FanHouse Brian Cook

The 3 PM ET trade deadline in the NBA has come and gone, and while there were plenty of big names rumored to be on the move, few teams actually had the guts to pull the trigger. There were plenty of deals made, however, including one that might have one Eastern Conference team feeling like it's back in the title conversation. A wrap-up of today's events after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

As one of the NBA's biggest stars, Dwight Howard is on top of the world right now. So it should come as no surprise that "Superman" was in great spirits on his 23rd birthday. In this exclusive video, we go inside the Magic locker room and conduct a hilarious interview with Howard after he turned 23. His Orlando teammates, including Hedo Turkoglu, Tony Battie, J.J. Redick and Stan Van Gundy join in on the fun and talk about Howard (Van Gundy: "If he gets 15 and 11, we're probably pissed off.") Also, we get the inside scoop on whether Howard will be back in this year's Slam Dunk Contest.

Check out the full video after the jump.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. NY Post: Alas, Stephon Marbury will not be allowed by the Knicks to practice with kids from his old High School. The NBA: Where inactive means inactive.

2. The Detroit News: Joe Dumars consoles Rip Hamilton after dealing Chauncey Billups out of town.

3. Marca.com: If you can read Spanish, then you can read about Sergio Rodriguez's agent requesting a trade for him. (via HoopsHype)

4. SLAM: Bulls' new coach Vinnie Del Negro, already clashing with a couple of his players.

5. OrlandoSentinel.com: Brian Cook: bad basketball player, worse teammate.

6. Daily News: Baron Davis, following in Damon Jones' footsteps.

Lately, I've been getting sick of the absolutely fervid Kobe Bryant haters. You know, those people who think they understand how Kobe relates to other players, who his friends and enemies are, what he means around the league. So fine, he had a feud with Shaquille O'Neal. Other than that, what do we really know about Bryant?

That's why I found this quote from Brian Cook--a former Laker and one of Kobe's best friends on the team--especially revealing. From Florida Today:

"When training camp opened there were a lot of distractions because of the way Kobe talked about the team over the summer," Cook said. "But once the team came together, it was really humbling to Kobe. He's a good friend of mine and never did anything bad to me. And he certainly set me up a lot of times on the court. Kobe did kind of open up this season and hang out with the fellas some, so that did kind of help smooth things out some."

So the trade demand was a bad move. And Bryant wasn't the most outgoing guy before. But Cook makes it sound like Kobe was an actual person before then, one whose summer flare-up marked a real departure. One that he made a legitimate effort to mend this fall.

I'm sure I'll get some comments here about how insincere Kobe is, and what a master manipulator he is. That's fine, and we'll never get the full story. But Cook has no reason to sugarcoat things, so we might as well at least consider what he has to say.

I always knew Brian Cook was a complete waste of space in the Lakers' rotation, but I had no idea that his former teammates felt the same way. After the Lakers dealt Cook earlier today in a deal that got them Trevor Ariza in return, the team celebrated by dropping 134 points on the Indiana Pacers ... in regulation.

The reasons for disliking Brian Cook are many, but in general, I simply don't like soft players with Cook's size that basically refuse to do anything but jack up three-pointers. There are many, many players in the NBA who can shoot it from distance, but as the saying goes, you can't teach size. Which is exactly why it's useless to have a big man like Cook on your roster who's nothing but a one dimensional outside shooter. If he payed a lick of defense or got an occasional rebound, I wouldn't have minded so much ... but those things happened about as often as the Celtics lose this season: once in *maybe* every nine games or so.

Here are some more interesting statistics from the Lakers' Cook-less-inspired beat-down of the Pacers: Eight Lakers scored in double figures for the first time since 2003. The Lakers shot 61% in the first half, en route to a 71 point effort and a nine point lead. The Lakers scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter with Kobe on the bench, blowing this thing wide open.

Yep, it looks like the team is celebrating Cook's one way ticket out of town just as much as the fans are. The Lakers have won their last three games by a combined total of 60 points, and now that they are without the uselessness that was Brian Cook, things can only get better as the season goes on. Good riddance, you stiff.

I can't believe this is even a topic of discussion.

As discussed earlier in the week at College Football Resource, there's a fledgling effort to destroy the Rose Bowl. Why, you ask? Because it's in the way. Take it away, Terry Bowden:

I don't want to get all our Big Ten and Pac-10 readers in a hussy, but many people think it will be those two conferences that ultimately will come between college football and a playoff system. Florida president Bernie Machin, who is spearheading the drive to persuade college presidents to consider a playoff, believes the only real problem will be the Big Ten and the Pac-10 because "they like their sweetheart deal with the Rose Bowl." Maybe fans can visit www.boycotttherosebowl.com, a site that reader David Barnes of Dallas emailed to me.

I'd be more lighthearted and sarcastic and mock Bowden's inability to spell Machen, but this is taking things too far. Have you ever become deeply passionate about something but maybe lost your focus along the way, advocating counter-productive things? Taken things too far? Have friends ever told you to 'check yourself'?

Well I'm telling the playoff nuts out there right now: check yourselves. I'm not in favor of a playoff, but I can reasonably disagree with its proponents and listen to rational arguments and let the marketplace of ideas do its thing. This, however, is taking things too far. I cannot believe the desperation to make one consider boycotting essentially one of the greatest things the college game has going for it.

My colleague Brian Cook - himself a vocal playoff advocate - has this much to say about a boycott:

Sure, I'll boycott the Rose Bowl, along with puppies and sunshine

In general, a movement's gone too far when it starts shedding former allies who realize things have gone too far. Something's very French Revolution about the idea of a boycott, no? Not good.