By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Kobe Bryant expects the worst. The rest of us expect, well, something. Some kind of nasty reaction Wednesday night to Kobe's first game in Colorado since he was accused of rape in Colorado.
That said ...
If Denver is truly mad at someone, at least Denver's basketball community, it should be saving its vitriol for a basketball issue. For two Wednesdays from now: Jan. 21.
That's the next time the Phoenix Suns are at the Pepsi Center.
Nuggets fans have fresh justification for plainly booing the Suns, all stemming from the megadeal Phoenix completed Monday with New York.
The Suns, suddenly, will be a major player in free agency this summer. They will either unload Tom Gugliotta, most likely to Utah, or let his contract run out; then the Suns will have gobs of cap room to throw at Bryant and every other good free agent on the market.
Until the Stephon Marbury trade, Denver was the only cap-room team that figured to have a shot at generating serious consideration from marquee free agents like Rasheed Wallace and Steve Nash and, on a smaller scale, Mehmet Okur and Manu Ginobili. That's because the only other teams with significant cap room next summer will be the Clippers -- only a contender for Kobe because he's interested in them -- and San Antonio (which has to worry about re-signing Ginobili first) and Utah. The Jazz, as we all know, isn't exactly famous for luring free agents to Salt Lake City.
Yet no longer will Denver be running unopposed. The Nuggets are going to have to tussle for talent with the Suns, whose reputation for attracting talent is the complete opposite of Utah's.
Not saying the Nuggets can't win out, because Kiki Vandeweghe has done a fine job of clearing out all the high salaries on his roster and gradually building it back up with Nene and Carmelo Anthony and handy helpers like Marcus Camby and Earl Boykins. He was roundly ripped last summer for failing to sign a free-agent name bigger than Andre Miller, but the criticism was misguided. Vandeweghe was smart enough to pursue the free agents he had a realistic chance at signing, while saving plenty of cap room for the future to continue the team-building.
Now, though, there's a Suns block to contend with. An uprising no one saw coming.
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Since the trade, there has been widespread speculation that the Suns dumped Marbury and Penny Hardaway and anything else the Knicks would take because Jerry Colangelo is preparing to sell the team.
Misguided again.
Colangelo
Colangelo is indeed on record as saying he's not opposed to aligning with an ownership partner willing to buy in and leave him in control of the club.
Thing is, moving out all the contracts Phoenix ditched Monday -- worth some $107 million in long-term savings -- makes such a partnership less necessary for Colangelo. No longer does he have an expensive team that is woefully underperforming.
Fact is, every NBA team is for sale. Even Mark Cuban would have to listen if some maverick came in (like he did) with an offer too rich to refuse. But the Suns? Monday's blockbuster actually makes a sale less likely.
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So who's leading the Kobe Sweepstakes as we approach the 41-game midpoint of the season?
Let's be clear: The Lakers still occupy the top spot, if somewhat nervously.
The Clippers are second, because Kobe's interest in playing for Mike Dunleavy and alongside pal Corey Maggette -- as covered here Nov. 19 -- is quite real. "They're saving all their pennies for him," said one Clips insider. "They've got their fingers crossed."
Third? How can you vote against the Suns? He'd have to take a major pay cut to go anywhere else, and don't forget the fable that claims Bryant chose No. 8 because Mike D'Antoni (who wore No. 8 in Italy) was Kobe's favorite player as a kid.
We're guessing D'Antoni will get over how quickly he was dumped by the pre-Kiki Nuggets if that fantasy materializes and Phoenix can beat out Dunleavy's Clips and cap-friendly Denver to steal Kobe away from the Lakers.
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One more time: Memphis will not have the cap room to pursue Bryant outright. And, sorry, there's no way Mitch Kupchak signs-and-trades Bryant to Jerry West. No how.
