Chris Sheridan throws this out in his chat today:

If Kobe Bryant continues to say no to the extension the Lakers are offering him, and if Phil Jackson starts to talk as though he’s leaving, Chicago comes onto the radar in a big, big way. Remember, when Kobe was trying to force a trade two and a half years ago, the Bulls were the team working most diligently to get him — right up until two days before the season-opener.

Phil Jackson’s status does have a lot of pull on players — his zen-like qualities and terrific track record will do that. And if he’s not cool with Dr. Buss handing the team over to his son instead of Jackson’s girlfriend, Jeanie, and decides to bolt after this year, it’s plausible Kobe could move on.

Bryant does have one year and $24 million left on his contract after this season, and he has yet to sign an extension with the Lakers. He can use his early-termination clause this summer on that though, and become an unrestricted free agent, meaning the Bulls could potentially sign him. So even though he’s not ever listed in potential big-mane free agents this summer with Bosh/LBJ/Wade/Stoudemire, he technically should be.

But there’s a reason why he’s not: no one expects him to invoke the early-termination clause.

Yet, provided things head south in L.A., Jackson bolts and Bryant becomes disgruntled, it’s possible. But there are a lot of ifs here, and with the Lakers likely to grab the top seed in the West again, unless a lot of things fall together in a row that would make Kobe think otherwise about his future with the Lakers, him in a Bulls uniform isn’t that likely right now.

Derrick Rose has always been sheltered from the outside basketball world by his brothers. Derrick Rose is a young guy, still learning the professional ropes. Derrick Rose is naive and maybe a little bit overly modest. These are all things we’ve been told about Derrick Rose, but never have they been on display more vibrantly than in this little throwaway story from the Chicago Tribune about Derrick Rose’s time spent hanging out with Kobe Bryant for a video game commercial shoot. I mean, just look at these quotes:

“I just wanted to ask him about winning,” Rose said. “I was asking him about [the Lakers] getting [Ron] Artest and how good their team would be. It was a cool experience.” Rose first met Bryant while still at Simeon High when Bryant made promotional stops for a shoe company during Rose’s junior and senior years. “I was surprised he remembered me,” Rose said, seriously.

The more and more you hear from Derrick Rose the less you think he’s reciting canned answers when he speaks like this. This is just him being honest. Which is really cool, I think. Earnestness isn’t common enough anymore. But it also kind of makes me think Derrick Rose isn’t always privy to the reality of his situation.

Like, dude, you were the NBA Rookie of the Year. You were the No. 1 overall draft pick. You almost won a national title at Memphis, sort of, before your SAT test was accused of being fraudulent, which was one of the biggest basketball-related stories of the offseason. You know all this, right? Of course Kobe Bryant knows who are. Dude. Come on. You are either the most modest person in the world or you just haven’t been paying attention. Either way is actually cool with me, provided you keep scoring and assisting the basketball at a high rate, but still. Sheesh.

Basketball players — especially famous ones — hold camps for younger kids. It’s a way to make money and spread the love of the game down a generation. LeBron James’ basketball camp, however, paved the way for an embarrassing marketing moment in Nike history as Jordan Crawford dunked on him ( by now you know the story). Well, some brash youngster at Kobe Bryant’s basketball camp recently told the Mamba that it was “game over” if he went to James’ camp. The four-time world champion’s response was superb:

“You ain’t dunking on me at my camp” for those of you without speakers. And Kobe’s fine to say this; HG at You Been Blinded suggests that this line is potentially a jab at Bron and his sponsor, and, um, well, yeah. It is. But is there anything wrong with that, even given Kobe’s relationship with Nike? Absolutely not — his dig is certainly more directed towards James (who should have done/should do something to get the tape out to the public) than it is to the shoe company. And besides, Kobe even has an out: he’s WAY too smart to let anyone end up dunking on him at his own camp; Bron should have made sure the same thing could be said about him.

So, Shaq is now a Cleveland Cavalier, for their price of a diminished-skilled Ben Wallace and um, Sasha Pavlovic.

