Friday Grudge Match: Featuring Yi vs. the Milwaukee Bucks, Stephon Marbury vs. Larry Brown, Mark Cuban vs. Don Nelson, & Kobe Bryant vs. the World

Friday Grudge Match is a chance for you to weigh-in on the NBA’s most high-profile beefs. Read the fight card below and tell us who, in your opinion, is winning this dispute and with it, the all-important publicity war. Next Friday, we’ll provide the results and give you a fresh round of grudges to weigh-in on.

Main Event: Yi Jianlian vs. the Milwaukee Bucks

How could we start anywhere else? This beef is international. Yi isn’t feeling Wisconsin. But the NBA isn’t feeling Yi’s summer league play and his handlers have been getting ‘misquoted’ in every American and Chinese paper. Blame the media, huh-a nice touch by Yi’s twenty-deep entourage, a size that surely makes every rapper envious. Meantime, the Bucks are quietly keeping all options open by insisting the prospect reports.

The Winner: This one’s still being decided. But the Bucks are winning.

Undercard Bout #1: Stephon Marbury vs. Larry Brown, the re-match.

I need closure on this one. It’s personal. For a year, all we heard about was Steph never doing things The Right Way. What exactly is The Right Way, anyway? And how did Coach Brown become basketball’s moral authority? Anyway, the nomad sideline boss was fired and we never heard a peep about the old man and Coney Island. Ironically, since Coach Brown was fired, Steph’s been doing a whole lot of good in New York and the rest of America.

The Winner: Marbury. How can the decision go against a fair-trade shoe salesman, a converted team-first point guard, and the newest celebrity spokesperson for Tourism Italy?

 Undercard Bout #2: Mark Cuban vs. Don Nelson.

Cuban feels Nelson is still under contract with Dallas, so he’s suing him. Of course, while the lawyers for both sides were arguing, Nelson’s Warriors upset Cuban’s Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. Now there’s speculation the renegade owner prevented Golden State from acquiring Kevin Garnett on draft day.

Is Oliver Stone available to film a movie on this saga?

The Winner: This one’s still being decided. Nelson is winning, but Cuban is catching up.

Undercard Bout #3: Kobe Bryant vs. The World (The anonymous Laker mole, two random guys outside a restaurant with a secret camera, Mitch Kupchak, Andrew Bynum, and the entire Buss family).

It’s Kobe against what seems like everybody this off-season, which isn’t that different from his last few seasons on-court with the Lakers. Business as usual for Bean Bryant, I guess. But Mamba’s trade requests have put him at odds with some die-hard purple-and-gold fans.

The Winner: Not a draw, a stalemate. Both Bryant and everybody he’s battled with have taken some majors hits, which is too bad. The NBA thrives when Bryant and the Lakers are being booed for their on-court exploits. This situation isn’t positive for the league-even if you hate Kobe, the Lakers, and Laker fans.

Agree or disagree with this edition of Friday Grudge Match? Get at us with your winners in the comment box below.

Click here to read and subscribe to Oly Sandor’s NBA Blog.