I’ve been more than critical of Kobe Bryant throughout his tenure with the Lakers. Although Kobe’s character has turned me off, I always respected what I’ve heard is a legendary work ethic. Now I have no choice but to once and for all accept Kobe Bryant for what he stands for after seeing a few clips played on TNT Thursday night. When the Lakers were playing the Rockets, not only could you see Kobe show off some of his new offensive moves, but you also saw TNT play a video of Kobe training with Hakeem Olajuwon during the offseason. Turns out Kobe went out of his way to contact The Dream and ask Hakeem if he could teach him his legendary post moves. Hakeem was thrilled to help out:

Could you imagine being Hakeem and just hanging out at home, only to receive an email from the NBA Finals MVP asking to train with you? Usually the young guys in the NBA are the disrespectful punks who think they know it all and don’t want to learn from anyone. But then you have Kobe Bryant, 13 seasons into his Hall of Fame career, and he still wants to add to his game, and he goes out of his way to contact one of the smoothest players ever in order to improve himself. I don’t know if I’ve done a complete 180 here, but this story has completely changed the way I look at Kobe. Now I really have respect for Kobe. Anyway, here’s the originally Dream Shake in action.

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One of the biggest trades in the NBA occurred a few offseasons ago and it helped bring the Celtics their first championship in 22 years. In the trade, Kevin Garnett was dealt from the Timberwolves to the Celtics after Boston had already acquired Ray Allen, completing one of the biggest offseasons for a team this side of the Yankees. So far several reasons have been suggested as explanations for the trade. For one, the Timberwolves were going nowhere and either Kevin Garnett wanted to get moved and/or the team felt they owed him a shot at a title. Secondly, people suggested that as part of the “free KG movement,” GM Kevin McHale decided to give his former Celtic teammate, Danny Ainge, a nice present. Another suggestion was that the Timberwolves decided it was time to rebuild without Garnett. Well since he was fired by the Timberwolves in June, it seems like McHale wants to set the record straight about the trade that tarnishes his resume as a front office guy. In an interview with the 2 Live Stews on Sporting News Radio, McHale said it was owner Glen Taylor’s financial decision that led to the Kevin Garnett trade:

“There was a contract extension coming up … I had talked to [Garnett's] agent and I said ‘hey man, you guys are looking for some big money, you better talk to our owner on it.’ I called up our owner and said this is kind of where everything’s at. It just got to the point where our owner came back and said ‘I’m not sure I can spend that amount of money — we’re going to make a trade.’ At that point, it’s just try to get the best deal. I really liked Al Jefferson — I always have. I think you’re looking at trying to get the best, young player you can in that situation. It was really just trying to find the best, young player available to get a good, young nucleus and go from there.”

In addition to explaining how his hands were tied with the deal, McHale made another reference during the interview to the difficulties of running a small-market franchise:

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We all knew Manu Ginobili was a pretty talented player with exceptional quickness and strong moves around the basket. We also know that he has incredible hands. Just check out this video of Manu Ginobili catching a bat out of mid air during the Spurs game. No joke, there was a freaking bat flying around the arena.

Maybe this was some sort of Halloween prank because I really don’t understand how else a freaking bat would wind up in the arena. That makes no sense. What does make sense is that the Spurs boat raced the Kings 113-94 and Ginobili had 13 in 21 minutes. Richard Jefferson finally clicked with his new teammates and I’m still patting myself on the back for calling the DeJuan Blair steal of a draft pick by San Antonio. They look like a competitor again this year.

We’ve already established that Tim Donaghy is a crooked person who bet on NBA games that he officiated and fixed. Since he’s already been to jail to serve his time and the league never backed him up, he’s out for payback in the worst way possible: he’s written a book about the officiating corruption in the league that names names and cites specific examples. Although the book doesn’t have a publisher currently, excerpts have reached Deadspin and they’re here for our perusal.

First, here are some of the facts. We’ve already recognized that Donaghy was perfect at moving the spread and delivering. Additionally, one of the games we pinpointed as one he fixed even was mentioned in his excerpt. He even said the reason the free throw disparity favored the Knicks so greatly was that one of the officials was super friendly with Isiah Thomas. Makes sense. Anyway, more on the specifics from the book.

Donaghy specifically states that stars got preferential treatment and that lesser-known players like Raja Bell, who was a defensive stopper, got fouls called against him so he couldn’t shut down the stars as well. He also says that Allen Iverson was given a tough time by referees after he criticized Steve Javie. Donaghy specifically names referees and what their motivation was. The strongest charge was against Dick Bavetta, whom Donaghy called a company man that manipulated games and playoff series including the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and Kings. Tim also said that referee Tommy Nunez did everything he could to fix the Suns/Spurs ‘07 Western Conference playoff series in favor of San Antonio. The Spurs of course went on to win the NBA Finals.

More Tim Donaghy on LBS:
Tim Donaghy’s Bookies Were Only Mob Wanna-Be’s
Games Fixed by Tim Donaghy
Tim Donaghy Was Beat Up in Prison

Laker fans were curious to see how Ron Artest would look in his Lakers debut. They soon found out he’d be content to defer to his teammates on offense and serve as a shutdown defender. Things went pretty well for the Lakers as they beat an improved Clippers team 99-92 and Artest had 10 points, 5 boards, and 4 assists. He also debuted a new hairstyle complete with some (Japanese?) characters in his hair, a Lakers logo, and then the word “Chat” which was a tribute to his late friend, Mike Chatfield. Anyway, here’s Ron Ron’s Lakers haircut from opening night:

Ron’s hair is often a hot topic here at LBS, particularly because a young student got sent home from school last year for mimicking Artest’s hairstyle. As for judging Ron’s hair for the opener, I’d say the Lakers logo was a fine touch but the writing on both sides was a little too much. Still, the Lakers should be even better this year with him in there as a defensive stopper. They’ll be tough to beat once again.

We already knew that Blake Griffin was a monster dunker from his college days at Oklahoma and we figured it would carry over nicely into the pros. It might only be the preseason but it sure looks like Blake’s beast-status is in full effect with the Clippers. Check out his posterization of D.J. Mbenga during the preseason:

Gotta thank LBS contributor Alan for that video. Mr. Hull’s becoming a big Clippers fan this year now that he works for them. Give him a break — he doesn’t know about all the heartbreak he’s in for yet. Who knows? Clips look like a borderline playoff team this year.