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Kobe's only getting started

by Terry Brown

Send an Email to Chad Ford

Also Below: Is KG crazy? | Rashard Lewis in love triangle | Rodney Rogers tug of war | Peep Show

Updated NBA Free Agent Watch

Updated NBA Depth Charts

NBA Insider Chad Ford will return on Thursday, Aug. 13

Only 10 shopping days left until Kobe Bryant's 24th birthday.

And we're left wondering what does one give to a kid with fame, fortune, three NBA titles, four All-Star appearances, a fade-away turnaround jumper set in iambic pentameter, mad hops, the NBA dunk trinket while still a teenager, his own shoe, a rap record . . . everything?

Bill Russell was born Feb. 12, 1934. He would go on to win a record 11 NBA titles as the defensive monster of the Celtics. But by the age of 24, he had only two.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born on April 16, 1946. He would go on to win a record six regular-season MVPs. But he didn't get his first one until age 25.

Michael Jordan was born Feb. 17, 1963. He would go on to win six NBA titles, five MVPs and demigod status. But by the age of 24, he had nothing but a reputation for shooting too much and jumping so high.

Karl Malone was born July 24, 1963. He has scored 34,707 points thus far in his NBA career and, barring injury, will become the league's all-time scorer in a little more than two seasons, passing Jabbar's 38,387 mark. But by the age of 24, he had scored only 2,982.

Kobe already has 8,197.

Malone didn't even hit his stride until age 25 when he strung together six seasons of 27-plus points per game. Jordan started a year earlier, tallying seven straight seasons of 30-plus points per game.

Kobe stands on the threshold, having already averaged 26.7 points per game over the last two seasons as Shaq's sidekick. He's been named to the All-NBA third team, second team and first team as well as the NBA's all defensive team and all interview team. He speaks two languages, doesn't cheat on his wife as far as we know and scored more on his SATs than you and I combined.

Forget walking. He could dribble on water.

In his first six years as a professional basketball player, Bryant has averaged 15 playoff games per season and rising. Malone is averaging 9.8 and sinking. Jordan is at 12.7 and sinking even faster.

Think about this just for a second. We spend countless hours arguing amongst ourselves over this shooter and that scorer long after they sank their last bucket. Or came back out of retirement. Kobe has been under our breath before he ever took his first.

We began judging him before the sixth period bell rang.

Heck, you called him a ballhog before you could buy him a drink. He was a bobblehead before daily shaving.

It's hard to believe that Bryant is about to enter his seventh season, a quarter of his life spent between TV timeouts while men much older and wiser than he already argue about his accomplishments past.

Where were you when the Lakers made him the No. 13 pick of the 1996 NBA draft out of Lower Merdian High School?

Bryant was born Aug. 23, 1978, too young to legally sign his first NBA contract.

Shaquille O'Neal, the best player of the current generation, says he is going to play five more seasons after hyping Bryant as the best player in the league last season. Do the math, find some wrapping paper and don't forget to rip off the price tag.

I can only imagine what Daddy has under a bow for this party.

Is KG crazy?

Wally Szczerbiak wants more money. A lot more money. We're talking double-digit millions, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, something in the neighborhood of $86M over six years.

He said so in no uncertain terms Monday, going so far as naming another team, the Knicks, as one he'd like to play for if Minnesota doesn't conceed to his demands.

After all, the Hornets gave Baron Davis the max extension. The Suns gave it to Shawn Marion. Elton Brand is expected to get it from the Clippers and Richard Hamilton is making similar demands with the Wizards.

He's just like any other player in the NBA, right?

Except, apparently, for teammate Kevin Garnett.

Word out of Minnesota is that KG, the highest-paid player in the NBA whose current contract sparked widespread labor tension and the most recent lockout, which led to the new collective bargaining agreement, is willing to take one of the biggest pay cuts in professional sports history.

"My understanding is, we don't have a deal yet but it's all been positive," Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said. "I wouldn't be comfortable saying we're going to get a deal this year, but I don't think we've hurt ourselves. It's all been at a high level."

Garnett is currently getting paid $126M (which equals about $28M in 2003-04) and is eligible for a four-year, $139M extension. The Star Tribune, however, writes: "The Wolves are believed to be discussing a more modest amount of $75 million or less, with the idea that the five-time All Star's new salary would track current NBA standards and allow the team more salary-cap flexibility."

Neither Garnett nor his agent could be reached for the story.

"Have we gotten over the bridge yet? I don't know," Taylor said. "But everybody knows it doesn't have to be done this week or next week . . . From Kevin's side, I think he'd like for it to be done. Then he can concentrate on basketball."

