Just so much wind

Just think, both of Kobe Bryant's favorite teams together on the same floor!

Yes, it's the Lakers and the Bulls, in whatever order he has them, who will meet tonight as both teams continue to figure out where they're going.

Everywhere Kobe looks, there's a potential future teammate!

It's not true but I don't want to get in anyone's way with the media set to climb all over the event like ants at a picnic and for the same reason: It's there.

Actually, despite the continued yearning of Bulls fans, Bryant's remote chance of going to Chicago ended two weeks ago.

Having seen talks that were only exploratory and brief mushroom out of control, General Manager John Paxson is now reportedly focusing on lower-key players like Memphis' Pau Gasol in deals that won't make headlines for a week.

Happy with his uncomplicated, up-and-coming young team, Paxson just wanted to know if the Lakers were holding a fire sale like Minnesota's for Kevin Garnett.

Aside from that, the Bulls weren't interested. Having sold all their seats through the terrible post-Michael Jordan years, they're not risk-takers.

They're also 180 degrees removed from the level of drama they featured in their dynastic days. Now they get upset about Ben Wallace's headband.

Unfortunately, Paxson's young team emerged from a week of trade rumors looking as if it had seen its own ghost. Meanwhile the diverse opinions Bulls fans first expressed about Bryant coalesced into a single plea:

When will Kobe be here?

When the Bulls lost their home opener to Philadelphia, fans started chanting "Kobe! Kobe!" No one expected that to last but no one expected the Bulls to keep losing.

At 0-4, the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson wrote that the chants were "now as much a part of home games as Benny the Bull."

"As hard as we work as a team," said Luol Deng, "to hear boos and the 'Kobes' when we're losing that much, it definitely hurts. I think since I've been in the NBA, this is the lowest I've felt."

The players were even happy to head out on their dread circus trip. Said Kirk Hinrich: "We're excited just to be on the road. There's a lot of stuff kind of going on here in Chicago."

It was still going on, too. Last week a Sun-Times gossip columnist noted Bryant "may be purchasing basketball legend Michael Jordan's massive home in Highland Park."

Meanwhile, back on Kobe's current team . . .