Soon the 14 teenagers selected in last month's NBA draft will be lectured in league seminars about temptation and traps, restraint and repercussions.
But who among those about to enter the most immature of big-time pro leagues -- where arrested development can be disguised by a meticulously polished image -- will resist the siren's song of their instant access.
In essence, this is when urgent gratification meets entitlement to form an immediacy for a player to indulge, when an internal "Hot Now" sign a la Krispy Kreme cues a craving for sugar.
All a player has to do is pick up a phone to order up a little excitement on the road.
What lovely lady would turn down a date with levitating greatness; what starry-eyed woman wouldn't line up for a chance to "Love It Live," as the NBA slogan goes.
"Everyone looks available to them," one Eastern Conference general manager once said on the topic. "All it takes is one error in judgment. They're warned, but do they listen?"
With their teenage attention spans as fragile as gum bubbles, do they retain anything? Just a few years ago, the Lakers' worldly, multilingual Jordan facsimile, Kobe Bryant, sat through the league's rookie indoctrination. Was Kobe doodling?
Whatever occurred between Bryant and a 19-year old woman from Colorado on June 30 -- whether it was rape or consensual sex -- he is the one who put his career, team, family and image on the line by placing his libido ahead of the risk.
If Bryant had been savvier, he would have discovered what several NBA veterans have said privately over the years: a professional stripper has no strings attached; a relative stranger is the greater danger. In other words, pay up front, not later.
"I did not assault the woman who is accusing me," Bryant said in a statement on Friday. "I made the mistake of adultery."
As if to underscore their marital commitment -- or to jump-start the character reparation necessary for Bryant's lucrative life as a product endorser -- his wife released a statement almost simultaneously.
"I know that my husband has made a mistake, the mistake of adultery," Vanessa Bryant stated. "He and I will have to deal with that within our marriage and we will do so. He is not a criminal."
But Bryant gave life to that suspicion by taking a dangerous dip in the kind of summertime irresponsibility that has become epidemic for the NBA. Along with Bryant, the names of Damon Stoudamire, Darrell Armstrong and Jerry Stackhouse have popped up in police reports since season's end.
When players skip college and stroll into the league from high school, the temptation is to stop taking notes. Bryant ignored the lesson. Now, he will have to pay his elite Colorado law team, of John and Patsy Ramsey fame, to outmaneuver Mark Hurlbert, the young district attorney from the slow-drip Colorado county of Eagle. Now he faces a Class 3 felony sexual assault charge that carries a possible sentence of four years to life if he is convicted. As he stood outside a courthouse for a news conference Friday, Hurlbert said that after reviewing the evidence, "I can prove this case beyond reasonable doubt."
Bryant's future rests on Hurlbert's failing.
"I have so much to live for," Bryant said in his statement. "And by that I do not mean the contracts, or the money, or the fame. I mean my family. I will fight for them."
So strong now, but so weak when it counted.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was