Truant or False?

Houston, we have a problem. Rockets rookie Royce White, who is battling a fear of flying, is now battling with the team that drafted him. White, through his publicist*, issued a statement claiming the club has been "inconsistent" in how it has handled his anxiety disorder and expressed regret at revealing his mental malady. White, who has yet to get into a game, has adopted a Ferris Bueller attitude about practice this week and taken it off without permission. Meanwhile, the team intended to assign him to the D-League, where the only mode of transportation is by bus. We don't know what plan the two sides formulated to help him face his phobia, but going Greyhound doesn't appear to sit well with White^. Houston would only say that White is "not available" - maybe they mean emotionally?

*maybe focus on dealing with the full-court press instead of the press

^perhaps, the question isn't what are these parties going to do, but rather what aren't they going to do?

For Kobe, "The Worst" is Over

We apologize for our unannounced absence. Would you believe we got completely caught up in the WNBA playoffs? You wouldn't? Would you believe we were working with Rockets rookie Royce White, who has a fear of flying, to solve transportation troubles? We suggested he ride in a Rolls Royce. You wouldn't, either? Would you believe we were busy ghostwriting a series of children's literature for Amar'e Stoudemire? You still wouldn't? You skeptical son of a bitch, smushing our fragile feelings like Kobe Bryant did to a certain former teammate, who he didn't throw under a bus so much as toss him beneath a fleet of tractor trailers. Well, at least it was generous of Kobe to grant Parker double the amount of time in the spotlight Andy Warhol would've allotted him. We think Kobe had less of a problem with Parker's 30 minutes of fame, than his 30 minutes a game. Parker says Bryant seldom spoke to him and brushed off bonding to be with bodyguards. Isolation is Bryant's preferred plan on and off the court. It's possible Kobe believes to figuratively separate himself from fellow players, he must literally separate himself from them.

Speaking of Amar'e, he rode a comedy carousel on the small screen that you might've missed. First, he appeared on The Daily Show, plugging his previously mentioned line of basketball books for kids (how he could title a story Double Team and omit Dennis Rodman is beyond us). Jon Stewart made sure to ask him the hard-hitting question of if the Knicks are going to be good this year, forcing Stoudemire to tell a little white lie to a little white man; although Stoudemire astutely avoided answering the follow-up of whether they'll be better than the Heat. Then, Stoudemire cameoed on The Mindy Project, where he discussed his favorite rom-com in a roundtable with Baron Davis and Danny Granger, and was accused of stealing a shawl(what, he didn't get any freebies from fashion week?). Lastly, he was mentioned in a joke on 30 Rock, where a character recommended that if a tourist had enough time, they should check out his private parts. We hope he keeps his, uh, mini-Madison Square Garden neatly trimmed.

*He said he needed them finished STAT.