The Spurs should now have enough room to offer Kobe Bryant a maximum-salary contract if, as expected, he opts out of his current deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. Most team and league insiders, however, still view the Spurs' chances of signing Bryant as small because the team would likely have to gamble on losing Manu Ginobili while waiting for Bryant to resolve his legal status. Rumors already have surfaced that the Sacramento Kings are looking to trade Chris Webber, a player who appeals to the Knicks. The Kings would want a big man in return. Antoine Walker heads the list of players the Mavericks left unprotected for the upcoming expansion draft, according to league sources. In addition, Charlotte can choose from a list that also includes Tony Delk, Danny Fortson and Tariq Abdul-Wahad. The chances of the Bobcats selecting Walker, set to earn $14.625 million in the last year of his contract, appear slim. The agent for Rasheed Wallace is not eliminating the Knicks from signing his client this summer even should Wallace help the Detroit Pistons win the NBA championship. "One could argue that if they win, Rasheed will say, 'I have my ring, now let me to go New York and see what I could do there,'" William Strickland said yesterday. "Clearly, this is his decision. Detroit is a good situation as is New York. Isiah (Thomas) has not given up on improving the club." Raps GM Rob Babcock has left a message for Raptors marquee player Vince Carter, but the two have not spoken since Babcock took over as GM last Monday. According to numerous league sources, Carter has become disenchanted with the Raptors organization and he may push hard for a trade this summer. The Bobcats on Friday got the list of players available in the expansion draft (from all teams except Finals participants Detroit and the L.A. Lakers). The list is supposed to be kept secret, but various NBA sources confirmed New Jersey's Tamar Slay and Cleveland's Jason Kapono are available. They both make sense under the Bobcats' young-inexpensive-gym rats game plan. A restricted free agent, Slay wouldn't have to sign with the Bobcats, but why wouldn't he want playing time on a new team? Kapono has a nice jump shot, and the Bobcats will need scorers in the worst way. The Spurs, as expected, also formally declined to pick up Robert Horry's $5 million option for next season. Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos will say hello to what could be the future of his basketball franchise next Friday in Orlando. And sadly, he also could be saying goodbye to part of its past. DeVos will come to Orlando to determine where the Magic stand with Tracy McGrady, the frustrated superstar who has threatened to leave. DeVos also will meet potential draft picks Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard, one of whom could be critical to the floundering club's rebuilding plans should T-Mac decide to exit. It might all add up to a telling day for the Magic. Charles Barkley was asked if Larry Bird was right that the NBA needs white stars? "Yes. But they need players who play well, not just white players. The fans are white and the sponsors are white, that's just the truth." Barkley said he rooted for Calgary's Jarome Iginla, the highest-profile African-American player in the NHL, during the recent Stanley Cup playoffs because "he's black." "I don't even know the guy, but I wanted to see the black guy do well. It's not like I'm rooting against white guys. People want to see someone who looks like them do well." Asked if it bothered him to be guarded by a white player when he played, Barkley answered with a smile, "I tossed them all around. Kevin McHale was the best I ever played against. He always guarded me. I think it would have been an insult if they put Bird on me. He was the worst defensive player ever. "He didn't guard me ... it wouldn't have been in his best interest." Sonics center Jerome James has exercised his contract option to remain with the team. That decision was made last month, when he notified the team he intended to return for a third season at a salary of more than $5 million. Marc Fleisher, James' agent, said yesterday he had been given indications a week ago the Sonics planned to protect James from the NBA expansion draft. But Fleisher has not heard since whether the Sonics actually included James on their final list of protected players, which had to be submitted yesterday. Charlotte general manager/coach Bernie Bickerstaff, however, has said he will be hesitant to accept cash payments to allow teams to protect a player. Donnie Walsh refused to comment on how the Pacers will handle the status of 38-year-old guard Reggie Miller. Miller probably wouldn't be attractive to the Bobcats given his age, but the Pacers might not risk losing the franchise's all-time leading scorer. Who Knew? The Lakers have trailed, 2-1, in seven previous NBA Finals. They lost all seven. The Lakers' defense faces two central questions entering Sunday's Game 4 at the Palace: How will the Lakers slow down Chauncey Billups? And how will they stop the Pistons' pick-and-roll? Billups is averaging 22.7 points and 5.3 assists in the NBA Finals, and he's shooting 47.5 percent from the field. The Lakers haven't been able to match up with him. Maybe it's some sort of psychological warfare, but Pistons coach Larry Brown continues to gush about the Lakers. Among his comments during the series: * "I'm a big fan of the Lakers." * "It's certainly not the same team without Karl Malone, and that's disappointing." * On Bryant: "After what that kid's been through all of this year, more power to him, because he's a great, great young man and the way he conducts himself on the court and the way he plays this game makes me feel kind of good I'm part of it." * On Phil Jackson: "I think they have a phenomenal coach." Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal would like to see more of little-used forward Bryon Russell when the Lakers take on the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the National Basketball Association Finals here Sunday night. O'Neal made his plea after the Lakers were thumped by Detroit in Game 3 to fall behind in the series, 2-1. "I would personally like to see a guy like Bryon Russell," O'Neal said. "He's been in the league nine years. Great shooter, pretty good defensive player, has been to the Finals twice. "I don't have an understanding of why he's not in the game. We have a lot of veterans on this team. I would like to see them in the lineup against a tough aggressive defense like this." Kerry Kittles was the marquee name exposed by the Nets for the upcoming expansion draft, but league sources indicated that the Charlotte Bobcats have more interest in Tamar Slay, also left unprotected by New Jersey. Slay, who has played 58 games and 439 minutes in his two seasons, is a restricted free agent. You've heard it 1,000 times. The West is best. The East is least. Well, these NBA Finals might change that perception. But Rasheed Wallace, who played in both conferences this season, believes it's nonsense. "It's just media mumbo-jumbo. The West is just as good as the East and the East is just as good as the West," the Pistons star stressed. "The only difference is style; you might have a little bit more running in the West and you've got a little more banging in the East, but that's [West superiority] something the media portrays." When was the last time a team without a bonafide superstar has won an NBA championship? Over the past two-plus decades, the title has been dominated by the likes of Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Julius Erving and so on. In other words, you have to go back to the '70s. "There have always been teams in the past, like the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors, that have been able to play team basketball and overcome the odds of maybe a superstar-laden team like the 76ers were in that day and age to win championships," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "There's always that possibility and it's a wonderful one that is presented." Then again, even the '77 Trail Blazers had Bill Walton, who would win the league MVP Award the next season, and the '75 Warriors featured Rick Barry. Suffice it to say, it's been a while. So the question for Rip Hamilton is, could he have become this same finished product, capable of clutch playoff performances if he had remained in Washington? "Yes, I think it would have happened in D.C. in another couple of years," he said during a conversation in Los Angeles earlier in the series. "I think it was on the verge of happening anyway. I thought with the team we were assembling then that the sky was the limit. Now, I'll admit that when I was traded to Detroit I joined a team with several veterans [Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Corliss Williamson] who already knew how to play, and it was probably an easier situation to continue to get better." Pistons president Joe Dumars has invited Grant Hill to attend either Game 4 or 5. Hill said he hopes to make it. He joked that he would wear a Lindsey Hunter throwback jersey. Hunter, who played with a young Hill, rejoined the Pistons this season. "I'm genuinely happy for them," Hill said. "Next year, I hope I get to play there for the first time since I left. I'm sure there are people who will boo. But I don't live in the past. I'm proud of my time there. I guess we bridged the gap between the Bad Boys and the Wallace Boys." The Magic, according to league scources, will not protect DeShawn Stevenson, Reece Gaines, Zaza Pachulia and Britton Johnsen in the expansion draft. Stevenson, a restricted free agent who was acquired in a midseason trade for Gordan Giricek, was a surprise choice. The expansion Charlotte Bobcats can take up to one player from each team. Charles Barkley on comparing Kobe to Michael Jordan: "Quit saying Kobe is as good as Jordan. Kobe's a good little player, but he's no Michael Jordan. Kobe is not Michael Jordan. Period." When Detroit Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince was growing up in Compton, Calif., he watched the Los Angeles Lakers and spent most of his time rooting for his favorite player, Kobe Bryant. Back then, Prince said, he could never afford to go to games to watch his guys. But now the lanky, 6-foot-9 forward is getting an up-close look at Bryant, who is almost universally acknowledged as the top one-on-one player in the league, What's more, Prince's presence is causing Bryant troubles in the NBA Finals, which the Pistons lead 2-1 entering tomorrow night's Game 4. And the Pistons' overall defense has left the Lakers' quest for a fourth championship in five seasons in trouble. And the winner of the worst Game 3 outfit at the Palace . . . the envelope please. It goes to the fan dressed in a full jailbird suit -- pants, shirt and hat -- with a Kobe Bryant jersey. Low blow? Absolutely. But these are the NBA Finals. And throughout the night fans posed for photos with Jailhouse Kobe. For about 40 years now, Californians have been turning up their noses at Detroit vehicles, writing regulations that give auto executives headaches and buying enough imports to boil UAW members' blood. So while this face-off between the Go-to-Work Pistons and Showtime Lakers is a good-natured sporting contest, the battle over new cars and trucks is a much more serious fight for local livelihoods. Though Detroit's automakers captured 63 percent of the light-vehicle market nationwide last year, they had only 50 percent of that market in California, where Toyota is the most popular brand, according to data from R.L. Polk & Co. of Southfield. Cars and trucks made by GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler are even less popular if you exclude sales to rental companies, which don't bring as much revenue or prestige to car companies as showroom sales. benmaller.com
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Raps GM Rob Babcock has left a message for Raptors marquee player Vince Carter, but the two have not spoken since Babcock took over as GM last Monday. According to numerous league sources, Carter has become disenchanted with the Raptors organization and he may push hard for a trade this summer.</div> I wouldn't believe for a second that Carter has issues with the Raptors, and that he would want to be traded. I think the media is trying to manipulate what Carter is really thinking, because Carter said Raptors are his life basically.
