Drew League officials to have a meeting with Kobe Bryant – NBA Report
The much anticipated appearance of Kobe Bryant in a rematch between the Drew League and the Goodman League scheduled on Sept.10, is keeping the officials of the Drew League on their toes. According to reports, the league officials
want to meet the representatives of Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles to discuss matters related to his appearance in the Capital Punishment Part -2.
The first competition at Trinity University in Washington D.C was won by the Goodman League 135-134. However the game was plagued with controversies with the main issue being Kevin Durant’s free throws with 21 seconds remaining
and a block on James Harden as the clock ran down. Brandon Jennings, the Milwaukee Buck point guard who was representing the Drew league in that game, immediately tweeted for a rematch and he got his wish.
Drew League Commissioner Oris Dino Smiley also commented on the controversy, “The game left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth and they want them back out here”.
While discussing Bryant’s presence to play in the match, Smiley was of the view that his fame and skills would attract much more attention than he previously did after his surprise visit in the Drew League game where he scored
43 points and a winning shot over James Harden.
“We have some real solid well organized basketball. I think he wants to be a part of it”. Said Smiley.
Apart from Bryant’s presence, there are many other challenges and financial arrangements related to the travelling expense of the Goodman League’s players. Smiley is unsure whether the league will agree to pay. Smiley paid $2,500
as travel expense for his Drew League’s players and is hopeful that the Goodman league will follow suit.
“I don’t know if their guys will be willing to do that. They all are not league players and come from the East Coast.”
Then there is sponsorship issue to get a television deal. In case that does not happen then changes have to be incorporated in the league’s website to handle the web traffic.
With basketball giants on the floor, a massive crowd is expected to come, so Smiley wants a venue with a capacity of at least 5000 fans, to prevent the repeat of the unfortunate incident in which fans holding the tickets were not
allowed as the seats were already filled.
Talking about the impact of Bryant’s presence, Smiley said “Hopefully he will be there. With him, we want to find out where he’s at and whether he’s interested in really doing this. With that being the case, we want to really promote
it and want to be able to get a venue because of the large crowd.”
The representatives of Bryant told Smiley that they will help in landing a television sponsor. He hopes that Bryant’s star power would help get endorsement deals and larger arenas like USC’s Galen Center. Bryant’s participation
in the event will solve a lot of problems for Smiley and that is why he wants to negotiate with the agent and representatives as soon as possible.
Tags: