The Last Season of the Black Mamba?

It’s one of the burning questions the NBA season: will 37-year old Kobe Bryant, one of the league’s legendary players, finally call it quits after a sterling 20-year NBA career?

Let’s take a look at four factors that could possibly push Kobe Bryant into retiring after this season.

FACTOR #1: DECLINING SKILL SET

Kobe Bryant is more than aware that he’s no longer the player that he used to be. Unfortunately, his reaction to that awareness is to deny it and try to prove it false. That’s leads to him putting up horrible numbers on a team that’s lost 5 of its first 6 games.

Bryant’s season stat line seems respectable enough: 16.2 ppg 2.6 apg and 3.8 rpg. But that’s before you realize that he gets his 16 points on 32% shooting and, worse, on 21% from the 3pt line. His threeepoint percentage is especially horrible since he’s shooting almost 8 threepointers a game. For context, Kevin Durant is only shooting around 7 threepointers per game and he’s hitting 42% of those.

Kobe, CP3 Can't Play In China!

Kobe Bryant, say goodbye to your Chinese basketball career.

The Chinese Basketball Association issued the first in what is expected to be a series of rules and regulations regarding the possible entry of NBA players in the league.

This first rule may be the toughest one, as NBA superstars like Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul are now effectively banned from joining the league.

Only NBA free agents will be allowed to sign contract with the league and another restriction that will be imposed is that they have to stay for the entire season. This runs counter to the present contracts being signed by NBA players with other leagues, wherein an opt out clause is included.


More on this story here.

Kobe To Play In Turkey?

Are we about to see Deron Williams and Kobe Bryant play on the same team?

If Turkey's Besiktas had its way, yes would be the answer.

Besiktas coach Ergin Ataman said that Bryant's representatives have contacted them about the possibility of the Lakers superstar playing there during the lockout. But Ataman said that for that to happen, Besiktas would need a sponsor to help pay Bryant's salary.

Ataman also said that representatives of other NBA players have also contacted them

More on this story here.

Mavs Shock Lakers Again!

The Mavs pulled off a shocker by beating the Lakers in Game 1. Could they do it again?
Evidently, they can and did, winning Game 2 93-81.

The Dallas Mavericks scored just 17 points in the third quarter but they also held the Lakers to 13 points to take a 6point lead into the fourth. They then continued to choke the Lakers offense to submission as Kobe Bryant (9-20), Ron Artest (4-10) and Lamar Odom (3-12) had less than stellar shooting games.

Upsets Galore In NBA Playoffs: Mavs Surprise Lakers!

Let me be the first to say it...the NBA Playoffs have been exciting, and unpredictable, as hell!

There's the unexpected beatdown the supposedly soft Hawks gave to the Magic, despite the magnificent series Dwight Howard had.
There's the yawner of a series between the Celtics and the Knicks, which was supposedly a match up made in heaven.
There's the rough-and-tumble series between the Bulls and the feisty Pacers, who made every game a fight to the death.
And there's the Cinderella Grizzlies totally demolishing the top seeded Spurs, dominating basically every game of that series.

And now, in the second round, another set of upsets.

Crygate: A New Chapter in the Miami Heat Saga!

And when it rains, it pours.

The Miami Heat find themselves in another kind of scandal when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra remarked the some Heat players were crying in the locker room.

This, of course, touched off a chain reaction of snide remarks from people within the league.

Here are some excerpts from Michael Wallace's ESPN article (after the jump).

KOBE BRYANT DOES IT AGAIN!

Un-be-lie-va-ble.