From Andrew Dampf of The Associated Press: “Italian club Virtus Bologna said it has reached a verbal agreement with Kobe Bryant for the Los Angeles Lakers star to play in Italy during the NBA lockout. “We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus president Claudio Sabatini told a local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange but at this point I’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.” A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday that
Kobe Bryant to Italy? “It’s likely,” he says
From Guido Guida of La Gazetta Dello Sport, regarding negotiations between Bryant and Virtus Bologna: “Will I be coming to play in Italy? It’s likely. It would be a dream for me. There’s a chance it might happen and we’re discussing it at the moment. It’s very possible, and that’s good news for me.” The Lakers star is currently touring Italy with sponsors Nike (today he was at an event in Milan; tomorrow he will be in Rome), but he found time to be
Who will play for Team USA in 2012?
By Chris Sheridan And the first pertinent sub-question on that topic: Who will the big guys be? As in big and tall. Dwight Howard is the first name on that list, because like most of the 2008 Redeem Team, he has earned the right to defend the gold medal he won in Beijing. Ditto Chris Bosh. The same goes for Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant, and maybe to a slightly lesser degree to Chris Paul and Deron Williams. You can also set aside
Sadly, Peter May does not work here anymore
By Chris Sheridan Peter May resigned from SheridanHoops.com yesterday after ESPN told him he could not write for me and continue being a part-time contributor to ESPN-Boston. Within an hour after May’s first and only column was posted on this site, ESPN e-mailed May — who is neither an ESPN staff member nor one of their legions of independent contractors, but merely a freelancer — to inform him of their displeasure. They ordered him to make a choice, and I completely understand why he chose
Bernucca Column: Punking vs. Punching
By Chris Bernucca “There’s a lot of woofing going on in the league. Guys do a lot of talking. What I would like to see, since television seems to be promoting everything, is an off-season boxing tournament for NBA players. Let them put on 16-ounce gloves and fight three two-minute rounds. One thing it would do … it would stop a lot of the woofing going on.” – “Pistol” Pete Maravich, in a 1977 Sports Illustrated article My son plays AAU basketball. He’s not
Spain wins EuroBasket, but can they beat Team USA
KAUNAS, Lithuania — There is only one thing that is ultimately relevant for Americans about the team that just won EuroBasket: One year from now, will Spain have what it takes to defeat Team USA in the gold medal game of the London Olympics? Because let’s face it, this Spanish team showed it is clearly the second-best team in the world right now, just as they were three years ago in Beijing when they put 107 points on the board (in a