Kobe Bryant was booed in warm-ups before Friday's game against the 76ers. He was booed mightily during the introductions. And once the game began, Philadelphia's hostility toward someone who is supposedly one of its own only escalated each time Bryant touched the ball.
This city doesn't care that Bryant is, undeniably, the most complete shooting guard in the game. He's despised so much that there are plenty of Philadelphians who would defiantly question his skills, despite a resume that includes perennial all-star status and three league championships.
If a poll were taken locally to determine who deserves to make the Olympic team, there are a few basketball fans around who might pick 76ers rookie John Salmons ahead of Bryant, let alone Allen Iverson.
It's a safe bet, though, that you can't count Sixers coach Larry Brown, who will also coach the Olympic team, among them.
"I don't think there's anybody in the league any better than Kobe, all-around," Brown said recently. "There might be some as good, but..."
Truthfully, there aren't.
Go from city to city in the NBA, and ask anybody who watches these games who the two best all-around players in the game are. It's nearly unanimous. Bryant's name gets mentioned with Orlando's Tracy McGrady (though an argument could be made for Tim Duncan).
Bryant is 6-foot-6 and can shoot, pass, dribble and defend. And while he comes across as aloof to more than a few in this blue-collar town, there's no question he's a marketable international commodity. He spent his early years in Italy, and the black satin suit he wore Friday night, accentuated with a silver tie, was fodder for GQ magazine.
"He's the total package; we all know this," Nets coach Byron Scott said recently. "He's everything a coach wants."
And, like it or not, Bryant epitomizes what USA Basketball wants Iverson to be.
The pre-Olympic qualifying tournament is to take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in August, and Bryant will be on the team if he wants to be.
Bryant already has been asked to join the team by USA Basketball. The organization is awaiting his acceptance letter. About 90 minutes before Friday's game, he spoke to Brown.
"We had a nice conversation," Bryant said. "I definitely want to play, but I still haven't made a decision. I just want to think about it just a little more, but it's nice to be wanted."
Meanwhile, Iverson practices and is coached by Brown every day, and he's still dangling in the wind, awaiting an invitation from USA Basketball. Chances are, Iverson may be waiting until 2008.
With guards Bryant, McGrady, Jason Kidd, Ray Allen and Andre Miller likely to be on the team, where does Iverson fit in?
Iverson is 6 feet tall. He doesn't really play point guard. He wants to shoot 30 times a game, and he has a history of tardiness and belligerence with Brown.
The selection committee apparently isn't paying much attention to Iverson's assassin mentality or his unparalleled tenacity - or the fact that those qualities were lacking in the team that lost in last summer's World Championships in Indianapolis, finishing an embarrassing sixth.
For every point in Iverson's favor, Team USA could respond with Allen's three-point marksmanship, Kidd's leadership, McGrady's supremacy, and Bryant's superlative play.
Bryant's last appearance in Philadelphia ended with harsh and unnecessary boos as he hoisted the All-Star Game's MVP award. He admitted he was hurt by the boos, and received an apology from Mayor Street.
Friday night he returned, and two minutes into the game, it was apparent he was in attack mode. Although the Lakers fell in overtime, Bryant nearly took over the game in the second half and led all scorers with 44 points.
Of the boos, Bryant said afterward: "Yeah, I heard them, but they were fun boos. They just gave me more incentive to go out there and do my thing."
He said that in his opinion, Iverson belongs on the Olympic team: "It's a no-brainer."
When all is said and done, Bryant knows that the choice of trying to win gold in 2004 belongs to him and him alone. Iverson hasn't been afforded that luxury - yet another reason to justify Bryant's status as an exile in this town. Except this time, he isn't hurt by the venom, not at all.
Notes. Along with capturing the Charlotte expansion franchise, Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson will also get a little more out of the team.
Most teams have to pay a multimillion-dollar lease each season, but Johnson will have to pay only $2.5 million per year for 10 years. After that, he doesn't have to pay a dime toward Charlotte's new $260 million facility, scheduled to open for the 2005-06 season.
Word is that Eddie Tapscott, formerly an assistant GM with the Knicks, is a leading candidate to join the front office of the Charlotte franchise. And Cavaliers coach John Lucas is near the top of Johnson's list of coaching candidates. Lucas' contract in Cleveland ends after the 2003-04 season.
Camden High's own Dajuan Wagner of Cleveland is my front-runner for rookie-of-the-year honors. But I won't lie: Houston's Yao Ming might catch him in another week or so if he keeps playing the way he has been.
When Miami Heat president and coach Pat Riley called out referee Steve Javie, saying that the referees were clearly out to get him and that he was tired of it, there was a near-consensus that Riley was crying the blues.
Rod Strickland, one former player, just shook his head. So did his Timberwolves teammate, Kendall Gill. And another former Miami player said: "He's a great coach, there's no doubt about that. But nothing is ever his fault, man!"
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