Salt Lake Tribune: Bryant wouldn't play for Jazz

[George O'Brien]

Salt Lake Tribune

Jazz notes: Bryant wouldn't play for Jazz

By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune

Kobe Bryant already has said he is willing to listen to Phoenix, willing to consider Denver, willing to think about San Antonio when he opts out of his contract and becomes a free agent this summer.

And if Utah calls, offering a multimillion-dollar contract of its own? He'll probably just hang up.

Bryant said Monday that the Jazz's treatment of Karl Malone will keep him from considering Utah when he becomes a free agent this summer. The franchise's half-hearted effort to keep the 18-year veteran in Utah made a strong impression, he said.

"That's not loyalty," he said. "They've been really unfair. Karl was here for 18 years, worked hard, put his heart into this organization. For them to let him go someplace else the following year, that [stuff]'s kind of dicey. To do that to a guy, that's not consistent."

The constant sniping between Malone and owner Larry Miller sends a bad signal, Bryant said.

"They should just let bygones be bygones. I don't understand the details of the relationship. That's not really important to me," the eight-year veteran said. "But if you're looking at an organization, you've got to take that into consideration. I mean, that's just not right."

Bryant was the butt of a joke during the Jazz's now-infamous skit when the Lakers visited in January. A Malone impersonator, after saying "I want to come home. They're mean to me here," closed by saying "It could be worse. I could be Ko-," and cut off.

Bryant, who faces a trial this summer on rape charges in Colorado, said he was offended by the skit -- but not because of the joke at his expense. "I was more concerned about Karl, not so much what they said about me," Bryant said. "How they're treating him -- that's his old team, and they do that?"

Kobe's comment about the Jazz and Malone is funny "For them to let him go someplace else the following year, that [stuff]'s kind of dicey." The Jazz did not "let" Malone go, he took vastly less money to go to LA to play for a winner. That's why the Jazz ower is so mad at him.

In any case, there the Jazz were never really considered a strong prospect to sign Kobe except to give him leverage to get more money.

 

[fordronken]

Originally posted by George O'Brien
In any case, there the Jazz were never really considered a strong prospect to sign Kobe except to give him leverage to get more money.

I dunno. It's not adultery if you're married to both women, is it?

 

[F-Dog]

While this is no surprise to anybody, even the dumbest Jazz fan, two things stand out to me:

1. he waited until after the game to say it--I don't think Kobe is going back to Utah again this year. This contrasts with his 'thumbs-ups' at Phoenix and Denver, which were both delivered before the game.

2. The reason he gave isn't the real reason (Utah is a vast cultural wasteland with more than its share of racist rednecks). Instead, he blames Utah ownership; I guess he's trying to build a little leverage for Karl Malone in Malone's slap-fight with Larry Miller.


I wonder whether Kobe's going to pull this same trick with other teams:


--not going to the Knicks because the press there isn't nice to him
--not going to Sacramento because the fans ring cowbells in his ear
--not going to Boston because Danny Ainge broke up the team
--not going to Atlanta because they shut down the Gold Club

etc., etc.


You know that Kobe has to be dreaming of a Spurs-Lakers playoff series, too. Imagine Shaq vs. Duncan reduced to a subplot while Kobe spends two weeks hugging (or deliberately ignoring) various Spurs players and dropping hints in both directions...