The whole point is that it was immature and unreasonable of Bell to say what he said (about not being able to play hard for Milwaukee), and equally disrespectful to print his “mea culpa” on Myspace — where he doesn’t have to answer any questions or take any feedback about it, compared to talking with a reporter about it. However, when it came to “I don’t want to play for the Bucks”, he had no problem going to a newspaper.

As I’ve said in probably a dozen other posts, I have no problem with how much Bell is making, I have a problem with his contract being for 5 years. He was underpaid for a couple of years, so no matter how badly he plays now you can justify overpaying him for a couple. But a 5 year contract to a non-starter is always a mistake because it damages your roster flexibility.

middle aged to old writers seem to always forget what it was like to be young, searching for stability and dealing with the professional word (regardless of what your field).

To the guy that says he’s 27 and when he was in college facebook was teeny bopper – I don’t get it. Facebook’s like 3 years old and when it started was only available with a .edu email. So, while MYSpace was being flooded with High Schoolers with way to much time on their hands, facebook was only being used at universities.

If athletes generate millions of dollars, then I’d rather see them and the coaching staff, trainers, physicians receive it than just GMs (though of course they will get their share too). The point is that every job comes with certain expectations and perhaps the way a professional athlete’s salary is so far beyond our stratosphere, so too might be their expectations of how to be treated.

I didn’t follow Bell’s career overseas but maybe he was The Man for his team and didn’t incur this treatment while he was there. That could be reason enough for him thinking there is a difference between the NBA and Europe-ball, but I still just chalk it up to his first encounter (it doesn’t matter if it’s naive or wise, he’s merely confused).

Oh….I don’t even have a Myspace account but I do think you inappropriately characterize it. I am 27-years old and for people around my age it is one of the best arenas of creativity: many of my friends don’t buy CDs they just find new music on Myspace. I think it’s Bell’s attempt to connect to people around 20 – 30 years-old. While I was in university Facebook was thought of as teeny-bopper land and Myspace as mature, creative and artistic. I am not sure whether I buy that, but I just laughed at your characterization since it sounded like frustrated middle-aged syndrome.

2. It’s funny how every response to your blog disagreed with you.

Look at the result. He ALMOST ended up in Miami, basking in the sunshine of dwade and shaq. The Bucks were the ones that screwed this up. A week before they could have locked him up and for less money (Bell seems to have mentioned that they “promised him a deal”) but then miami came in…

The Bucks needed to have BETTER people skills here. Explain their logic to him in private. If bell was a big enough deal he would have staged all this crap through a press conference.