ORLANDO, Fla. - Whatever ailed Kobe Bryant that forced him to pull out of his All-Star Game media session subsided by Saturday morning, which meant Bryant was able to hold court with reporters for the first time this weekend.
Bryant, who said his illness Friday was the result of eating something that didn't agree with him, touched on a variety of subjects while waxing nostalgic over his 14 th All-Star appearance.
How much has changed between his first appearance and this one?
Bryant remembers running around New York with Kevin Garnett during his first All-Star weekend as a teenager, scoffing at older teammates Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler's warnings that the relentless pace wanes over time.
Now at 33, he looks forward to resting more than carrying on, although he did leave room for one splurge while he was in Orlando.
"I haven't had a chance to go to Disneyworld yet," he said. "Maybe I'll do that."
As for Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, who is acting as unofficial host this weekend while also playing out his very public feud with the Magic, Bryant senses some uneasiness.
"A little awkward, isn't it?" he said. "It's awkward."
Having been in Howard's shoes at one point - it wasn't so long ago Bryant demanded the Lakers trade him much like Howard has done with the Magic - Bryant can empathize.
"He just wants his team to be better," Bryant said. "Players sometimes reach a certain level of frustration when
they don't feel the needle is moving in the right direction. So I'm sure he's a little frustrated."Bryant has also been observing the Jeremy Lin phenomena, and judging by how good the New York Knicks guard is, Bryant wonders how many so-called talent evaluators can overlook such a good player.
"They all would be fired if I owned the team," Bryant said. "I hear all this stuff how it came out of nowhere and I just think that's a load of crap. You can't play that well and just come out of nowhere. There has to be something there and everybody just missed it. So heads would roll."
Stern defends Paul decision
NBA commissioner David Stern defended his role in the Chris Paul-to-Lakers trade in which he stepped in and nixed the deal.
"I didn't veto anything," Stern maintained. "We are acting on behalf of the owners, as the owner's rep. New Orleans decided not to make the trade."
He also dismissed the notion he somehow stopped the trade, arguing it never officially reached the level of actual trade.
"There's no superstar that gets traded in this league unless the owner says, 'Go ahead with it,'" Stern said. "And in the case of New Orleans, the representative of the owner said 'That's not a trade we're going to make.'"
That representative was Stern himself.
"Correct," he said.
So in effect it was Stern's decision to turn down the Lakers offer.
"I said that New Orleans would not make the trade that had been proposed to them," Stern clarified.
Asked whether he made the right decision turning down the Lakers trade and saying yes to the Clippers proposal, Stern said time will tell.
"You know, buy a ticket and see," Stern said. "We'll see how it's works out."
And the Slam Dunk champion is ...
Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans won the Slam Dunk contest, earning the title in a multimedia fan vote over Indiana's Paul George, Houston's Chase Budinger and Minnesota's Derrick Williams.
Evans' best dunk came in the second round when Jazz teammate Gordon Hayward threw up two basketballs while sitting in a chair and Evans leaped over him, grabbed a basketball in each hand and dunked them.
George, who played at Knight High in Palmdale, electrified the crowd when he turned the lights off in the arena and threw down a 360 windmill dunk in the dark.
The second-year Indiana Pacers forward also completed a dunk in which he used one hand to stick a photo of former Pacers coach Larry Bird on the backboard before throwing the dunk down.
Love from long range
Minnesota Timberwolves star and former UCLA standout Kevin Love won the 3-Point Shootout, prevailing in overtime over Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant.
"I'm a guy that loves to rebound, a guy that loves to play inside, really be a physical player," Love said. "But for me, coming into the league, I was told not to shoot three-point shots so to be where I am today and continue to work on my game, I think this definitely speaks to my versatility."
Flying under the radar
Miami Heat stars LeBron James, Dywane Wade and Chris Bosh are back on the East All-Star team but it seems different the second time around.
Maybe it's just the passage of time, or new stories to consume, but the Heat just don't push the needle like they did last year when it seemed the whole world hated them.
Miami is the best team in basketball, but no one seems bothered by it anymore.
"I don't know, man. You know, we just go out as a team, as a unit," James said. "We just try to come represent our team the best way we can and keep moving forward."
James also defended his decision to avoid the Slam Dunk contest throughout his career.
"That's not me. I'm not a dunk contest type of guy," James said. "I'm an in-game dunker. I kind of improvise during the game. But I don't know, I'm not all for scoreboards and all that stuff. "
vincent.bonsignore@dailynews.com
Source: http://www.sgvtribune.com/lakers/ci_20047698?source=rss
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