Did the New Kobe just lead the Lakers to the NBA title, sans Shaq? Or was that still the old Kobe and a revised LA cast, exploiting a depleted playoff field?

The debate rages on. First, FoxSports.com columnist Michael Rosenberg weighed in with the prevailing opinion:

“Kobe Bryant has grown up. But his desire — what separates him from somebody like Vince Carter — is still insatiable. On the ABC broadcast, Jeff Van Gundy called him Machiavellian. Van Gundy actually meant it as a compliment, which either says something awful about the world of sports in 2009, or something even worse about the English language in 2009.”

ESPN.com hoops junkie Bill Simmons countered with this view:

“If Kobe DID change, I swear on the souls of my children, I would admit it. I would say, ‘Yes, I watched every minute of the past two postseasons, and my God, Kobe finally put everything together, learned how to be unselfish and what a glorious day it was.’ After all, we’re all in this together: It’s in our best interests for Kobe to push himself up a level, simply so we can say we were there to witness it . . .

“They caught three breaks from February on — Kevin Garnett’s knee injury killing Boston’s season, Cleveland stupidly opting not to move Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract for one more piece, and Yao Ming breaking his foot in Round 2 — and cruised from there. You would not call them great, just very good. I would compare them to the 2003 Spurs, 2005 Spurs or 2006 Heat — the cream of a flawed crop of contenders. Did they deserve to win the title? Of course. But they didn’t win because Kobe ‘really wanted this’ and ‘trusted his teammates’ and ‘finally figured it out’ and all that revisionist crap.”

Still, it is hard to deny Bryant’s place as one of the NBA’s all-time greats now that he has won another championship ring on his own.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if the Cardinals will get the ball out of the infield against Tigers ace Justin Verlander:

• Will the NFL team signing Plaxico Burress as a free agent install metal detectors at the door, just in case?
• Has Artie Lange stopped swearing at Joe Buck yet? (Can’t link there, you’ll have to search it yourself.)
• On the other hand, could Buck have found a better sports guest than Brett Favre? Was every last person in Wisconsin and Minnesota watching this?

SPORTS LOSES ANOTHER CHAMPION

We Twittered this item yesterday. It’s heartbreaking stuff, for sure.

TIGER WOODS HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR

As you can tell with his work with Cardboard Scott Van Pelt.

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Did you hear Tim Donaghy, the disgraced NBA ref, was attacked by a fellow inmate during his stay in prison? Nothing much came of it, though. The inmate, apparently, had a foul to give.”

Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle, on Raiders czar Al Davis: “The growing
‘Al has lost it’ movement took a serious hit when Lane Kiffin became a serial rule-breaker at Tennessee. People started to rethink Davis, calling him brilliant for firing Kiffin. Reputation-wise, Davis was the Comeback Kid. Even the overhead projector looked like an inspired touch.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “The Yankees selected Dolphins rookie quarterback Pat White in the 48th round of the draft. After not winning a World Series since 2000 and being 0-8 against the nemesis Red Sox this year, apparently the desperate Yankees are converting to the Wildcat offense.”

MEGAPHONE

“I know people are tired of it, really. My intentions are not to — although it’s good for you — create controversy.”

Favre talking about his on-again, off-again retirement with Buck.