When it comes time to recite the full legend of Kobe Bryant there will be no mention of a 68-point outburst in a 15-minute spurt in a celebrity game in China. I once saw Jeff McInnis drop a cool 50 in a summer league game without breaking a sweat. In that same game Tony Gonzalez put up 20 and 10. That would be the same Tony Gonzalez that had not played a game of truly competitive hoops since he was balling at Cal.
All I’m getting at is summer accomplishments are as fraudulent as websites designed by Melky Cabrera.
Wake me up when Kobe is doing this against NBA competition in a preseason game.
Once upon a time these meaningless stories were buried. Some minor bit of news that would at first be urban legend yet would later be confirmed three weeks after the fact. This speaks more to the 24-hour news cycle we’re all caught up in.
For David Stern however this is a good sign. It indicates the public is hungry for NBA hoops of any kind and will settle for grainy footage of Kobe killing a Chinese pop star with nonchalant crossovers and lazy dunks. It also says we need to get a hoops life once free agency dies down.
Isn’t there a professional league going on in some country we can get nightly highlight from instead? I’ll gladly settle for recaps of how Rick Brunson is doing in the Philippines over out of focus footage of Kobe giving it to the Asian Justin Bieber.