Magic Johnson needs help; he requires help in defending his Laker legacy from Kobe Bryant. Magic is being challenged by Kobe Bryant or at least that’s the view of a national sports reporter. He hates on Kobe Bryant every opportunity he can. He’s stated on more than one occasion “Magic Johnson should go down in history as the all-time greatest Laker!” It all sounds well and good except it’s far from the truth for this reporter. For reasons not fully explained over the course of this writers career he's maintained a constant verbal and written attack on anytime the name Bryant is mentioned.  He's admitted he doesn’t want Kobe to receive a 6^th championship ring which in his view would eclipse Magic.  The public would then believe Bryant might be "the greatest Laker ever."  My issues with this reporter are clear; don’t embellish history to validate your negative opinions of Bryant.

I’m not sure why but this reporter decided to interview former SI NBA writer Jack McCallum. McCallum had written a story on the original Dream Team, naturally they discussed Bryant‘s statement regarding the original Dream Team. McCallum took time to school this reporter he said “Kobe Bryant was still the top shooting guard in the NBA at age 33.” Naturally the hater brought up the name of LeBron James (his boy) and Kevin Durant; reluctantly he had to admit both were small forwards. It was clear the reporter was attempting to name a better shooting guard; he first mentioned Manu Ginobili, then Dwayne Wade. McCallum said both were certainly good players but seem to sustain injuries almost every season. McCallum pointed out Bryant has played hurt through a number of injuries and has missed very little time during his career. The 2009-10 Bryant operated with a severely injured finger on his shooting hand he still managed to shot .451 from the floor near his career average of .453. Reluctantly and with hesitation the reporter acknowledged Bryant is still the number one shooting guard in the NBA, what a bitter pill for this reporter to swallow. As for me I thought it was funny, somebody finally schooled him!

I’ve stated on more than one occasion I have a “love/hate” relationship with Mavs owner Mark Cuban. This time it’s a hate issue if what I’m reading is true and he follows through on it. Cuban claims Jason Kidd’s jersey will never hang in American Airlines Center, he’s taking this stance due to Kidd signing with the Knicks in the off-season. Cuban claims “Kidd mislead me into thinking he’d resign with the Mavs.” Jason Terry who basically did the same thing (free agent signing with the Celtics) Cuban has no problem. He says “Terry was honest with him.” Here’s the way I see this, the Mavs would not have an NBA championship if not for Jason Kidd. I know Cuban paid him a salary but this is the manner you treat a star player. I read all sorts of stories that indicated he took care of Mavs players; I guess that only occurs to the ones who play for his Mavs with the exception of Jason Terry. As for other free agents remember the Mavs effort to sign Dallas native Deron Williams? Cuban on Fox Sports Radio claims “the team is actually better off with Williams not on the roster. In hindsight, I don’t know if I would have been happy.”

It seems such a short time ago I remember watching him play for the Oklahoma Sooners. He played basketball with passion, which was the game of Eduardo Najera the first Mexican born player to be drafted in the NBA. In the NBA he was never able to duplicate his collegiate numbers but managed a 12-year NBA career. The last several years’ injuries had curtailed his career, rather than resume playing he chose to retire. This 36-year old will become head coach and partial owner of the Texas Legends of the NBA Developmental League. I certainly have no idea what type of coach Najera will become or even his degree of success, for sure he will give the work 100% effort he did on the basketball court.

I have a thing about uncovering high school talent, at the same time I realize all prospects might not pan out in the future. There are a number of issues which might impact further development of an athlete. The competition they face might not always be top notch; in addition size certainly can be a factor with taller players. Years ago the Kansas City Star published an interesting story, the son of a
friend they wrote was “the best 8^th grader in the KC metro.” Devin played high school ball but
never reached the level the newspaper projected. He went on to college but wasn’t talented enough to even play at the collegiate level.  We are all sometimes guilty of over-projecting the skill level of an athlete; sometimes we should allow them to develop before making projections that might come back to bit you.