A few thoughts that have seeped into my brain since late last night when it went down:

– First, before we get into Cleveland’s end … why did the Suns pull the trigger? I understand Shaq’s contract is expiring after this season, as is Wallace’s and Pavolvic’s. But they essentially gave up Shaq for absolutely nothing. I know they’re rumored to want to get rid of A’mare Stoudemire, and Shaq might not quite mesh well with Steve Nash and their shot at a title with this current incarnation is likely dead and gone, but it always puzzles me when a GM trades away a player of value for nothing. (Though I suppose it does save them a good chunk of change.) Maybe they’ve just decided to punt on the whole Shaq experiment?

– This DOES NOT vault Cleveland to the runaway winner in the East. Of course they will be quite good again next season. But this is not some Shaq-Kobe fusion. Shaq is still an intimating center who put up a resurgent season this past year, but he is not prime-of-his-career-I-finally-found-some-offensive-game-yall-better-watch-out Shaq.

That being said, it certainly makes the Cavs better, and his personality coupled with LeBron’s should be a joy to watch. (Unless you hate LBJ, and think Shaq’s Twitter antics are a cry to stay relevant.)

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Quickly: I don’t believe you can compare Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. I mean, I believe you can compare them, the same way that you can compare Ruth Chris’ and Outback, but, come on people. This is MJ we’re talking about.

How-EVA, people are, invariably, going to attempt the comparison; it’s what makes sports “fun” and “debateable” and “worth of our time” or some such crap like that. In reality, people always want to see the “next Michael Jordan” (hence that stupid ESPN thing) and people like to argue so it seems natural. Also seeming natural: Scottie Pippen (via Sports Radio Interviews), the best teammate Jordan ever had, talent-wise, discussing the two.

Well I think you’re looking at two great players and it’s hard to really compare them. They played in two different eras, they have very similar styles. I don’t know if Kobe has mimicked Michael’s style or if he has his own style. But there are a lot of similarities there - the way they play, the way they approach the game, the ability to close games at the end. It’s never going to be a situation where you can compare who’s better - Kobe or Michael.

See? Pippen gets it, folks. Look, remember: I don’t live in Chicago and I wasn’t that big a fan of Jordan when he played. (I feel the same about Tiger now as I did MJ back then; I won’t ever pull against them, just because I like watching greatness unfold, but I wasn’t a Bulls fan by any stretch of the imagination. Also, he went to North Carolina, and that equates to approximately -5,000 points in my book unless you’re Rasheed Wallace.)

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Know how I know? He’s introducing Lil Wayne and Kanye West at private parties at Club Nokia, which is apparently a cool place? I don’t know. Kids these days and their mobile phone-sponsored venues! But all I know is that if you have a song written about you by a really popular rapper — and then you introduce him at a private party and Arash Markazi furiously tweets about it, because people desperately need to know when athletes and celebrities are mingling, I guess — you’re a cool dude. This is how the world works:

Man, remember when Kobe Bryant wasn’t popular? I do, but only barely.

Earlier in the week, TMZ spotted LeBron James wearing this “LBJ MVP” shirt, and everyone thought it was over the top. I agreed, to an extent. But then I started thinking some more. If Kobe is allowed to wear a shirt with four rings on it, and Phil Jackson is flaunting his ten rings with a special hat, what’s so bad about LeBron sporting his accomplishment on a t-shirt?

But herein lies the difference: Jackson and Kobe are NBA champs. They are winners. And, they’re mostly flaunting a team accomplishment. LBJ fell short of the Finals (therefore, in this scenario he is the loser), and is displaying a individual accomplishment across his chest.

Had LBJ won the NBA Finals, I’m not sure that shirt would have caused such a stir.

ANYWAY, Phil Jackson’s ‘X’ hat was a special gift from his agents — a one-off deal to commemorate the 10 NBA rings he now has as a coach. But he wore it in the locker room after the win, and he wore it at the victory rally and people were like OH COOL I WANT ONE OF THOSE.

Because of this, Phil Jackson has decided to do a very nice thing: you can now purchase the hat for $25, and the proceeds will be going to the American Indian College Fund.

So if you want to be confused as a Malcolm X supporter, you can reserve one here now.