Szczerbiak in a New York state of mind

Steve Aschburner / Minneapolis Star Tribune

Taylor optimistic about talks with Garnett

Steve Aschburner and Judd Zulgad / Minneapolis Star Tribune

Rashard Lewis in love triangle

Now, it's come to name-calling.

First, Rashard Lewis' current team, the Sonics, offered the free-agent forward a seven-year contract worth between $60M and $75M. Lewis balked at the offer, threatening to leave if he did not receive a max extension.

The Mavericks countered with the helicopter rides, cheerleaders and a night on the town to go along with all they could legally offer, the mid-level exception starting at $4.5M

Recently, Lewis' hometown of Houston has jumped in, tugging at his heartstrings also offering that mid-level exception. Lewis and his agent are said to have already talked with the Rockets and could meet as early as today to get more serious.

But not before Mavericks owner Mark Cuban fired off an e-mail concerning Sonic owner Howard Schultz after a few comments Schultz made about the free-wheeling owner to the local Seattle newspaper.

It read: "They have chosen to build their organization through minimizing costs at the expense of what they can pay players. The Mavs have chosen to maximize revenues so that we have a better opportunity to reward our players. Each team has to make their own choices, and it will be entertaining and interesting to see how Howard goes through the same process with Gary [Payton] and Bones [brent Barry], then Desmond [Mason], then Vlade [Radmanovic]. Calling other teams the bad guys might work once."

Schulz responded on Sunday to the Post Intelligencer. "I'm not going to play the game that Cuban plays and create false expectations. What I've tried to communicate to Rashard is a sense of loyalty and ethical standard he can rely on with me."

Cuban didn't stop there. "If Rashard does come to the Mavs, then Howard can watch him on TV 22 times," Cuban wrote of the favored Mavs' exposure on National television, "along with everyone else who votes for the all star teams."

Seattle GM Rick Sund, after offering Lewis to the Mavs in an insulting sign and trade for a combination of either Michael Finley, Steve Nash and/or Dirk Nowitzki (all three of them All-Stars), said: "We knew from the beginning that Rashard would look around and quite frankly, I thought he would take even more visits," Sund said. "Of course, we'd like to get it done here. But that's what free agency is all about. He has the control and freedom to see what else is out there."

Lewis, Rockets open talks

Jonathan Feigen / Houston Chronicle

Lewis pays Houston visit

Percy Allen / Seattle Times

Rhetoric on Lewis heats up

Danny O'Neil / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

No sign-and-trade deal with Mavs

Frank Hughes / Tacoma News Tribune

Rodney Rogers tug of war

If the Celtics don't want the slick shooting Rodney Rogers, then the Nets or Timberwolves would be glad to take the free agent off their hands.

"No, we don't have a deal," said Nets president Rod Thorn Monday to the N.Y. Daily News, shooting down reports that Rogers was Meadowlands-bound. "But we're actively pursuing a shooter, and we could use someone like [Rogers]."

The Nets are supposedly offering the former Sixthman of the Year $2.8M for the season to replace the traded Kieth Van Horn while Minnesota has countered with the full $4.5M mid-level exception. Rogers averaged 12 points per game last season and over his career, and is also being pursued by the Sonics and Sixers.

Nets, Wolves take shot at Rogers

Mitch Lawrence / New York Daily News

Peep Show

Mavs: Maybe Mark Cuban doesn't mean what he says. A day after forbidding his players to participate in the World Games for their respective countries without adequete insurance, he is reportedly giving his blessing to Dirk Nowitazki, who said he'd even pay some of the premium himself. "I'm still at huge risk," Cuban maintained. "[but] Germany cares. Dirk cares. USA Basketball and the NBA don't." The Dallas Morning News is reporting: No other NBA team is at risk to lose as much as the Mavericks, who have five players on qualifying teams in the competition. Four of those players — Nowitzki, Michael Finley, Raef LaFrentz and Steve Nash — will combine to earn roughly $35 million this season. "If Canada and USA Basketball come up with the same coverage as Germany, I'm glad to let the guys play on those teams," Cuban said. "If they don't, I can't tell them, I can't even ask them not to, but I can make my feelings known publicly."

Blazers: Former Clipper point guard Jeff McInnis has signed a three-year deal with Portland after the Blazers added point guard Antonio Daniels to a roster that already included a maxed out Damon Stoudamire, who also plays point guard. Jeff and Antonio give us two big bodies in our backcourt that make us that much tougher in this area," Portland coach Maurice Cheeks said.

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