). After taxes, the offer stands at $1.5 million. According to Kobe, it’s “a dream come true.” The deal would extend from October 9th to November 16th, including an “out” clause which would allow Kobe to return to the NBA if and when the lockout ends. The 33-year-old Bryant told ESPN that Italy is his home, where he learned to shoot a basketball. He went on to say that he doesn’t know what’s going to happen these next three months, but that Italy will always be in his heart. How nice. In our opinion, if Kobe was actually going to play overseas, he would have already left. The longer the offer sits on the table, the less likely it’s going to be accepted. At the same time, Kobe loves to make money and loves playing ball. He says it’s “very possible” he plays overseas. He knows what’s out there, and he’s smarter than 95 percent of the NBA players who are looking into all this. But let’s look at this from a different angle. Maybe it’s good for Kobe to get an extended rest. At 33 years of age and 15 years of NBA mileage, it’s not like rest would be a bad thing for the guy. Maybe the rest will rejuvenate the Black Mamba. What do you guys think? … Celtic fans will love this … According to the Sun-Sentinel, Dwyane Wade is “committed to LeBron.” Wade told the Sentinel that all he and LeBron want to do is work, that they want to do everything in their power to make sure what they have now works. Wade also stated in his SportsCenter interview that he and James are “married together” for the next five years. Glad to see these two are getting along. Next step is adding pieces. Or a reality show. The Finals last year were a perfect example of why you can’t win a championship with just five players. You need eight-to-nine dependable players and last year, the Mavs did. Maybe Miami will go after Shane Battier. His name has been thrown around. He’d provide them with experience, leadership, and the ability to do all the little things. Does this move make perfect sense or are we imagining things? You can never have enough of those little thing do-ers … Yesterday we brought you the 10 best assists of all-time in the NBA. Did we get it right? … Here’s the best Bruce Bowen antidote we’ve ever heard. Read this if you want to laugh … David Stern addressed the media after Wednesday’s meeting, saying the owners are not near a deal with the players. Stern also noted that a “larger-scale” meeting has been scheduled for this Friday with as many as 15 owners showing up and a number of big-time NBA players. “Let’s get the two committees in and see whether they can either have a season or not have a season,” Stern told the media. “And that’s what’s at risk.” Pretty scary stuff if you ask us. Basically, S— IS ABOUT TO GET REAL!!! No more games. No more canceling meetings. No more going around in circles. Not preparing for negotiations. Coming into meetings unaware of the current situations. Not being educated on the current problems. NO MORE! We want a season and we want it now! To NBA fans everywhere: when you crawl into bed tonight, say a quick little prayer for the league and this Friday meeting. Please …. Some good news is surfacing though. The owners are willing to back off their hard cap idea, basically the main thing that has been hindering a deal for the past two years or so. That’s huge. And Stern also showed his sense of humor, telling reporters after a meeting this week that “Both teams played hard and the calendar is not our friend.” Oh Rasheed, where art thou? … The Los Angeles Times talked to an official from NBA 2K12 and answered many of your questions about the overall rankings, saying Kobe is lower than ‘Bron and Wade because of his age, and that Amar’e is ranked above Pau Gasol because his season was more dominant. Most importantly, they said Dirk is only an 85 and the weakest of those three big guys because he’s so weak defensively … And NBA 2K12 released another Developer Insight, this one on the presentation. We have to say one of the cooler things in this entire game is how the presentation is made to fit each period of NBA basketball. But something we didn’t know is that camera angles will be slightly altered in each NBA arena to make it more realistic. No two arenas have their TV cameras in the same exact spot … We’re out like Tom Brady‘s hair.