KOBE TO KNICKS: Lets Talk in July.

June 9, 2004 -- LOS ANGELES — Rev up the engines of James Dolan's yacht. Free-agent-to-abe Kobe Bryant told The Post yesterday he would make a recruiting visit to New York if the Knicks extend an invitation in three weeks, when the free-agency courting period begins.
Knick President Isiah Thomas is not allowed to speak to Bryant or his agent Rob Pelinka until July 1. At yesterday morning's shootaround before the Lakers' gutsy 99-91 OT win last night in Game 2 of the Finals, Bryant was asked if he would pay New York a visit if Thomas invited him, as is expected.

"I'll be there," said Bryant, who scored 33 points and hit the game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds to go last night, sending the game into overtime.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Kobe said. "I'm going to listen to all options. If he invites me, I'll be there."

That's all Bryant was willing to say. But it was enough, as his policy is not to speak to the media at home shoot-arounds.

Thomas is not permitted to speak on potential free agents, at the risk of violating tampering rules. There's a possibility Thomas can meet with Bryant in L.A. in July because the Knicks' summer-league team has entered the event in Long Beach, Calif.

NY Post.

I thnink he's good as gone. He doesn't want to share the limelight with Shaq anymore. But.......he's going to find out what it's like not to have the most dominant big man in the league drawing double and triple teams to open up the floor for him.

Rikers Island, new york

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DE NIRO:
Rikers Island, new york <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

don't have the cap room to sign Kobe, unless they want to pay mucho luxury tax. I suppose that's a possibility.

This doesn't get mentioned much but I imagined it rubs Kobe the wrong way that Shaq can basically make twice what he makes on the same team. Same deal happened with Marbury/Garnett; KG signed the huge deal (though he has now given back about 10 mil/year on his new contract to enable the Wolves to sign other players) and the new CBA kicked in a year later, limiting Marbury to about half of what Garnett's final year was worth, and about 65% of the total contract package over 6 years. Marbury admitted that this burned him up and it was one of the reasons he forced his way out.

I still totally can see Kobe ending up in Chicago if the idiots in the front office put their crap together. Only Kobe could think he could just go into Chicago and follow in Mike's footsteps to revive the team. As much as NY is a good spot for him, I can't see the Knicks paying the outrageous tax and dealing with the "one-ball" issue if they have Steph and Kobe in the same backcourt.