Kobe Bryant: "A Demented, Three-Faced Narcissist."

Hey, I didn't say that. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi did. But if the (basketball) shoe fits...

Michael Jordan Is Not Jackie Robinson.

News item.

From the AP:

LeBron James wants NBA players to give up their No. 23s to honor of Michael Jordan.

The Cavaliers superstar, who has worn 23 since he was a high school sophomore, says players should pay tribute to Jordan for the Hall of Famer's long-lasting impact on the game.

He made the comments following the Cavs' win in Miami on Thursday night, and the news was first reported by The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

James said he's willing to make the switch and he wants to start a petition to get every player in the league to give up their numbers.

The reigning MVP says he will switch to No. 6, which he wore on the U.S. Olympic team and frequently wears as a practice jersey with the Cavaliers. James said he wears No. 6 because his second-favorite player is Julius Erving.

Major league baseball retired Jackie Robinson's number 42 from use by all teams in 1997 in recognition of Robinson's historic breaking of baseball's color barrier.

I love ya, LeBron, and Jordan is one of the all-time greats, but the only real barrier that MJ broke was the one causing basketball shoes to cost a hundred bucks.

And No. 6? Dr. J was great, too, but that number will always be best remembered as belonging to arguably the winningest athlete in American team sports--Bill Russell. 11 NBA championships in 13 years, a pair of NCAA titles and an Olympic Gold medal.

But, 'Bron 'Bron, you'll surely pick up some extra scratch from all those new jerseys you'll sell. Just ask Kobe.

Don't Believe The Hype.

What I hope will be the final post about the 2008--'09 Los Angeles Lakers on JackRabbit Café, excerpts courtesy of Bill Simmons on ESPN.com:

They had the second-best player in the league (Kobe), the second-best center (Pau Gasol), a talented forward with a unique set of skills (Lamar Odom), a breakout swingman (Trevor Ariza), a terrific leader and character guy at point (Derek Fisher), and that's about it. They caught three breaks from February on -- Kevin Garnett's knee injury killing Boston's season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 -- and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs or 2006 Heat -- the cream of a flawed crop of contenders.

Did they deserve to win the title? Of course. But they didn't win because Kobe "really wanted this" and "trusted his teammates" and "finally figured it out" and all that revisionist crap. Check out the relevant per-game numbers from the postseason:

2008 Kobe (21 games): 30.1 pts, 5.7 reb, 5.6 ast, 3.3 TO, 22.0 FGA, 9.2 FTA, 47.9 FG%, 81 FT%, 30 3FG%, 41.1 MPG.

2009 Kobe (23 games): 30.2 pts, 5.3 reb, 5.5 ast, 2.6 TO, 23.0 FGA, 8.6 FTA, 45.7 FG%, 88 FT%, 35 3FG%, 40.9 MPG.

Kobe shot even more in the '09 Finals than he did in '08 against the Celtics.

Hmmmmmm. Am I crazy ... or do those numbers look EXACTLY the same? He brought his turnovers down a little, did a little better from the charity stripe, and that's about it. Ironically, "Unselfish And Finally Getting It" Kobe averaged more shots in the 2009 playoffs than "Selfish And Doesn't Get It" Kobe did in 2008 AND made less of them.

But wait, you say. Kobe played so much better in the 2009 Finals than the 2008 Finals. Everyone kept saying it so it must be true! Actually, not really.

2008 Kobe (six games): 25.7 pts, 4.7 rebs, 5.0 ast, 3.8 TO, 21.8 FGA, 8.2 FTA, 40.5 FG%, 80 FT%, 32 3FG%, 42.8 MPG.

2009 Kobe: (five games): 32.4 pts, 5.6 reb, 7.4 ast, 3.2 TO, 27.0 FGA, 8.8 FTA, 43.0 FG%, 84 FT%, 36 3FG%, 43.8 MPG.

If you're playing the "Shut up, Kobe was better this spring!" card, your only real evidence is two signature Kick-Butt Kobe Finals Games (Games 1 and 5). But if you're selling the "Kobe finally gets it" angle, then why was he gunning for 40 points at the tail end of a Game 1 blowout when he had already taken 30-plus shots? In Game 2, why did he go one-on-four for the winning basket (and miss) and ignore three wide-open teammates? Why did everyone so willingly gloss over the fact that, from the second quarter of Game 3 through overtime of Game 4, he missed 31 of 46 shots and kept shooting, anyway? Or that, near the tail end of Game 5, Kobe was so desperate to drain the clinching dagger that he clanged two 27-footers and allowed Orlando to climb within 12? Or that he didn't have a single clutch moment in the Finals other than his sweet dish to Gasol during their frantic Game 4 comeback?

Look, I don't know how much of Kobe's personality is contrived. I don't know if this is the same selfish guy we watched five years ago, only with a freshly polished veneer that hides every demon lurking inside. I don't know if he learned how to play the part of a leader, almost like a trained actor, to throw everyone off his selfish scent. I don't know if he's sitting there tonight thinking, "I won my fourth title!" instead of, "We won the title!" Odds are, we will never figure these things out.

But I do know this: What Kobe Bryant accomplished over the past 20 months ranks up there with anything that ever happened in the National Basketball Association. He walks among the NBA gods now. Like it or not.

I can only guess that's because of the Olympic gold medal. Right, Bill?