<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The 76ers, essentially, are a franchise in disarray. They possess just enough talent to avoid being pathetic on a consistent basis, but not enough to avoid reminding us of their inferiority just as often. With that in mind, you place your palms together and close your eyes, desperate for divine intervention - praying that a basketball jewel like Kobe Bryant will find his way to Philadelphia in the near future. We've known for years that Bryant was something special, that rare basketball junkie who signs for seven years at $136 million and still plays as if he would starve without a basketball in his hands. What we're learning now is that he's the quintessential superstar, the player every team covets as much for his mental approach to the game as, well, for his natural talent. Bryant is the kind of star the Sixers would tell anyone they wanted Allen Iverson to be, so the rest of us wouldn't have to sit here hoping that the likes of Andre Miller and future draft picks would elevate this team to a level that reached once-upon-a-time status a while ago. When the weekend arrived, we were preoccupied with the NCAA tournament, and, still, the basketball world was transfixed by Bryant, who was conducting his own version of March Madness. After dropping 65 points on Portland on March 16, he scored 50 against Minnesota, then 60 at Memphis, before ending the week by scorching the Hornets for 50 Friday night in New Orleans. The Lakers won all four games. Surprise, surprise.</div> Source
