Tony Parker Predicts a Championship; Kobe Bryant Could Make $1 Million For 1 Game

Tony Parker basically just predicted a title. “If I play the entire season, we’ll go for the title,” he told the French daily L’Equipe. Did we catch you? He’s not talking about an NBA championship. Parker just signed to play with ASVEL Villeurbanne, the French League team of which he is a part owner. Should the lockout continue to drag on, TP will be in Europe balling for $1,995 a month, and he says if he’s there all season, the squad is going to win a title. Pretty lofty expectations. It could just be a reflex of being in a lockout and away from the Spurs. If he said something like that in San Antonio, Popovich would probably tape his mouth shut and throw him in a basement somewhere. Of course, if he does play in France, we’re assuming he’ll have no problems with the transition, unlike some other guys … Everyone’s talking about the issues Deron Williams is having overseas. We hear about how physical it is and how the defense is in your face. You’d think a strong as hell point like Williams would relish that right? It hasn’t worked out so far for him. But he’s not the only one struggling. Ty Lawson is doing even worse in Lithuania. He went scoreless yesterday in six minutes of action for Zalgiris Kaunas … Click for news on Kobe’s potential one-game monster payday and the former NBA star who is trouble (again) with the law…

Kobe, we love you. But this soap opera is getting drawn out now. After everything both sides have gone through to try to get Bryant over to play in Italy, now there’s talk that it might be for just one game. For $1 million. Virtus Bologna left open the 40-day option as well, but gave the Laker another contract option to speed up the process a little bit. This should definitely speed it up. $1 million for one game. How easy is that? Play that game and you’re halfway to buying Kenyon Martin‘s Denver home … You know what’s crazy? Michael Jordan has been retired for nearly 15 years (we’re not counting the Wizards years. No way.), and yet he was all over the site yesterday. First, it was MJ vs. LeBron. Then, exactly what MJ should be doing in his retirement was a debate that dominated the office in the afternoon … Amar’e Stoudemire was always a very opinionated person. But check out this video from the BET Awards where Stoudemire obviously isn’t all the way there. He tells New York to stand up, tells Florida to stand up, tells the Mavs to Watch The Throne, and then tells New York to stand up again … Hargrave Military Academy announced that it will retire Josh Howard‘s number in a special ceremony next week … Derrick Rose might’ve won the MVP during the season, and Dirk in the Finals, but neither one was seen at all this summer. Who’d that leave us with? Kevin Durant. John Wall. Maybe Brandon Jennings. Who do you think was the MVP this summer? These guys were killing. We might have to go with KD and his defining performance: that classic night out at the Rucker … The summer games might technically be over – it doesn’t yet feel like October – but the lockout games are still happening. Saturday, the Miami Heat-hosted charity game will be streamed online at CBSMiami.com. Then Sunday, it’ll be the rematch of the greatest summer league game ever, Goodman vs. Drew. So far, the confirmed players are Durant, Wall, Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, Michael Beasley, Sam Young and Donte Greene for Goodman, and for the Drew League: James Harden, Jennings, Nick Young, Derrick Williams, DeMar Derozan, Dorell Wright, Craig Smith, Marcus Banks and Ryan Hollins. Who do you guys have? We’re still taking Goodman – even though a few of their players are going to make it a playground back-to-back with the Heat’s Big Three affair on Saturday in Miami. They have the best player (actually, they might have the three best) … If you thought having a heart attack was bad, ask Arvydas Sabonis about the aftermath. For him, it sucks. Among the things his doctors are telling him he can’t do now are smoking, drinking and playing ball. Blows. That’s pretty much everything the big man likes to do. The only thing left for him, in his own words, is sex. We’d say that’s a pretty decent fall back option. … And Isaiah “J.R.” Rider (remember him?) was arrested for violating his probation (it wasn’t said what that meant). We were wondering why he didn’t post anything on Facebook yesterday … We’re out like Sabonis’ sex game.