On the surface, it seems pretty simple. Kobe Bryant has been a greater player than Tim Duncan. But is he really better? It's not so simple when you look at the numbers:

Kobe has won five NBA titles with the Lakers. Tim Duncan has won four titles with the San Antonio Spurs and could win his fifth this season.

Kobe has won two NBA Finals MVP awards. Duncan has won three NBA Finals MVP awards.

Kobe is a 14-time All-Star. Duncan is a 13-time All-Star.

Kobe has won one regular-season MVP award. Duncan has won two.

Kobe has been named to the all-defensive first team nine times. Duncan has been named to the all-defensive first team eight times.

Kobe is 10th in NBA history with a 25.4 points per game average. Duncan is 48th with 20.3 points per game.

Kobe is 207th in NBA history with 5.29 rebounds per game. Duncan is 21st with 11.28 rebounds per game.

Those are the numbers. There are plenty of intangibles to consider too, such as teammates' ability, etc.

So, who gets your vote?

Roy Oswalt had offers from several teams during the off-season. But the three-time All-Star pitcher decided to wait until the right situation came along before committing to his 12th major league season.

That situation arrived Tuesday, when the Texas Rangers -- the team with the best record in the American League -- agreed to a minor-league deal with the free-agent pitcher, who is expected to make his first start with Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday before joining the Rangers' rotation within a few weeks.

The deal is worth $4 million if he joins the team by July 1, with Oswalt able to make as much as $1 million more depending on how many starts he makes.

Oswalt had expressed interest in joining the two-time defending AL champs during the off-season, but the team already had its rotation set. Still, the Rangers kept in touch, with team officials going to Mississippi to watch him pitch two weeks ago, days before starter Neftali Feliz went on the disabled list.

Now the timing seems to be...

The Terrell Owens saga took yet another interesting turn on Tuesday.

Owens is the NFL's second all-time leader in receiving yards, but after burning one bridge after another in the league, he cannot find a team willing to use a roster spot on him. And now he cannot even hold a job in the Indoor Football League.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Allen (Texas) Wranglers announced that Owens had been cut from the team and would lose his ownership stake in the franchise as well. Wranglers owner Jon Frankel cited Owens' refusal to play in two upcoming road games with possible playoff implications, as well as his no-show for a scheduled appearance at a local children's hospital, as reasons for the dismissal.

"It is impossible to maintain a player when even our fans notice and comment on a player's lack of effort both on and off the field," Frankel saidof Owens, who was not contractually obligated to play in all of the team's road games. "We need to do what is best for this team, our fans...

Jered Weaver, the Angels’ ace and starting pitcher for the American League in last summer’s All-Star Game, was put on the 15-day disabled list after he was diagnosed Tuesday with a lower-back strain and spasms.

The lanky right-hander said he has a strain with spasms and some inflammation in one of his disks. He expects to miss two to three starts but no definitive timetable has been set for his return.

"It's disappointing news, but it feels a lot better than it did yesterday," Weaver said.

Right-hander Garrett Richards, who is already with the team, will be recalled from triple-A Salt Lake.

Weaver, who is 6-1 with a 2.61 earned-run average in 11 starts, left Monday night’s game against the New York Yankees after 12 pitches because of severe lower-back pain, which the right-hander said felt like “somebody stabbed me in the back.”

Weaver underwent an MRI exam and X-rays Tuesday, but it was unclear 3 1/2 hours before the Angels’ game against the...

Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau and Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin will blog for The Times occasionally throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. Today, Boudreau gives his general thoughts on the Kings as they prepare to play the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Final.

Hello, hockey fans.

Before we talk about the Stanley Cup Finals, a quick look back at the conference finals:

As I said last week, I think Phoenix took it as far as they could go. They played as well as they could play. L.A. didn’t play great in Game 4, but they had been playing at such a high level, at some point they were going to have an off game. But they weathered the storm early in Game 5 in Phoenix and went on from there. The better team definitely won the series. But let’s give the Pacific Division credit, the best division in hockey!

Here is my theory on the Rangers: One of the reasons I think they won the East in the regular season is that they are the hardest working team in the league. They...

The Clippers informed Coach Vinny Del Negro Tuesday that the team will pick up his contract option for the 2012-13 season, said sources that were not authorized to publicly speak on the matter.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling, president Andy Roeser and vice president of basketball operations Neil Olshey came to the conclusion that Del Negro would at least finish his third year as coach of the Clippers.

Del Negro took the Clippers to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, where they were swept in four games by the San Antonio Spurs.

But it was just the second time in the 31 years Sterling has owned the team that the Clippers reached the semifinals of the playoffs.

Del Negro led the Clippers to a 40-26 record during the shortened, 66-game lockout season, the 60.6% winning percentage the highest in franchise history for a single season.

He came under intense scrutiny and his job became tenuous after the Clippers lost three consecutive games in March.

But Del Negro and the Clippers...

It appears Serena Williams' run at the French Open will end almost before it starts.

Williams lost her first-round match Tuesday to Virginie Razzano, who pulled off a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 upset on home soil.

The 13-time major winner was two points from victory several times in the second set, but couldn't pull off the win despite leading the tiebreaker, 5-1. Razzano won six consecutive points to force a third set.

"I made so many errors today, which isn't the game I was playing in the past," Williams said. "That's life."

Williams had won 46 straight first-round matches in Grand Slam tournaments. The French Open is the only Grand Slam she has not won multiple times -- her last championship victory at Roland Garros came in 2002.

The loss marked the first time Williams failed to advance past the third round of a major tournament since the 2006 Australian Open.

Williams is ranked No. 5 in the world and appeared poised to be contender at the French Open following her victory over Victoria Azarenka...

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman was sentenced to 104 hours of community service by an Orange County court commissioner Tuesday after being found guilty of contempt for failing to pay child support.

Rodman, who was found guilty on four counts of failing to pay child support last year, must also continue to pay child support to his former wife.

Rodman's lawyer claimed last year that his client was "broke" and that he was unable to pay. Rodman's alcoholism and tarnished image have hurt Rodman's ability to pay, his lawyer claimed last year.

An attorney for his ex-wife, Michelle, said Rodman currently pays $4,500 a month in support of the couple's two children, ages 10 and 11. The couple were married in 2003 and divorced less than a year later.

Known for his flamboyant demeanor on and off the court, Rodman was one of the NBA's top rebounders while playing on championship-winning teams with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls. He won five NBA titles during his career and played one season with...

Every goal Anze Kopitar scores, every save Jonathan Quick makes, every shoulder-to-body message Dustin Brown sends, Dave Taylor is there.

The Kings are in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993, a massive rebuilding project that General Manager Dean Lombardi has nearly completed. Taylor, his predecessor, left him some building blocks.

Brown, Kopitar and Quick — the three essential ingredients in this playoff run — were Taylor draft picks, though he is quick to pass the praise like a puck.

Al Murray, the Kings’ director of amateur scouting, “was the one who is responsible for those guys,” said Taylor, now the St. Louis Blues' director of player personnel.

Taylor, the Kings' general manager from 1997 to 2006, was the man at the top who agreed with Murray’s assessment of the three. He is now as pleased as a father, or as pleased as he can be given that the Kings eliminated the Blues in the second round.

“I wish it was the Blues in the...